Cortico–basal ganglia circuit mechanism for a decision threshold in reaction time tasks
Abstract
Growing evidence from primate neurophysiology and modeling indicates that in reaction time tasks, a perceptual choice is made when the firing rate of a selective cortical neural population reaches a threshold. This raises two questions: what is the neural substrate of the threshold and how can it be adaptively tuned according to behavioral demands? Using a biophysically based network model of spiking neurons, we show that local dynamics in the superior colliculus gives rise to an all-or-none burst response that signals threshold crossing in upstream cortical neurons. Furthermore, the threshold level depends only weakly on the efficacy of the cortico-collicular pathway. In contrast, the threshold and the rate of reward harvest are sensitive to, and hence can be optimally tuned by, the strength of cortico-striatal synapses, which are known to be modifiable by dopamine-dependent plasticity. Our model provides a framework to describe the main computational steps in a reaction time task and suggests that separate brain pathways are critical to the detection and adjustment of a decision threshold.
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Many models proposed to explain the coordination of reaction time and choice accuracy in 2-choice tasks share a common feature: a termination bound is applied to some form of evidence representation, the decision variable.
“Many models are proposed to explain the coordination of RT and choice accuracy in 2-choice tasks 4,18,25–27. These models share a common feature: a termination bound is applied to some form of evidence representation, the decision variable.”
From Decision-making with multiple alternatives (2008) · cites this paper as [27]
Recent models of sensorimotor transformation for eye movement control propose a process of gated accumulation, whereby accumulation in saccade movement cells is insulated from visual selection until an eye movement becomes appropriate.
“Recent models synthesizing these findings have proposed a process of gated accumulation, whereby the accumulation of information in saccade movement cells is insulated from visual selection unless (or until) an eye movement becomes appropriate (Lo and Wang, 2006; Purcell et al., 2012; Schall et al., 2011).”
From Attention, learning, and the value of information (2012) · cites this paper as Lo and Wang, 2006
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- Authors
- Lo, C.-C., & Wang, X.-J.
- Affiliations
- Brandeis University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Wang, Xiao-Jing
- Venue
- Nature Neuroscience
- Published
- 2006-06-11
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 956-963
- ISSN
- 1097-6256 (ISSN-L)
- 1546-1726
- OpenAlex
- W2123278801
- Semantic Scholar
- fa970aacd4e4aea2f0b3a10b365f32fe5a18a489
- Cited by
- 505
- References
- 49
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 31 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 26 · 2019: 22 · 2018: 29 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 35 · 2015: 34 · 2014: 26 · 2013: 35 · 2012: 33
- FWCI
- 11.16
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (MH 062349, R01MH062349)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural dynamics and brain function
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Keywords
- decision threshold, reaction time, cortico-basal ganglia circuits, superior colliculus, corticostriatal synapses, perceptual decision making
- MeSH terms
- Action Potentials, Animals, Basal Ganglia, Behavior, Animal, Cerebral Cortex, Decision Making, Functional Laterality, Models, Psychological, Neural Pathways, Neurons, Primates, Reaction Time, Saccades, Neural Networks, Computer, Nonlinear Dynamics
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