Optimal multisensory decision-making in a reaction-time task.

ABSTRACT: Humans and animals can integrate sensory evidence from various sources to make decisions in a statistically near-optimal manner, provided that the stimulus presentation time is fixed across trials. Little is known about whether optimality is preserved when subjects can choose when to make a decision (reaction-time task), nor when sensory inputs have time-varying reliability. Using a reaction-time version of a visual/vestibular heading discrimination task, we show that behavior is clearly sub-optimal when quantified with traditional optimality metrics that ignore reaction times. We created a computational model that accumulates evidence optimally across both cues and time, and trades off accuracy with decision speed. This model quantitatively explains subjects's choices and reaction times,

SUBMITTER: Drugowitsch J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4102720 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature