Multiple decisions about one object involve parallel sensory acquisition but time-multiplexed evidence incorporation

Kang, Yul Hr; Löffler, Anne; Jeurissen, Danique; Zylberberg, Ariel; Wolpert, Daniel M.; Shadlen, Michael N.

doi:10.7554/elife.63721

Cited by 32 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 108 publications

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“…Recent work has shown that even in situations where sensory evidence for multiple decisions can be acquired in parallel along distinct stimulus dimensions, there can exist a bottleneck that limits updating of decision variables to one at a time 51 . In that work, decision variables were found to be held in two distinct buffers with time-multiplexed updating of each in turn.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Change point detection with multiple alternatives reveals parallel evaluation of the same stream of evidence along distinct timescales

Booras

Stevenson

McCormack

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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In order to behave appropriately in a rapidly changing world, individuals must be able to detect when changes occur in that environment. However, at any given moment, there are a multitude of potential changes of behavioral significance that could occur. Here we investigate how knowledge about the space of possible changes affects human change point detection. We used a stochastic auditory change point detection task that allowed model-free and model-based characterization of the decision process people employ. We found that subjects can simultaneously apply distinct timescales of evidence evaluation to the same stream of evidence when there are multiple types of changes possible. Informative cues that specified the nature of the change led to improved accuracy for change point detection through mechanisms involving both the timescales of evidence evaluation and adjustments of decision bounds. These results establish three important capacities of information processing for decision making that any proposed neural mechanism of evidence evaluation must be able to support: the ability to simultaneously employ multiple timescales of evidence evaluation, the ability to rapidly adjust those timescales, and the ability to modify the amount of information required to make a decision in the context of flexible timescales.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Change point detection with multiple alternatives reveals parallel evaluation of the same stream of evidence along distinct timescales

Booras

Stevenson

McCormack

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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“…Our task merges elements of paradigms that have been separately popularized within the two research areas above. To capture variability in target processing, we based our task on the random dot kinematogram paradigm (Danielmeier, Eichele, Forstmann, Tittgemeyer, & Ullsperger, 2011; Kang et al, 2021; Mante, Sussillo, Shenoy, & Newsome, 2013; Shenhav, Straccia, Musslick, Cohen, & Botvinick, 2018). This task parametrically varies the motion discriminability (e.g., percentage of dots moving left) and color discriminability (e.g., percentage of green dots) across an array of dots.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Humans reconfigure target and distractor processing to address distinct task demands

Ritz

Shenhav

2021

Preprint

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When faced with distraction, we can focus more on goal-relevant information (targets) or focus less goal-conflicting information (distractors). How people decide to distribute cognitive control across targets and distractors remains unclear. To help address this question, we developed a parametric attentional control task with a graded manipulation to both target discriminability and distractor interference. We find that participants exert independent control over target and distractor processing. We measured control adjustments through the influence of incentives and previous conflict on target and distractor sensitivity, finding that these have dissociable influences on control. Whereas incentives preferentially led to target enhancement, conflict on the previous trial preferentially led to distractor suppression. These distinct drivers of control altered sensitivity to targets and distractors early in the trial, and were promptly followed by reactive reconfiguration towards task-appropriate feature sensitivity. Finally, we provide a process-level account of these findings by show that these control adjustments are well-captured by an evidence accumulation model with attractor dynamics over feature weights. These results help establish a process-level account of control configuration that provides new insights into how multivariate attentional signals are optimized to achieve task goals.

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“…Such theories postulate the existence of central bottlenecks to explain why, despite its massively parallel architecture, the brain can be surprisingly slow and serial at performing certain tasks. Indeed, a recent study provided evidence for a bottleneck that prevents incorporating evidence for multiple decisions in parallel (Kang et al, 2021). Sequential and dissociable processes for evidence accumulation and motor preparation may even facilitate the re-calibration of behavioral responses in changing environments.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptual decisions and oculomotor responses rely on temporally distinct streams of evidence

Lisi

Morgan

Solomon

2020

Preprint

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Perceptual decisions often require the integration of noisy sensory evidence over time. This process is formalized with sequential sampling models, where evidence is accumulated up to a decision threshold before a choice is made. Although classical accounts grounded in cognitive psychology tend to consider the process of decision formation and the preparation of the motor response as occurring serially, neurophysiological studies have proposed that decision formation and response preparation occur in parallel and are inseparable (Cisek, 2007;Shadlen et al., 2008). To address this serial vs. parallel debate, we developed a behavioural, reverse correlation protocol, in which the stimuli that influence perceptual decisions can be distinguished from the stimuli that influence motor responses. We show that the temporal integration windows supporting these two processes are distinct and largely non-overlapping, suggesting that they proceed in a serial or cascaded fashion.

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Multiple decisions about one object involve parallel sensory acquisition but time-multiplexed evidence incorporation

Cited by 32 publications

References 108 publications

Change point detection with multiple alternatives reveals parallel evaluation of the same stream of evidence along distinct timescales

Change point detection with multiple alternatives reveals parallel evaluation of the same stream of evidence along distinct timescales

Humans reconfigure target and distractor processing to address distinct task demands

Perceptual decisions and oculomotor responses rely on temporally distinct streams of evidence

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