Adaptive biasing of action-selective cortical build-up activity by stimulus history

TY - JOUR

T1 - Adaptive biasing of action-selective cortical build-up activity by stimulus history

AU - Braun, Anke

AU - Donner, Tobias H

N1 - © 2023, Braun and Donner.

PY - 2023/12/6

Y1 - 2023/12/6

N2 - Decisions under uncertainty are often biased by the history of preceding sensory input, behavioral choices, or received outcomes. Behavioral studies of perceptual decisions suggest that such history-dependent biases affect the accumulation of evidence and can be adapted to the correlation structure of the sensory environment. Here, we systematically varied this correlation structure while human participants performed a canonical perceptual choice task. We tracked the trial-by-trial variations of history biases via behavioral modeling and of a neural signature of decision formation via magnetoencephalography (MEG). The history bias was flexibly adapted to the environment and exerted a selective effect on the build-up (not baseline level) of action-selective motor cortical activity during decision formation. This effect added to the impact of the current stimulus. We conclude that the build-up of action plans in human motor cortical circuits is shaped by dynamic prior expectations that result from an adaptive interaction with the environment.

AB - Decisions under uncertainty are often biased by the history of preceding sensory input, behavioral choices, or received outcomes. Behavioral studies of perceptual decisions suggest that such history-dependent biases affect the accumulation of evidence and can be adapted to the correlation structure of the sensory environment. Here, we systematically varied this correlation structure while human participants performed a canonical perceptual choice task. We tracked the trial-by-trial variations of history biases via behavioral modeling and of a neural signature of decision formation via magnetoencephalography (MEG). The history bias was flexibly adapted to the environment and exerted a selective effect on the build-up (not baseline level) of action-selective motor cortical activity during decision formation. This effect added to the impact of the current stimulus. We conclude that the build-up of action plans in human motor cortical circuits is shaped by dynamic prior expectations that result from an adaptive interaction with the environment.

KW - Humans

KW - Bias

KW - Magnetoencephalography

KW - Motor Cortex

KW - Uncertainty

U2 - 10.7554/eLife.86740

DO - 10.7554/eLife.86740

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

C2 - 38054952

VL - 12

JO - ELIFE

JF - ELIFE

SN - 2050-084X

M1 - RP86740

ER -