Neurobiological models of two-choice decision making can be reduced to a one-dimensional nonlinear diffusion equation.

ABSTRACT: The response behaviors in many two-alternative choice tasks are well described by so-called sequential sampling models. In these models, the evidence for each one of the two alternatives accumulates over time until it reaches a threshold, at which point a response is made. At the neurophysiological level, single neuron data recorded while monkeys are engaged in two-alternative choice tasks are well described by winner-take-all network models in which the two choices are represented in the firing rates of separate populations of neurons. Here, we show that such nonlinear network models can generally be reduced to a one-dimensional nonlinear diffusion equation, which bears functional resemblance to standard sequential sampling models of behavior. This reduction gives the functional dependenc

SUBMITTER: Roxin A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2268007 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature