Deciding when to decide: time-variant sequential sampling models explain the emergence of value-based decisions in the human brain.
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Deciding when to decide: time-variant sequential sampling models explain the emergence of value-based decisions in the human brain. / Gluth, Sebastian; Rieskamp, Jörg; Büchel, Christian.
In: J NEUROSCI, Vol. 32, No. 31, 31, 2012, p. 10686-10698.Research output: SCORING: Contribution to journal › SCORING: Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Deciding when to decide: time-variant sequential sampling models explain the emergence of value-based decisions in the human brain.
AU - Gluth, Sebastian
AU - Rieskamp, Jörg
AU - Büchel, Christian
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - The cognitive and neuronal mechanisms of perceptual decision making have been successfully linked to sequential sampling models. These models describe the decision process as a gradual accumulation of sensory evidence over time. The temporal evolution of economic choices, however, remains largely unexplored. We tested whether sequential sampling models help to understand the formation of value-based decisions in terms of behavior and brain responses. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure brain activity while human participants performed a buying task in which they freely decided upon how and when to choose. Behavior was accurately predicted by a time-variant sequential sampling model that uses a decreasing rather than fixed decision threshold to estimate the time point of the decision. Presupplementary motor area, caudate nucleus, and anterior insula activation was associated with the accumulation of evidence over time. Furthermore, at the beginning of the decision process the fMRI signal in these regions accounted for trial-by-trial deviations from behavioral model predictions: relatively high activation preceded relatively early responses. The updating of value information was correlated with signals in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, left and right orbitofrontal cortex, and ventral striatum but also in the primary motor cortex well before the response itself. Our results support a view of value-based decisions as emerging from sequential sampling of evidence and suggest a close link between the accumulation process and activity in the motor system when people are free to respond at any time.
AB - The cognitive and neuronal mechanisms of perceptual decision making have been successfully linked to sequential sampling models. These models describe the decision process as a gradual accumulation of sensory evidence over time. The temporal evolution of economic choices, however, remains largely unexplored. We tested whether sequential sampling models help to understand the formation of value-based decisions in terms of behavior and brain responses. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure brain activity while human participants performed a buying task in which they freely decided upon how and when to choose. Behavior was accurately predicted by a time-variant sequential sampling model that uses a decreasing rather than fixed decision threshold to estimate the time point of the decision. Presupplementary motor area, caudate nucleus, and anterior insula activation was associated with the accumulation of evidence over time. Furthermore, at the beginning of the decision process the fMRI signal in these regions accounted for trial-by-trial deviations from behavioral model predictions: relatively high activation preceded relatively early responses. The updating of value information was correlated with signals in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, left and right orbitofrontal cortex, and ventral striatum but also in the primary motor cortex well before the response itself. Our results support a view of value-based decisions as emerging from sequential sampling of evidence and suggest a close link between the accumulation process and activity in the motor system when people are free to respond at any time.
KW - Adult
KW - Humans
KW - Male
KW - Female
KW - Questionnaires
KW - Young Adult
KW - Predictive Value of Tests
KW - Time Factors
KW - Magnetic Resonance Imaging
KW - Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
KW - Computer Simulation
KW - Probability
KW - Brain Mapping
KW - Models, Neurological
KW - Reaction Time/physiology
KW - Choice Behavior/physiology
KW - Oxygen/blood
KW - Decision Making/physiology
KW - Neural Pathways/blood supply/physiology
KW - Brain/blood supply/physiology
KW - Exploratory Behavior/physiology
KW - Adult
KW - Humans
KW - Male
KW - Female
KW - Questionnaires
KW - Young Adult
KW - Predictive Value of Tests
KW - Time Factors
KW - Magnetic Resonance Imaging
KW - Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
KW - Computer Simulation
KW - Probability
KW - Brain Mapping
KW - Models, Neurological
KW - Reaction Time/physiology
KW - Choice Behavior/physiology
KW - Oxygen/blood
KW - Decision Making/physiology
KW - Neural Pathways/blood supply/physiology
KW - Brain/blood supply/physiology
KW - Exploratory Behavior/physiology
M3 - SCORING: Journal article
VL - 32
SP - 10686
EP - 10698
JO - J NEUROSCI
JF - J NEUROSCI
SN - 0270-6474
IS - 31
M1 - 31
ER -