TY - JOUR
T1 - Distractors selectively modulate electrophysiological markers of perceptual decisions
AU - Zhou, Shou-Han
AU - Loughnane, Gerard M.
AU - O'Connell, Redmond
AU - Bellgrove, Mark
AU - Chong, Trevor T.J.
N1 - Funding Information:
Redmond O?Connell: H2020 European Research Council (http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100010663), grant number: 63829; Office of Naval Research Global (http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100007297). Mark A. Bellgrove: Australian Re s e a r c h Counc i l ( ht t p: / / dx . doi. or g/1 0. 1 3 0 3 9/501100000923), grant number: DP180102066, National Heal th and Medi cal Research Counci l of Austral i a (http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000925); Office of Naval Research Gl obal (http: / / dx. doi. org/10. 13039/100007297). Trevor T.-J. Chong: Australian Research Council (http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000923), grant numbers: DP 180102383 and DE 180100389, the Judi t h Jane Mason and Harol d St annet t Wi l l i ams Memori al Foundat i on (ht t p: / / dx. doi. org/10. 13039/100008718), the Brain Foundation (http://dx.doi.org/10. 13039/501100000942), the Rebecca L. Cooper Medi cal Resear ch Foundat i on (ht t p: / / dx. doi. or g/10.13039/501100001061), and the Society for Mental He a l t h R e s e a r c h ( h t t p: / / d x . d o i . o r g / 1 0 . 1 3 0 3 9 / 501100006624), Of f i ce of Naval Research Gl obal (http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100007297).
Funding Information:
Redmond O’Connell: H2020 European Research Council (http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100010663), grant number: 63829; Office of Naval Research Global (http://dx.doi .org/10.13039/100007297). Mark A. Bellgrove: Australian Research Council (http://dx.doi.org/10.13039 /501100000923), grant number: DP180102066, National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000925); Office of Naval Research Global (http://dx.doi.org/10.13039 /100007297). Trevor T.-J. Chong: Australian Research Council (http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000923), grant numbers: DP 180102383 and DE 180100389, the Judith Jane Mason and Harold Stannett Williams Memorial Foundation (http://dx.doi.org/10.13039 /100008718), the Brain Foundation (http://dx.doi.org /10.13039/501100000942), the Rebecca L. Cooper Medical Research Foundation (http://dx.doi.org /10.13039/501100001061), and the Society for Mental Health Research (http://dx.doi.org/10.13039 /501100006624), Office of Naval Research Global (http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100007297).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, MIT Press Journals. All rights reserved.
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/6
Y1 - 2021/6
N2 - Current models of perceptual decision-making assume that choices are made after evidence in favor of an alternative accumulates to a given threshold. This process has recently been revealed in human EEG recordings, but an unresolved issue is how these neural mechanisms are modulated by competing, yet task-irrelevant, stimuli. In this study, we tested 20 healthy participants on a motion direction discrimination task. Participants monitored two patches of random dot motion simultaneously presented on either side of fixation for periodic changes in an upward or downward motion, which could occur equiprobably in either patch. On a random 50% of trials, these periods of coherent vertical motion were accompanied by simultaneous task-irrelevant, horizontal motion in the contralateral patch. Our data showed that these distractors selectively increased the amplitude of early target selection responses over scalp sites contralateral to the distractor stimulus, without impacting on responses ipsilat-eral to the distractor. Importantly, this modulation mediated a decrement in the subsequent buildup rate of a neural signature of evidence accumulation and accounted for a slowing of RTs. These data offer new insights into the functional interactions between target selection and evidence accumulation signals, and their susceptibility to task-irrelevant distractors. More broadly, these data neural l y i nf orm f uture model s of perceptual decision-making by highlighting the influence of early processing of competing stimuli on the accumulation of perceptual evidence.
AB - Current models of perceptual decision-making assume that choices are made after evidence in favor of an alternative accumulates to a given threshold. This process has recently been revealed in human EEG recordings, but an unresolved issue is how these neural mechanisms are modulated by competing, yet task-irrelevant, stimuli. In this study, we tested 20 healthy participants on a motion direction discrimination task. Participants monitored two patches of random dot motion simultaneously presented on either side of fixation for periodic changes in an upward or downward motion, which could occur equiprobably in either patch. On a random 50% of trials, these periods of coherent vertical motion were accompanied by simultaneous task-irrelevant, horizontal motion in the contralateral patch. Our data showed that these distractors selectively increased the amplitude of early target selection responses over scalp sites contralateral to the distractor stimulus, without impacting on responses ipsilat-eral to the distractor. Importantly, this modulation mediated a decrement in the subsequent buildup rate of a neural signature of evidence accumulation and accounted for a slowing of RTs. These data offer new insights into the functional interactions between target selection and evidence accumulation signals, and their susceptibility to task-irrelevant distractors. More broadly, these data neural l y i nf orm f uture model s of perceptual decision-making by highlighting the influence of early processing of competing stimuli on the accumulation of perceptual evidence.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85110429234&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1162/jocn_a_01703
DO - 10.1162/jocn_a_01703
M3 - Article
C2 - 34428789
AN - SCOPUS:85110429234
VL - 33
SP - 1020
EP - 1031
JO - Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
JF - Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
SN - 0898-929X
IS - 6
ER -