Understanding of visual scenes takes place within very brief episodes known as fixations. To explore the extent of the scene, the eye shifts between fixation locations at intervals of roughly 300 ms. Currently, it is a matter of open inquiry as to what factors influence the timing of these movements. This thesis focuses on understanding the mechanisms that govern the rapid adjustment of fixation and saccade timings when novel stimulus information is encountered during a fixation. In part I, I use an experimental technique known as the fixation-contingent scene quality paradigm to control the quality of incoming visual scene information. This approach is used to assess how fixation timing adapts to moment-by-moment changes in the quality level of the stimulus. I find that quality changes tend to result in an increase in fixation durations and this occurs whether the quality is increased or decreased. Using distributional analytic techniques, I argue that these results reflect the combined influence of a rapid surprise related process and a slower acting encoding related influence. In part II, I study how fixation durations are influenced by the underlying saccade programming mechanisms. An important assumption within the eye-movement control literature is that there exists a threshold called the point-of-no-return. Once this point has been reached, a saccade may no longer be modified or cancelled. I adapt a classic psychophysical technique known as the double-step procedure to study the point-of-no-return within scene viewing tasks. I also provide a measurement of the saccadic dead time, the last point in time that a saccade may be modified. In Part III, a formal model of fixation durations in high-level tasks is presented. I build on recent modelling work and develop a formal account for the early-surprise late-encoding modulation account of fixation durations in scene viewing tasks. The model is tested against data observed in Part I of the thesis. I demonstrate that the model does a very good job of predicting these distributions with relatively few assumptions. In summary, I use experimental techniques in combination with computational modelling to reveal how a composite of low-level (saccade programming) and high-level (information processing) considerations can, and must, be taken into consideration when understanding eye-movement control behaviour in scene viewing tasks.

No description available.

Humans can often report a subjective sense of confidence in a decision before knowing its outcome. Such confidence judgements are positively correlated to accuracy in perceptual and memory tasks, but the strength of this relationship (known as metacognitive accuracy) differs across people and contexts. Computationally, confidence judgements are believed to relate to the strength of evidence favouring each option, but it has been suggested that confidence also captures information from other sources, such as response time. This thesis explores the pragmatics of confidence: what factors influence confidence judgements, how accurate confidence judgements are, and how they might influence future behaviour. Our knowledge of the antecedents of confidence is extended by this work in two ways, by introducing novel predictors of confidence and by increasing our understanding of well-known ones. I find that bilinguals have worse metacognitive accuracy than monolinguals. This bilingual deficiency in metacognitive accuracy cannot be explained by response time and stimulus strength, suggesting that there is at least one important predictor of confidence that remains unaccounted for. I introduce such a predictor in a new eye tracking correlate of confidence: Gaze-shift-frequency, the number of saccades between options, negatively predicts subsequent confidence in perceptual and value-based decisions. In the value domain, the total value of the options is shown to positively relate to confidence despite being negatively related to accuracy, the first such dissociation to be recorded, as far as I am aware. The dissertation extends our understanding of response time as a predictor of confidence by showing that it influences confidence more for judgements that are made after a choice, relative to those made simultaneously with the choice. This differential influence of response time explains the higher metacognitive accuracy of sequential confidence reports. I explore the consequences of confidence judgements in the context of value-based choice. Lower levels of confidence are associated with changes of mind when the same options recur in subsequent trials. To test whether these changes of mind are rational, I approximate choice accuracy in the value domain. I propose a novel method based on the transitivity of the full choice set, so that choices that violate the most transitive ordering of the items can be treated as errors. I find that participants who were more metacognitively accurate showed a decrease in transitivity violations over time. These results extend prior work linking confidence judgements to error correction in the perceptual domain.

Recent experimental studies point to the notion that the brain is a complex dynamical system whose behaviors relating to brain functions and dysfunctions can be described by the physics of network phenomena. The brain consists of anatomical axonal connections among neurons and neuronal populations in various spatial scales. Neuronal interactions and synchrony of neuronal oscillations are central to normal brain functions. Breakdowns in interactions and modifications in synchronization behaviors are usual hallmarks of brain dysfunctions. Here, in this dissertation for PhD degree in physics, we report discoveries of brain oscillatory network activity from two separate studies. These studies investigated the large-scale brain activity during tactile perceptual decision-making and epileptic seizures. In the perceptual decision-making study, using scalp electroencephalography (EEG) recordings of brain potentials, we investigated how oscillatory activity functionally organizes different neocortical regions as a network during a tactile discrimination task. While undergoing EEG recordings, blindfolded healthy participants felt a linear three-dot array presented electromechanically, under computer control, and reported whether the central dot was offset to the left or right. Based on the current dipole modeling in the brain, we found that the source-level peak activity appeared in the left primary somatosensory cortex (SI), right lateral occipital complex (LOC), right posterior intraparietal sulcus (pIPS) and finally left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) at 45, 130, 160 and 175 ms respectively. Spectral interdependency analysis showed that fine tactile discrimination is mediated by distinct but overlapping ~15 Hz beta and ~80 Hz gamma band large-scale oscillatory networks. The beta-network that included all four nodes was dominantly feedforward, similar to the propagation of peak cortical activity, implying its role in accumulating and maintaining relevant sensory information and mapping to action. The gamma-network activity, occurring in a recurrent loop linked SI, pIPS and dlPFC, likely carrying out attentional selection of task-relevant sensory signals. Behavioral measure of task performance was correlated with the network activity in both bands. In the study of epileptic seizures, we investigated high-frequency (> 50 Hz) oscillatory network activity from intracranial EEG (IEEG) recordings of patients who were the candidates for epilepsy surgery. The traditional approach of identifying brain regions for epilepsy surgery usually referred as seizure onset zones (SOZs) has not always produced clarity on SOZs. Here, we investigated directed network activity in the frequency domain and found that the high frequency (>80 Hz) network activities occur before the onset of any visible ictal activity, andcausal relationships involve the recording electrodes where clinically identifiable seizures later develop. These findings suggest that high-frequency network activities and their causal relationships can assist in precise delineation of SOZs for surgical resection.

A influência da atenção em processos de tomada de decisões é frequentemente avaliada através da tarefa denominada \"two-alternative choice\", em que os animais são treinados a emitir respostas baseadas na detecção e discriminação de dois estímulos discretos. Pela sua própria natureza, as possibilidades de se manipular a demanda atencional nessas tarefas é relativamente restrita. O desenho experimental básico adotado no presente conjunto de experimentos almejou possibilitar a variação das demandas atencionais durante o desempenho de uma tarefa que envolve discriminação auditiva, por meio da apresentação de sequências variáveis de \"beeps\" de mesma frequência (estímulos sonoros não informativos de 6 kHz) apresentados bilateralmente, seguidos de um estímulo informativo, um beep distinto de 3 ou 10 kHz, apresentado (1) bilateralmente, cuja frequência sinaliza a resposta a ser emitida (Experimento 1), ou (2) unilateralmente, cujo local de apresentação sinaliza a resposta a ser emitida (Experimento 2). No Experimento 1 observou-se uma redução dos tempos de reação para os estímulos alvo e uma redução da porcentagem de erros de comissão em função do aumento do número de estímulos não informativos, para ambos os estímulos informativos numa primeira fase e apenas para o de 10 kHz após a reversão da resposta inicialmente treinada. Curiosamente, os tempos de reação para o estímulo alvo de 10 kHz foram maiores em relação aos exibidos para o estímulo alvo de 3 kHz. Por outro lado, a redução da porcentagem de erros de comissão foi mais acentuada nas tentativas envolvendo o estímulo alvo de 10 kHz. No Experimento 2 houve aumento dos tempos de reação em função do aumento do número de estímulos não informativos apresentados. Os tempos de reação para o estímulo alvo de 10 kHz apresentado no lado esquerdo foram maiores em relação ao lado direito e também em relação ao estímulo alvo de 3 kHz apresentado no lado esquerdo ou direito. No mesmo sentido, houve menor percentagem de respostas corretas e maior percentagem de erros de comissão quando o estimulo alvo de 10 kHz foi apresentado no lado esquerdo. A porcentagem de respostas corretas assim como a redução dos tempos de reação são maiores no Experimento 2 em relação ao Experimento 1, sugerindo que nas presentes condições experimentais a identificação da fonte sonora é mais prontamente detectada do que a diferença de frequência dos estímulos alvo. Em conjunto os resultados obtidos mostram que o engajamento e manutenção de recursos atencionais longo do tempo variam em função da natureza periférica ou simbólica do estímulo alvo utilizado. A variação da frequência sonora dos estímulos alvo apresentados após uma sequência de estímulos não informativos também influencia o desempenho dos animais / The influence of attention in decision making processes is usually evaluated using two-alternative choice tasks in which the subjects react relying on detection and discrimination of two discrete stimuli. The possibilities of manipulating attentional demands in this kind of task is relatively restricted. The experimental design employed in the present experiments aimed at providing ways to manipulate the attentional demands during performance of an auditory task. This was achieved by presenting variable sequences of non-informative 6 kHz beeps, bilaterally, followed by one distinctive (either 3 or 10 kHz) informative beep presented either (1) bilaterally such that the frequency identifies the required response (Experiment 1) or (2) unilaterally such that the place of presentation identifies the required response (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1 data showed a decrease in both reaction times for target stimuli and percentage of comission errors as a function of the number of non-informative stimuli. These effects occurred early in training for both, 3 and 10 kHz target stimuli, and only for 10 kHz target stimulus after reversal of training. Interestingly, reaction times for 10 kHz target stimuli were longer relative to those seen for 3 kHz target stimuli. In contrast, reduction of the percentage of comission errors was stronger in trials using 10 kHz target stimuli. In Experiment 2 reaction times increased as a function of the increase in the number of non-informative stimuli. In addition, reaction times for 10 kHz target stimuli presented in the left side were longer as compared to both 10 kHz target stimuli presented in the right side and 3 kHz stimuli presented in both sides. Congruently, a smaller percentage of correct responses and a greater percentage of comission errors were seen when the 10 kHz target stimuli were presented in the left side. The percentage of correct responses and reaction times reduction were greater in the Experiment 2 as compared to Experiment 1, suggesting that in the present experimental conditions, identification of the place for stimulus presentation is prompter as compared to the difference in the frequency of the target stimuli. Together these results show that engagement and maintenance of attentional resources along time vary as a function of the peripheral and simbolic nature of the target stimuli. The frequency of target stimuli presented after a variable sequence of non-informative stimuli also interferes in performance of the subject

Synchronized oscillations of ensembles of neurons in the brain underlie human cognition and behaviors. Neuronal network oscillations can be described by the physics of coupled dynamical systems. This dissertation examines the dynamic network activities in two distinct neurocognitive networks, the salience network (SN) and the ventral temporal cortex-dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (VTC-DLPFC) network, during perceptual decision-making (PDM). The key nodes of the SN include the right anterior insula (rAI), left anterior insula (lAI), and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) in the brain. When and how a sensory signal enters and organizes within the SN before reaching the central executive network including the prefrontal cortex has been a mystery. Second, prior studies also report that perception of visual objects (face and house) involves a network of the VTC—the fusiform face area (FFA) and para-hippocampal place area (PPA)—and the DLPFC. How sensory information enters and organizes within the VTC-DLPFC network is not well understood, in milliseconds time-scale of human’s perception and decision-making. We used clear and noisy face/house image categorization tasks and scalp electroencephalography (EEG) recordings to study the dynamics of these networks. We demonstrated that beta (13–30 Hz) oscillation bound the SN, became most active around 100 ms after the stimulus onset, the rAI acted as a main outflow hub within the SN, and the SN activities were negatively correlated with the difficult tasks. We also uncovered that the VTC-DLPFC network activities were mediated by beta (13-30 Hz) and gamma (30-100 Hz) oscillations. Beta activities were enhanced in the time frame 125-250 ms after stimulus onset, the VTC acted as main outflow hub, and network activities were negatively correlated with the difficult tasks. In contrast, gamma activities were elevated in the time frame 0-125 ms, the DLPFC acted as a main outflow hub, and network activities—specifically the FFA-PPA pair—were positively correlated with the difficult tasks. These findings significantly enhance our understanding of how sensory information enters and organizes within the SN and the VTC-DLPFC network, respectively in PDM.

A influência da atenção em processos de tomada de decisões é frequentemente avaliada através da tarefa denominada \"two-alternative choice\", em que os animais são treinados a emitir respostas baseadas na detecção e discriminação de dois estímulos discretos. Pela sua própria natureza, as possibilidades de se manipular a demanda atencional nessas tarefas é relativamente restrita. O desenho experimental básico adotado no presente conjunto de experimentos almejou possibilitar a variação das demandas atencionais durante o desempenho de uma tarefa que envolve discriminação auditiva, por meio da apresentação de sequências variáveis de \"beeps\" de mesma frequência (estímulos sonoros não informativos de 6 kHz) apresentados bilateralmente, seguidos de um estímulo informativo, um beep distinto de 3 ou 10 kHz, apresentado (1) bilateralmente, cuja frequência sinaliza a resposta a ser emitida (Experimento 1), ou (2) unilateralmente, cujo local de apresentação sinaliza a resposta a ser emitida (Experimento 2). No Experimento 1 observou-se uma redução dos tempos de reação para os estímulos alvo e uma redução da porcentagem de erros de comissão em função do aumento do número de estímulos não informativos, para ambos os estímulos informativos numa primeira fase e apenas para o de 10 kHz após a reversão da resposta inicialmente treinada. Curiosamente, os tempos de reação para o estímulo alvo de 10 kHz foram maiores em relação aos exibidos para o estímulo alvo de 3 kHz. Por outro lado, a redução da porcentagem de erros de comissão foi mais acentuada nas tentativas envolvendo o estímulo alvo de 10 kHz. No Experimento 2 houve aumento dos tempos de reação em função do aumento do número de estímulos não informativos apresentados. Os tempos de reação para o estímulo alvo de 10 kHz apresentado no lado esquerdo foram maiores em relação ao lado direito e também em relação ao estímulo alvo de 3 kHz apresentado no lado esquerdo ou direito. No mesmo sentido, houve menor percentagem de respostas corretas e maior percentagem de erros de comissão quando o estimulo alvo de 10 kHz foi apresentado no lado esquerdo. A porcentagem de respostas corretas assim como a redução dos tempos de reação são maiores no Experimento 2 em relação ao Experimento 1, sugerindo que nas presentes condições experimentais a identificação da fonte sonora é mais prontamente detectada do que a diferença de frequência dos estímulos alvo. Em conjunto os resultados obtidos mostram que o engajamento e manutenção de recursos atencionais longo do tempo variam em função da natureza periférica ou simbólica do estímulo alvo utilizado. A variação da frequência sonora dos estímulos alvo apresentados após uma sequência de estímulos não informativos também influencia o desempenho dos animais / The influence of attention in decision making processes is usually evaluated using two-alternative choice tasks in which the subjects react relying on detection and discrimination of two discrete stimuli. The possibilities of manipulating attentional demands in this kind of task is relatively restricted. The experimental design employed in the present experiments aimed at providing ways to manipulate the attentional demands during performance of an auditory task. This was achieved by presenting variable sequences of non-informative 6 kHz beeps, bilaterally, followed by one distinctive (either 3 or 10 kHz) informative beep presented either (1) bilaterally such that the frequency identifies the required response (Experiment 1) or (2) unilaterally such that the place of presentation identifies the required response (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1 data showed a decrease in both reaction times for target stimuli and percentage of comission errors as a function of the number of non-informative stimuli. These effects occurred early in training for both, 3 and 10 kHz target stimuli, and only for 10 kHz target stimulus after reversal of training. Interestingly, reaction times for 10 kHz target stimuli were longer relative to those seen for 3 kHz target stimuli. In contrast, reduction of the percentage of comission errors was stronger in trials using 10 kHz target stimuli. In Experiment 2 reaction times increased as a function of the increase in the number of non-informative stimuli. In addition, reaction times for 10 kHz target stimuli presented in the left side were longer as compared to both 10 kHz target stimuli presented in the right side and 3 kHz stimuli presented in both sides. Congruently, a smaller percentage of correct responses and a greater percentage of comission errors were seen when the 10 kHz target stimuli were presented in the left side. The percentage of correct responses and reaction times reduction were greater in the Experiment 2 as compared to Experiment 1, suggesting that in the present experimental conditions, identification of the place for stimulus presentation is prompter as compared to the difference in the frequency of the target stimuli. Together these results show that engagement and maintenance of attentional resources along time vary as a function of the peripheral and simbolic nature of the target stimuli. The frequency of target stimuli presented after a variable sequence of non-informative stimuli also interferes in performance of the subject

The study of neural and behavioural mechanisms of perceptual decision making is often done by experimental tasks involving the categorization of sensory stimuli. Among the key perceptual tasks that decision neuroscience researchers use are motion discrimination paradigms that include tracking and specifying the net direction of a single dot or a group of moving dots. These motion discrimination paradigms, such as the random-dot motion task, allow the measurement of the participant's perceptual decision making abilities in multiple task difficulty levels by varying the amount of noise in the sensory stimuli. Computational models of perceptual decision making, such as the drift-diffusion model, are widely used to analyze the behavioural measurements from these motion discrimination experiments. However, the standard drift-diffusion model can only analyze the average measures like reaction times or the proportion of correct decisions to explain the behavioural data. In the past decade, an emerging computational modeling approach was introduced to analyze the choice behaviour based on precise noise patterns in the sensory stimuli. These computational models that use spatiotemporal stimulus details have shown promise in the single-trial analysis of motion discrimination behaviour. In this thesis, I further develop the advanced computational models of perceptual decision making that use spatiotemporal dynamics of motion stimuli to provide detailed explanations of perceptual choice behaviour. First, I demonstrate the usefulness of equipping an extended Bayesian Model, equivalent to the extended drift-diffusion model, with trial-wise stimulus information leading to a significantly better explanation of behavioural data from a single-dot tracking experiment. Second, I show that the extended drift-diffusion model constrained by spatiotemporal stimulus details can explain the consistent biased choice behaviour in response to stochastic motion stimuli. Based on this model-based analysis, I provide evidence that the source of the observed biased choice behaviour is the presence of subtle motion information in the sensory stimuli. These results further emphasize the effectiveness of using spatiotemporal details of stochastic stimuli in detailed model-based analyses of the experimental data and provide computational interpretations of the data related to underlying mechanisms of perceptual decision making.

Aujourd’hui, les modèles computationnels de l'apprentissage et de la prise de décision chez l'homme se sont raffinés et complexifiés pour prendre la forme de modèles génératifs des données psychophysiologiques de plus en plus réalistes d’un point de vue neurobiologique et biophysique. Dans le même temps, le nouveau champ de recherche des interfaces cerveau-machine (ICM) s’est développé de manière exponentielle. L'objectif principal de cette thèse était d'explorer comment le paradigme de l'électrophysiologie temps-réel peut contribuer à élucider les processus d'apprentissage et de prise de décision perceptive chez l’homme. Au niveau expérimental, j'ai étudié les décisions perceptives somatosensorielles grâce à des tâches de discrimination de fréquence tactile. En particulier, j'ai montré comment un contexte sensoriel implicite peut influencer nos décisions. Grâce à la magnétoencéphalographie (MEG), j'ai pu étudier les mécanismes neuronaux qui sous-tendent cette adaptation perceptive. L’ensemble de ces résultats renforce l'hypothèse de la construction implicite d’un a priori ou d'une référence interne au cours de l'expérience. Aux niveaux théoriques et méthodologiques, j'ai proposé une vue générique de la façon dont l'électrophysiologie temps-réel pourrait être utilisée pour optimiser les tests d'hypothèses, en adaptant le dessin expérimental en ligne. J'ai pu fournir une première validation de cette démarche adaptative pour maximiser l'efficacité du dessin expérimental au niveau individuel. Ce travail révèle des perspectives en neurosciences fondamentales et cliniques ainsi que pour les ICM / Today, psychological as well as physiological models of perceptual learning and decision-making processes have recently become more biologically plausible, leading to more realistic (and more complex) generative models of psychophysiological observations. In parallel, the young but exponentially growing field of Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI) provides new tools and methods to analyze (mostly) electrophysiological data online. The main objective of this PhD thesis was to explore how the BCI paradigm could help for a better understanding of perceptual learning and decision making processes in humans. At the empirical level, I studied decisions based on tactile stimuli, namely somatosensory frequency discrimination. More specifically, I showed how an implicit sensory context biases our decisions. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG), I was able to decipher some of the neural correlates of those perceptual adaptive mechanisms. These findings support the hypothesis that an internal perceptual-reference builds up along the course of the experiment. At the theoretical and methodological levels, I propose a generic view and method of how real-time electrophysiology could be used to optimize hypothesis testing, by adapting the experimental design online. I demonstrated the validity of this online adaptive design optimization (ADO) approach to maximize design efficiency at the individual level. I also discussed the implications of this work for basic and clinical neuroscience as well as BCI itself

Die Fähigkeit, Zustände in der Außenwelt zu beurteilen und zu kategorisieren, wird unter dem Oberbegriff „perzeptuelles Entscheiden“ zusammengefasst. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde funktionelle Magnetresonanztomografie mit multivariater Musteranalyse verbunden, um offene Fragen zur perzeptuellen Entscheidungsfindung zu beantworten. In der ersten Studie (Hebart et al., 2012) wurde gezeigt, dass der visuelle und parietale Kortex eine Repräsentation abstrakter perzeptueller Entscheidungen aufweisen. Im frühen visuellen Kortex steigt die Menge entscheidungsspezifischer Information mit der Menge an verfügbarer visueller Bewegungsinformation, doch der linke posteriore parietale Kortex zeigt einen negativen Zusammenhang. Diese Ergebnisse zeigen, wo im Gehirn abstrakte Entscheidungen repräsentiert werden und deuten darauf hin, dass die gefundenen Hirnregionen unterschiedlich in den Entscheidungsprozess involviert sind, je nach Menge an verfügbarer sensorischer Information. In der zweiten Studie (Hebart et al., submitted) wurde gezeigt, dass sich eine Repräsentation der Entscheidungsvariable (EV) im fronto-parietalen Assoziationskortex finden lässt. Ferner weist die EV im rechten ventrolateralen präfrontalen Kortex (vlPFC) einen spezifischen Zusammenhang mit konfidenzbezogenen Hirnsignalen im ventralen Striatum auf. Die Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass Konfidenz aus der EV im vlPFC berechnet wird. In der dritten Studie (Christophel et al., 2012) wurde gezeigt, dass der Kurzzeitgedächtnisinhalt im visuellen und posterioren parietalen Kortex, nicht jedoch im präfrontalen Kortex repräsentiert wird. Diese Ergebnisse lassen vermuten, dass der Gedächtnisinhalt in denselben Regionen enkodiert wird, die auch perzeptuelle Entscheidungen repräsentieren können. Zusammenfassend geben die hier errungenen Erkenntnisse Aufschluss über den neuronalen Code des perzeptuellen Entscheidens von Menschen und stellen ein vollständigeres Verständnis der zugrundeliegenden Prozesse in Aussicht. / Perceptual decision-making refers to the ability to arrive at categorical judgments about states of the outside world. Here we use functional magnetic resonance imaging and multivariate pattern analysis to identify decision-related brain regions and address a number of open issues in the field of perceptual decision-making. In the first study (Hebart et al., 2012), we demonstrated that perceptual decisions about motion direction are represented in both visual and parietal cortex, even when decoupled from motor plans. While in early visual cortex the amount of information about perceptual choices follows the amount of sensory evidence presented on the screen, the reverse pattern is observed in left posterior parietal cortex. These results reveal the brain regions involved when choices are encoded in an abstract format and suggest that these two brain regions are recruited differently depending on the amount of sensory evidence available. In the second study (Hebart et al., submitted), we show that the perceptual decision variable (DV) is represented throughout fronto-parietal association cortices. The DV in right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex covaries specifically with brain signals in the ventral striatum representing confidence, demonstrating a close link between the two variables. This suggests that confidence is calculated from the perceptual DV encoded in ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. In the third study (Christophel et al., 2012), using a visual short-term memory (VSTM) task, we demonstrate that the content of VSTM is represented in visual cortex and posterior parietal cortex, but not prefrontal cortex. These results constrain theories of VSTM and suggest that the memorized content is stored in regions shown to represent perceptual decisions. Together, these results shed light on the neuronal code underlying perceptual decision-making in humans and offer the prospect for a more complete understanding of these processes.