A general mechanism for perceptual decision-making in the human brain.

Full Abstract

Findings from single-cell recording studies suggest that a comparison of the outputs of different pools of selectively tuned lower-level sensory neurons may be a general mechanism by which higher-level brain regions compute perceptual decisions. For example, when monkeys must decide whether a noisy field of dots is moving upward or downward, a decision can be formed by computing the difference in responses between lower-level neurons sensitive to upward motion and those sensitive to downward motion. Here we use functional magnetic resonance imaging and a categorization task in which subjects decide whether an image presented is a face or a house to test whether a similar mechanism is also at work for more complex decisions in the human brain and, if so, where in the brain this computation might be performed. Activity within the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is greater during easy decisions than during difficult decisions, covaries with the difference signal between face- and house-selective regions in the ventral temporal cortex, and predicts behavioural performance in the categorization task. These findings show that even for complex object categories, the comparison of the outputs of different pools of selectively tuned neurons could be a general mechanism by which the human brain computes perceptual decisions.

Author information

Author/s: Heekeren, H R (HR); Marrett, S (S); Bandettini, P A (PA); Ungerleider, L G (LG);

Affiliation: Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-1148, USA. hauke(-atsign-)nih.gov

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Journal: Nature (Nature), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2004-Oct; vol 431 (issue 7010) : pp 859-62

Dates: Created 2004/10/14; Completed 2004/11/22; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 15483614, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.