Temporal dynamics underlying perceptual decision making: Insights from the interplay between an attractor model and parietal neurophysiology

Kong-Fatt Wong, Alexander Huk

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    16 Citations (Scopus)
    34 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    Recent neurophysiological studies in awake, behaving primates have revealed that neurons in certain brain areas appear to integrate sensory evidence over time during the performance of perceptual decision-making tasks. Neurons in the lateral intraparietal area (LIP) of rhesus monkeys exhibit such decision-related signals while the animals view and judge the direction of a visual motion display. Further investigation of this temporal integration process using brief perturbations of the sensory evidence has suggested that LIP neurons do not integrate evidence in a perfect, linear manner. We describe how a biophysically-plausible attractor network model can account for many aspects of the temporal dynamics of neural activity during these perceptual decisions. We also review a larger set of models and explain how the dynamics during and after temporal integration can help to distinguish the underlying neural mechanisms. Finally, we propose some crucial theoretically-motivated experiments that are needed to test among models.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)245-254
    JournalFrontiers in Neuroscience
    Volume2
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished (in print/issue) - 15 Dec 2008

    Bibliographical note

    Invited focused review article.

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Temporal dynamics underlying perceptual decision making: Insights from the interplay between an attractor model and parietal neurophysiology'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this