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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2023.01.13.523918

Cortical beta power reflects a neural implementation of decision boundary collapse in a speeded flanker task

Kirschner, H.·Fischer, A. G.·Danielmeier, C.·Klein, T. A.·Ullsperger, M.
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Abstract

A prominent account of decision-making assumes that information is accumulated until a fixed response threshold is crossed. However, many decisions require weighting of information appropriately against time. Collapsing response thresholds are a mathematically optimal solution to this decision problem. However, our understanding of the neurocomputational mechanisms that underly dynamic response thresholds remains very incomplete. To investigate this issue, we used a multistage drift diffusion model (DDM) and also analysed EEG beta power lateralization (BPL). The latter served as a neural proxy for decision signals. We analysed a large dataset (n=863) from a speeded flanker task and data from an independent confirmation sample (n=119). We show that a DDM with collapsing decision thresholds, a process where the decision boundary reduces over time, captured participants time-dependent decision policy better than a model with fixed thresholds. Previous research suggests that BPL over motor cortices reflects features of a decision signal and that its peak may serve as a neural proxy for the decision threshold. Our findings offer compelling evidence for the existence of collapsing decision thresholds in decision-making processes.

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Kirschner, H., Fischer, A. G., Danielmeier, C., Klein, T. A., Ullsperger, M.. 2023-01-13. Cortical beta power reflects a neural implementation of decision boundary collapse in a speeded flanker task. https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.01.13.523918

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