Skip to main content
Springer Nature Link
Log in

Simulated neural dynamics of decision-making in an auditory delayed match-to-sample task

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Biological Cybernetics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

An important goal of research on the cognitive neuroscience of decision-making is to produce a comprehensive model of behavior that flows from perception to action with all of the intermediate steps defined. To understand the mechanisms of perceptual decision-making for an auditory discrimination experiment, we connected a large-scale, neurobiologically realistic auditory pattern recognition model to a three-layer decision-making model and simulated an auditory delayed match-to-sample (DMS) task. In each trial of our simulated DMS task, pairs of stimuli were compared each stimulus being a sequence of three frequency-modulated tonal-contour segments, and a “match” or “nonmatch” button was pressed. The model’s simulated response times and the different patterns of neural responses (transient, sustained, increasing) are consistent with experimental data and the simulated neurophysiological activity provides insights into the neural interactions from perception to action in the auditory DMS task.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Barraclough DJ, Conroy M, Lee D (2004) Prefrontal cortex and decision making in a mixed-strategy game. Nat Neurosci 7(4): 404–410

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bieser A (1998) Processing of twitter-call fundamental frequencies in insula and auditory cortex of squirrel monkeys. Exp Brain Res 122(2): 139–148

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bodner M, Kroger J, Fuster JM (1996) Auditory memory cells in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Neuroreport 7: 1905–1908

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bradski G, Carpenter GA, Grossberg S (1994) STORE working memory networks for storage and recall of arbitrary temporal sequences. Biol Cybern 71(6): 469–480

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brody CD, Zainos A, Romo R (2003) Timing and neural encoding of somatosensory parametric working memory in macaque prefrontal cortex. Cereb Cortex 13: 1196–1207

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bullock D, Grossberg S (1988) Neural dynamics of planned arm movements: emergent invariants and speed-accuracy properties during trajectory formation. Psychol Rev 95: 49–90

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bullock D, Grossberg S, Guenther FH (1993) A self-organizing neural model of motor equivalent reaching and tool use by a multipoint arm. J Cogn Neurosci 5: 408–435

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Busemeyer JR, Johnson JG (2004) Computational models of decision making. In: Koehler D, Harvey N (eds) Handbook of judgment and decision making. Blackwell, Oxford, Chap. 7, pp 133–154

  • Busemeyer J, Townsend JT (1993) Decision field theory: a dynamic-cognitive approach to decision making. Psychol Rev 100(3): 432–459

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Contreras-Vidal JL, Wen S (2003) Predicting functional activation (Synthetic PET) and kinematics during visuomotor adaptation to distorted kinematic environments using a neural network model. In: Teulings HL, Van Germmert AWA (eds) Proceedings of the 11th conference of the international graphonomics society (IGS2003), pp 72–76

  • Deco G, Rolls ET, Horwitz B (2004) “What” and “Where” in visual working memory: a computational neurodynamical perspective for integrating fMRI and single-neuron data. J Cogn Neurosci 16: 683–701

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Edwards W (ed) (1992) Utility measurements and applications. Kluwer, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Ermentrout GB (1992) Complex dynamics in winner-take-all neural nets with slow inhibition. Neural Netw 5: 415–431

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ellias SA, Grossberg S (1975) Pattern formation, contrast control, and oscillations in the short-term memory of shunting on-center off-surround networks. Biol Cybern 20: 69–98

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feldman JA, Ballard DH (1982) Connectionist models and their properties. Cogn Sci 6: 205–254

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gordon M, O’Neill WE (1998) Temporal processing across frequency channels by FM selective auditory neurons can account for FM rate selectivity. Hear Res 122(1–2): 97–108

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Grossberg S (1970) Neural pattern discrimination. J Theor Biol 27: 291–337

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Grossberg S (1973) Contour enhancement, short-term memory, and constancies in reverberating neural networks. Stud Appl Math 52: 213–257

    Google Scholar 

  • Grossberg S (1980) How does the brain build a cognitive code? (Appendices A-D). Psychol Rev 87: 1–51

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hernandez A, Zainos A, Romo R (2002) Temporal evolution of a decision-making process in medial premotor cortex. Neuron 33: 959–972

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Horwitz B, Warner B, Fitzer J, Tagamets M-A, Husain FT, Long TW (2005) Investigating the neural basis for functional and effective connectivity. I. Application to fMRI and PET. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 360(1457): 1093–1108

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Husain FT, Tagamets MA, FAR Braun, Horwitz B (2004) Relating neuronal dynamics for auditory object processing to neuroimaging activity: a computational modeling and an fMRI study. Neuroimage 21(4): 1701–1720

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Husain FT, Lozito TP, Ulloa A, Horwitz B (2005) Investigating the neural basis of the auditory continuity illusion. J Cogn Neurosci 17: 1275–1292

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kikuchi-Yorioka Y, Sawaguchi T (2000) Parallel visuospatial and audiospatial working memory processes in the monkey dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Nat Neurosci 3: 1075–1076

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kincaid TG, Cohen MA, Fang Y (1996) Dynamics of a winner-take-all neural network. Neural Netw 9: 1141–1154

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kim JN, Shadlen MN (1999) Neural correlates of a decision in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of the macaque. Nat Neurosci 2: 176–85

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mazurek EM, Roitman DJ, Ditterich J, Shadlen NM (2003) A role for neural integrators in perceptual decision making. Cereb Cortex 13(11): 1257–1269

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Minsky M, Papert S (1969) Perceptrons. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Platt ML, Glimcher PW (1999) Neural correlates of decision variables in parietal cortex. Nature 400: 233–238

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ratcliff R, Rouder NJ (1998) Modeling response times for two-choice decisions. Psychol Sci 9(5): 347–356

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ratcliff R, Tuerlinckx F (2002) Estimating parameters of the diffusion model: approaches to dealing with contaminant reaction times and parameter variability. Psychonom Bull 9(3): 438–481

    Google Scholar 

  • Roitman JD, Shadlen MN (2002) Response of neurons in the lateral intraparietal area during a combined visual discrimination reaction time task. J Neurosci 22: 9475–9489

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Romanski LM, Goldman-Rakic PS (2002) An auditory domain in primate prefrontal cortex. Nat Neurosci 5: 15–16

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Romanski LM, Tian B, Fritz J, Mishkin M, Goldman-Rakic PS, Rauschecker JP (1999) Dual streams of auditory afferents target multiple domains in the primate prefrontal cortex. Nat Neurosci 2: 1131–1136

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Romo R, Salinas E (2001) Touch and go: decision-making mechanisms in somatosensation. Ann Rev Neurosci 24: 107–137

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Romo R, Hernandez A, Zainos A, Lemus L, Brody DC (2002) Neuronal correlates of decision-making in secondary somatosensory cortex. Nat Neurosci 5: 1217–1225

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Romo R, Hernandez A, Zainos A (2004) Neuronal correlates of a perceptual decision in ventral premotor cortex. Neuron 41: 165–173

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shadlen MN, Newsome WT (1996) Motion perception: seeing and deciding. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 93: 628–633

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shadlen MN, Newsome WT (2001) Neural basis of a perceptual decision in the parietal cortex (area LIP) of the rhesus monkey. J Neurophysiol 86: 1916–1936

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shamma SA, Fleshman JW, Wiser PR, Versnel H (1993) Organization of response areas in ferret primary auditory cortex. J Neurophysiol 69(2): 367–383

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sheffrin S (1983) Rational expectations. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

  • Smith LP, Ratcliff R (2004) Psychology and neurobiology of simple decisions. Trends Neurosci 27(3): 161–168

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tagamets MA, Horwitz B (1998) Integrating electrophysiological and anatomical experimental data to create a large-scale model that simulates a delayed match-to-sample human brain imaging study. Cereb Cortex 8(4): 310–320

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ulloa A, Husain FT, Lozito T, Horwitz B (2003) Working memory of long-duration tonal patterns: a computational model. Abstract at the 10th annual meeting of the cognitive neuroscience society

  • Ulloa A, Husain FT, Kemeny S, Xu J, Braun A, Horwitz B (2008) Neural mechanisms of auditory discrimination of long-duration tonal patterns: a neural model and an fMRI study (submitted)

  • Wang XJ (2002) Probabilistic decision making by slow reverberation in cortical circuits. Neuron 36: 955–968

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson HR, Cowan JD (1972) Excitatory and inhibitory interactions in localized populations of model neurons. Biophys J 12: 1–24

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mathematics Department, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Shihua Wen

  2. Brain Imaging and Modeling Section, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Antonio Ulloa, Fatima Husain & Barry Horwitz

  3. Departments of Kinesiology and Bioengineering and Graduate Program in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science, University of Maryland School of Public Health, 2363 HHP Bldg., College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    José L. Contreras-Vidal

Authors
  1. Shihua Wen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  2. Antonio Ulloa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  3. Fatima Husain
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  4. Barry Horwitz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  5. José L. Contreras-Vidal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to José L. Contreras-Vidal.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Wen, S., Ulloa, A., Husain, F. et al. Simulated neural dynamics of decision-making in an auditory delayed match-to-sample task. Biol Cybern 99, 15–27 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00422-008-0234-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00422-008-0234-0

Keywords