TY - JOUR
T1 - Changes-of-mind in the absence of new post-decision evidence
AU - Atiya, Nadim
AU - Zgonnikov, Arkady
AU - O'Hora, Denis
AU - Schoemann, Martin
AU - Scherbaum, Stefan
AU - Wong-Lin, KongFatt
PY - 2020/2/3
Y1 - 2020/2/3
N2 - Decisions are occasionally accompanied by changes-of-mind. While considered a hallmark of cognitive flexibility, the mechanisms underlying changes-of-mind remain elusive. Previous studies on perceptual decision making have focused on changes-of-mind that are primarily driven by the accumulation of additional noisy sensory evidence after the initial decision. In a motion discrimination task, we demonstrate that changes-of-mind can occur even in the absence of additional evidence after the initial decision. Unlike previous studies of changes-of-mind, the majority of changes-of-mind in our experiment occurred in trials with prolonged initial response times. This suggests a distinct mechanism underlying such changes. Using a neural circuit model of decision uncertainty and change-of-mind behaviour, we demonstrate that this phenomenon is associated with top-down signals mediated by an uncertainty-monitoring neural population. Such a mechanism is consistent with recent neurophysiological evidence showing a link between changes-of-mind and elevated top-down neural activity. Our model explains the long response times associated with changes-of-mind through high decision uncertainty levels in such trials, and accounts for the observed motor response trajectories. Overall, our work provides a computational framework that explains changes-of-mind in the absence of new post-decision evidence.
AB - Decisions are occasionally accompanied by changes-of-mind. While considered a hallmark of cognitive flexibility, the mechanisms underlying changes-of-mind remain elusive. Previous studies on perceptual decision making have focused on changes-of-mind that are primarily driven by the accumulation of additional noisy sensory evidence after the initial decision. In a motion discrimination task, we demonstrate that changes-of-mind can occur even in the absence of additional evidence after the initial decision. Unlike previous studies of changes-of-mind, the majority of changes-of-mind in our experiment occurred in trials with prolonged initial response times. This suggests a distinct mechanism underlying such changes. Using a neural circuit model of decision uncertainty and change-of-mind behaviour, we demonstrate that this phenomenon is associated with top-down signals mediated by an uncertainty-monitoring neural population. Such a mechanism is consistent with recent neurophysiological evidence showing a link between changes-of-mind and elevated top-down neural activity. Our model explains the long response times associated with changes-of-mind through high decision uncertainty levels in such trials, and accounts for the observed motor response trajectories. Overall, our work provides a computational framework that explains changes-of-mind in the absence of new post-decision evidence.
KW - decision making
KW - cognitive science
KW - change of mind
KW - neural circuit model
KW - psychophysics
KW - process tracing
KW - cognition
KW - neural dynamics
UR - https://pure.ulster.ac.uk/en/publications/changes-of-mind-in-the-absence-of-new-post-decision-evidence
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85079352080&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1007149
DO - 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1007149
M3 - Article
C2 - 32012147
SN - 1553-734X
VL - 16
JO - PLoS Computational Biology
JF - PLoS Computational Biology
IS - 2
M1 - e1007149
ER -