Neuron
Volume 81, Issue 1, 8 January 2014, Pages 195-206
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Article
Autonomous Mechanism of Internal Choice Estimate Underlies Decision Inertia

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2013.10.018Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Decisions based on little sensory evidence tend to be repeated on subsequent trial

  • The decision inertia is accounted for by a mechanism of estimating choice likelihood

  • Choice estimate is updated by computing choice-based prediction error

  • Network of CGp and FEF is involved in updating and maintenance of choice estimate

Summary

Our choice is influenced by choices we made in the past, but the mechanism responsible for the choice bias remains elusive. Here we show that the history-dependent choice bias can be explained by an autonomous learning rule whereby an estimate of the likelihood of a choice to be made is updated in each trial by comparing between the actual and expected choices. We found that in perceptual decision making without performance feedback, a decision on an ambiguous stimulus is repeated on the subsequent trial more often than a decision on a salient stimulus. This inertia of decision was not accounted for by biases in motor response, sensory processing, or attention. The posterior cingulate cortex and frontal eye field represent choice prediction error and choice estimate in the learning algorithm, respectively. Interactions between the two regions during the intertrial interval are associated with decision inertia on a subsequent trial.

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