AUTHOR=Wong Kong-Fatt , Huk Alexander C.

TITLE=Temporal dynamics underlying perceptual decision making: Insights from the interplay between an attractor model and parietal neurophysiology

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neuroscience

VOLUME=Volume 2 - 2008

YEAR=2008

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/neuro.01.028.2008

DOI=10.3389/neuro.01.028.2008

ISSN=1662-453X

ABSTRACT=Recent neurophysiological studies in awake, behaving primates have revealed that neurons in certain brain areas appear to integrate sensory evidence over time during the performance of perceptual decision-making tasks. Neurons in the lateral intraparietal area (LIP) of rhesus monkeys exhibit such decision-related signals while the animals view and judge the direction of a visual motion display. Further investigation of this temporal integration process using brief perturbations of the sensory evidence has suggested that LIP neurons do not integrate evidence in a perfect, linear manner. We describe how a biophysically-plausible attractor network model can account for many aspects of the temporal dynamics of neural activity during these perceptual decisions. We also review a larger set of models and explain how the dynamics during and after temporal integration can help to distinguish the underlying neural mechanisms. Finally, we propose some crucial theoretically-motivated experiments that are needed to test among models.