A model of naturalistic decision making in preference tests

Ksander, John; Katz, Donald B; Miller, Paul

doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009012

Cited by 5 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 57 publications

(82 reference statements)

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“…Our findings support a recent model (Ksander et al, 2021) in which the duration of a bout is given by the duration of a particular state of activity in a neural circuit. In the model, noise fluctuations terminate states of activity, leading to an exponential-like distribution of state durations, just as we find in the behavioral data (Supplementary Figures 1–3).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…Additionally, the distributions of bout durations of all solutions were well approximated by exponential distributions (Supplementary Figure 1), with decay constants akin to the mean time of bouts at each solution. These exponential distributions of durations are in accordance with the noise-induced state transition model of our computational simulations (Ksander et al, 2021).…”

Section: Measurement Of Palatabilitysupporting

confidence: 87%

“…In our modeling study (Ksander et al, 2021) we found competition in the durations of an activity state representing bout duration in response to alternating stimuli. The competition arose from a slow synaptic depression in the model so we hypothesized that the competition between successive stimuli would diminish over the timescale of recovery from that synaptic depression.…”

Section: Comparison To Spiking Network Modelsmentioning

confidence: 78%

“…Simulations were carried out using a recently published model (Ksander et al, 2021). In brief, leaky integrate-and-fire neurons were designated excitatory or inhibitory and assigned either to a group whose activity promoted a continuous decision of "Sample" at the current stimulus (termed "Stay" in the prior paper) or a group whose activity promoted a decision to "Leave" the stimulus (termed "Switch" in the prior paper).…”

Section: Simulation Protocolmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The lack of data quantifying the underlying behaviors that lead to the overall preference precludes the assessment of models of this type of decision-making. Indeed, one of the goals of our analyses is to test predictions of our recent modeling paper (Ksander et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Distinct competitive impacts of palatability of taste stimuli on sampling dynamics during a preference test

Ballintyn

Ksander

Katz

et al. 2021

Preprint

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The decision of whether to continue with a current action or to stop and consider alternatives is ever present in the life of an animal. Such continuous-time decision making lies at the heart of food preference tests whose outcomes are typically quantified by a single variable, the total amount consumed. However, the dynamics that give rise to such a quantity in terms of durations of bouts of sampling at a stimulus before pauses, and the impact of alternative stimuli on those bout durations and subsequent actions following a pause, can contain a richness of behavior that is not captured in a single palatability measure. Here we carry out multiple analyses of these dynamics, with a particular focus on assessing how the hedonic value of one taste stimulus impacts the behavior of a rat sampling a second taste stimulus during a preference test. We find evidence for an explicit competitive interaction between bout durations, such that the more palatable a stimulus the longer the bout durations when the rat samples the stimulus and the shorter the bout durations at the alternative. Such competition is reproduced in a model of a neural circuit that could underlie the continuous decision of when to end a sampling bout. We find that the competitive impact on bout durations is relatively short-lived whereas a competitive impact on the choice of which stimulus to approach following a pause persists. Such a discrepancy in the timescales for the decay of the impact of the alternative stimulus suggests different neural processes are involved in the choice of which stimulus to approach versus the choice of how long to sample from it. Since these two choices together combine to determine net consumption and therefore the inferred palatability or preference of a gustatory stimulus, our results suggest that palatability is not a unitary quantity but the result of at least two distinct, context-dependent neural processes.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Measurement Of Palatabilitysupporting

confidence: 87%

Section: Comparison To Spiking Network Modelsmentioning

confidence: 78%

Section: Simulation Protocolmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Distinct competitive impacts of palatability of taste stimuli on sampling dynamics during a preference test

Ballintyn

Ksander

Katz

et al. 2021

Preprint

Self Cite

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Multistability in neural systems with random cross-connections

Breffle,

Mokashe,

Qiu

et al. 2023

Biol Cybern

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Distinct competitive impacts of palatability of taste stimuli on sampling dynamics during a preference test.

Ballintyn¹,

Ksander²,

Katz³

et al. 2023

Behavioral Neuroscience

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Food or taste preference tests are analogous to naturalistic decisions in which the animal selects which stimuli to sample and for how long to sample them. The data acquired in such tests, the relative amounts of the alternative stimuli that are sampled and consumed, indicate the preference for each. While such preferences are typically recorded as a single quantity, an analysis of the ongoing sampling dynamics producing the preference can reveal otherwise hidden aspects of the decision-making process that depend on its underlying neural circuit mechanisms. Here, we perform a dynamic analysis of two factors that give rise to preferences in a two-alternative task, namely the distribution of durations of sampling bouts of each stimulus and the likelihood of returning to the same stimulus or switching to the alternative-that is, the transition probability-following each bout. The results of our analysis support a specific computational model of decision making whereby an exponential distribution of bout durations has a mean that is positively correlated with the palatability of that stimulus but also negatively correlated with the palatability of the alternative. This impact of the alternative stimulus on the distribution of bout durations decays over a timescale of tens of seconds, even though the memory of the alternative stimulus lasts far longer-long enough to impact the transition probabilities upon ending bouts. Together, our findings support a state transition model for bout durations and suggest a separate memory mechanism for stimulus selection.

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A model of naturalistic decision making in preference tests

Cited by 5 publications

References 57 publications

Distinct competitive impacts of palatability of taste stimuli on sampling dynamics during a preference test

Distinct competitive impacts of palatability of taste stimuli on sampling dynamics during a preference test

Multistability in neural systems with random cross-connections

Distinct competitive impacts of palatability of taste stimuli on sampling dynamics during a preference test.

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