Temporal integration of olfactory perceptual evidence in human orbitofrontal cortex.

ABSTRACT: Given a noisy sensory world, the nervous system integrates perceptual evidence over time to optimize decision-making. Neurophysiological accumulation of sensory information is well-documented in the animal visual system, but how such mechanisms are instantiated in the human brain remains poorly understood. Here we combined psychophysical techniques, drift-diffusion modeling, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to establish that odor evidence integration in the human olfactory system enhances discrimination on a two-alternative forced-choice task. Model-based measures of fMRI brain activity highlighted a ramp-like increase in orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) that peaked at the time of decision, conforming to predictions derived from an integrator model. Combined behavioral and fMRI d

SUBMITTER: Bowman NE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3441053 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature