Multiple decisions about one object involve parallel sensory acquisition but time-multiplexed evidence incorporation
Abstract
The brain is capable of processing several streams of information that bear on different aspects of the same problem. Here we address the problem of making two decisions about one object, by studying difficult perceptual decisions about the color and motion of a dynamic random dot display. We find that the accuracy of one decision is unaffected by the difficulty of the other decision. However, the response times reveal that the two decisions do not form simultaneously. We show that both stimulus dimensions are acquired in parallel for the initial ∼0.1 s but are then incorporated serially in time-multiplexed bouts. Thus there is a bottleneck that precludes updating more than one decision at a time, and a buffer that stores samples of evidence while access to the decision is blocked. We suggest that this bottleneck is responsible for the long timescales of many cognitive operations framed as decisions.
Data availability
The data is on figshare at: https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.13607255The code is available at the following repository: https://github.com/yulkang/2D_DecisionThe figshare (allows deposition of big data) and github (suitable for maintenance of code) repositories refer to each other.
-
Data for "Multiple decisions about one object involve parallel sensory acquisition but time-multiplexed evidence incorporation"Figshare, doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.13607255.
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
National Eye Institute (T32EY01393)
- Yul HR Kang
Simons Foundation (414196)
- Danique Jeurissen
Brain and Behavior Research Foundation (28476)
- Danique Jeurissen
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
- Michael N Shadlen
National Eye Institute (R01EY11378)
- Michael N Shadlen
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (R01NS113113)
- Michael N Shadlen
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Ethics
Human subjects: The study was approved by the local ethics committee (Institutional Review Board of Columbia University Medical Center IRB-AAAL0658 & IRB-AAAR9148 ). Thirteen participants (5 male and 8 female, age 23-40, median = 26, IQR = 25-32, mean = 28.3, SD = 5.74) provided written informed consent and took part in the study
Copyright
© 2021, Kang et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
Metrics
-
- 3,196
- views
-
- 437
- downloads
-
- 33
- citations
Views, downloads and citations are aggregated across all versions of this paper published by eLife.
Download links
Downloads (link to download the article as PDF)
Open citations (links to open the citations from this article in various online reference manager services)
Cite this article (links to download the citations from this article in formats compatible with various reference manager tools)
Further reading
-
- Neuroscience
Emotional responsiveness in neonates, particularly their ability to discern vocal emotions, plays an evolutionarily adaptive role in human communication and adaptive behaviors. The developmental trajectory of emotional sensitivity in neonates is crucial for understanding the foundations of early social-emotional functioning. However, the precise onset of this sensitivity and its relationship with gestational age (GA) remain subjects of investigation. In a study involving 120 healthy neonates categorized into six groups based on their GA (ranging from 35 and 40 weeks), we explored their emotional responses to vocal stimuli. These stimuli encompassed disyllables with happy and neutral prosodies, alongside acoustically matched nonvocal control sounds. The assessments occurred during natural sleep states using the odd-ball paradigm and event-related potentials. The results reveal a distinct developmental change at 37 weeks GA, marking the point at which neonates exhibit heightened perceptual acuity for emotional vocal expressions. This newfound ability is substantiated by the presence of the mismatch response, akin to an initial form of adult mismatch negativity, elicited in response to positive emotional vocal prosody. Notably, this perceptual shift’s specificity becomes evident when no such discrimination is observed in acoustically matched control sounds. Neonates born before 37 weeks GA do not display this level of discrimination ability. This developmental change has important implications for our understanding of early social-emotional development, highlighting the role of gestational age in shaping early perceptual abilities. Moreover, while these findings introduce the potential for a valuable screening tool for conditions like autism, characterized by atypical social-emotional functions, it is important to note that the current data are not yet robust enough to fully support this application. This study makes a substantial contribution to the broader field of developmental neuroscience and holds promise for future research on early intervention in neurodevelopmental disorders.
-
- Neuroscience
Hydrostatic pressure is a dominant environmental cue for vertically migrating marine organisms but the physiological mechanisms of responding to pressure changes remain unclear. Here, we uncovered the cellular and circuit bases of a barokinetic response in the planktonic larva of the marine annelid Platynereis dumerilii. Increased pressure induced a rapid, graded, and adapting upward swimming response due to the faster beating of cilia in the head multiciliary band. By calcium imaging, we found that brain ciliary photoreceptors showed a graded response to pressure changes. The photoreceptors in animals mutant for ciliary opsin-1 had a smaller sensory compartment and mutant larvae showed diminished pressure responses. The ciliary photoreceptors synaptically connect to the head multiciliary band via serotonergic motoneurons. Genetic inhibition of the serotonergic cells blocked pressure-dependent increases in ciliary beating. We conclude that ciliary photoreceptors function as pressure sensors and activate ciliary beating through serotonergic signalling during barokinesis.