RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Caudate Encodes Multiple Computations for Perceptual Decisions
JF The Journal of Neuroscience
JO J. Neurosci.
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP 15747
OP 15759
DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2894-10.2010
VO 30
IS 47
A1 Ding, Long
A1 Gold, Joshua I.
YR 2010
UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/30/47/15747.abstract
AB Perceptual decision making is a complex process that requires multiple computations, including the accumulation of sensory evidence and an ongoing evaluation of the accumulation process to use for prediction and adjustment. Implementing these computations likely involves interactions among many brain regions. For perceptual decisions linked to oculomotor actions, neural correlates of sensory evidence accumulation have been identified in several cortical areas, including the frontal eye field and lateral intraparietal area, and one of their direct, subcortical targets, the superior colliculus. These structures are also connected indirectly, via the basal ganglia. The basal ganglia pathway has been theorized to contribute to perceptual decision making, but the nature of this contribution has yet to be examined directly. Here we show that in monkeys performing a reaction-time visual motion direction-discrimination task, neurons in a primary input structure of the basal ganglia, the caudate nucleus, encode three aspects of decision making: evidence accumulation, evaluation, and choice biases. These results indicate that the basal ganglia pathway can provide important signals to influence and assess perceptual decisions that guide oculomotor behavior.