Brain-behaviour relationships in the perceptual decision-making process through cognitive processing stages

Abstract

Perceptual decision making, as a process of detecting and categorizing information, has been studied extensively over the last two decades. In this study, we investigated the neural characterization of the whole decision-making process by discovering the information processing stages. Such that, the timing and the neural signature of the processing stages were identified for individual trials. The association of stages duration with the stimulus coherency and spatial prioritization factors also revealed the importance of the evidence accumulation process on the speed of the whole decisionmaking process. We reported that the impact of the stimulus coherency and spatial prioritization on the neural representation of the decision-making process was consistent with the behavioral characterization as well. This study demonstrated that uncovering the cognitive processing stages provided more insights into the decision-making process.Keywords: perceptual decision making, neural and behavioral characterizations, cognitive processing stages a b

How spatial attention affects the decision process: looking through the lens of Bayesian hierarchical diffusion model & EEG analysis

“…In this paper, the N2 subcomponent Amplitude and Alpha band frequency are explored to be fed into a regression model. Therefore, we calculated the mean contralateral and ipsilateral (informative) and neutral evoked potentials (uninformative) at C1/2/3/4 central electrodes, and also the mean ipsilateral and contralateral power across time in the alpha frequency band (8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13) Hz) at parietal-occipital electrodes PO3/4/7/8 ( 14,22,23 ). The contralateral response contains the average ERP oscillation at left hemispheric sensors in right-way cue and right hemispheric sensors in left-way trials, the ipsilateral response contains the average ERP oscillation at left hemispheric sensors in left-way cue trials and right hemispheric sensors in right-arrow trials, and eventually the neutral response involves the average ERP oscillation at left and right hemispheric sites in two-way cue trials.…”

“…Moreover, one type of spatial attention is goal-driven, pointing to top-down or endogenous attention that is a situation that we attend to a region of space where the stimulus is present (valid) or not present (invalid) ( 11 ). The top-down cue could facilitate behavior performance and manipulate neural mechanisms ( 12,13 ) which some aspects are still unknown. Therefore, in this paper, we have just concentrated on valid covert attention on distracted stimuli which were presented by endogenous orienting cues.…”