A general mechanism for perceptual decision-making in the human brain
Abstract
Findings from single-cell recording studies suggest that a comparison of the outputs of different pools of selectively tuned lower-level sensory neurons may be a general mechanism by which higher-level brain regions compute perceptual decisions. For example, when monkeys must decide whether a noisy field of dots is moving upward or downward, a decision can be formed by computing the difference in responses between lower-level neurons sensitive to upward motion and those sensitive to downward motion. Here we use functional magnetic resonance imaging and a categorization task in which subjects decide whether an image presented is a face or a house to test whether a similar mechanism is also at work for more complex decisions in the human brain and, if so, where in the brain this computation might be performed. Activity within the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is greater during easy decisions than during difficult decisions, covaries with the difference signal between face- and house-selective regions in the ventral temporal cortex, and predicts behavioural performance in the categorization task. These findings show that even for complex object categories, the comparison of the outputs of different pools of selectively tuned neurons could be a general mechanism by which the human brain computes perceptual decisions.
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Previous fMRI studies have provided considerable evidence that DLPFC is required for the implementation of basic perceptual as well as complex social decisions and judgments.
“previous fMRI studies have provided considerable evidence that DLPFC is required for the implementation of basic perceptual (Heekeren et al., 2004(Heekeren et al., , 2006) ) as well as complex social decisions and judgments (Knoch et al., 2006(Knoch et al., , 2009;;Spitzer et al., 2007;Steinbeis et al., 2012;Tassy et al., 2012).”
From Age-related differences in function and structure of rSMG and reduced functional connectivity with DLPFC explains heightened emotional egocentricity bias in childhood (2015) · cites this paper as Heekeren et al., 2004
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Sensorimotor Mechanisms of Decisions and Actions
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- Authors
- Heekeren, H. R., Marrett, S., Bandettini, P. A., & Ungerleider, L. G.
- Affiliations
- National Institutes of Health (US)
- Corresponding author
- Heekeren, H. R.
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2004-10
- Volume
- 431
- Issue
- 7010
- Pages
- 859-862
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W2059473123
- Cited by
- 741
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 31 · 2022: 34 · 2021: 38 · 2020: 39 · 2019: 30 · 2018: 38 · 2017: 45 · 2016: 32 · 2015: 37 · 2014: 70 · 2013: 42 · 2012: 40
- FWCI
- 8.56
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Keywords
- perceptual decision making, difference signal, ventral temporal cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, face-selective regions, object classification, decision difficulty, neural basis of decision making
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Haplorhini, Attention, Brain, Decision Making, Face, Female, Housing, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Models, Neurological, Pattern Recognition, Visual, Photic Stimulation, Visual Perception, Prefrontal Cortex
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