Center for Neuroscience and Department of Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior, University of California, Davis, California 95618, USA.
J Neurosci. 2012 Sep 12;32(37):12684-701. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5752-11.2012.
Previous neurophysiological studies of perceptual decision-making have focused on single-unit activity, providing insufficient information about how individual decisions are accomplished. For the first time, we recorded simultaneously from multiple decision-related neurons in parietal cortex of monkeys performing a perceptual decision task and used these recordings to analyze the neural dynamics during single trials. We demonstrate that decision-related lateral intraparietal area neurons typically undergo gradual changes in firing rate during individual decisions, as predicted by mechanisms based on continuous integration of sensory evidence. Furthermore, we identify individual decisions that can be described as a change of mind: the decision circuitry was transiently in a state associated with a different choice before transitioning into a state associated with the final choice. These changes of mind reflected in monkey neural activity share similarities with previously reported changes of mind reflected in human behavior.
先前有关感知决策的神经生理学研究集中在单个神经元的活动上，对于个体决策是如何完成的提供了不充分的信息。我们首次在猴子执行感知决策任务时同时记录了多个与决策相关的顶叶皮层神经元的活动，并利用这些记录来分析单次试验中的神经动力学。我们证明，与决策相关的外侧顶内区神经元在个体决策过程中通常会经历放电率的逐渐变化，这与基于对感觉证据的连续整合的机制预测相符。此外，我们确定了可以被描述为改变主意的个体决策：决策回路在过渡到与最终选择相关的状态之前，会暂时处于与另一种选择相关的状态。在猴子神经活动中反映出的这些改变主意与先前报告的人类行为中反映出的改变主意具有相似之处。
