RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Sequential sampling from memory underlies action selection during abstract decision making
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2021.04.30.442176
DO 10.1101/2021.04.30.442176
A1 S. Shushruth
A1 Ariel Zylberberg
A1 Michael N Shadlen
YR 2022
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/01/10/2021.04.30.442176.abstract
AB The study of perceptual decision making in monkeys has provided insights into the process by which sensory evidence is integrated towards a decision. When monkeys make decisions with the knowledge of the motor actions the decisions bear upon, the process of evidence integration is instantiated by neurons involved in the selection of said actions. It is less clear how monkeys make decisions when unaware of the actions required to communicate their choice—what we refer to as ‘abstract’ decisions. We investigated this by training monkeys to associate the direction of motion of a noisy random-dot display with the color of two targets. Crucially, the targets were displayed at unpredictable locations after the motion stimulus was extinguished. We found that monkeys postponed decision formation until the targets were revealed. Neurons in the parietal association area LIP represented the integration of evidence leading to a choice, but as the stimulus was no longer visible, the samples of evidence must have been retrieved from short-term memory. Our results imply that when decisions are temporally unyoked from the motor actions they bear upon, decision formation is protracted until they can be framed in terms of motor actions.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.