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Psychonomic Bulletin & Review Feb 2023Dyadic interactions require dynamic correspondence between one's own movements and those of the other agent. This mapping is largely viewed as imitative, with the...
Dyadic interactions require dynamic correspondence between one's own movements and those of the other agent. This mapping is largely viewed as imitative, with the behavioural hallmark being a reaction-time cost for mismatched actions. Yet the complex motor patterns humans enact together extend beyond direct-matching, varying adaptively between imitation, complementary movements, and counter-imitation. Optimal behaviour requires an agent to predict not only what is likely to be observed but also how that observed action will relate to their own motor planning. In 28 healthy adults, we examined imitation and counter-imitation in a task that varied the likelihood of stimulus-response congruence from highly predictable, to moderately predictable, to unpredictable. To gain mechanistic insights into the statistical learning of stimulus-response compatibility, we compared two computational models of behaviour: (1) a classic fixed learning-rate model (Rescorla-Wagner reinforcement [RW]) and (2) a hierarchical model of perceptual-behavioural processes in which the learning rate adapts to the inferred environmental volatility (hierarchical Gaussian filter [HGF]). Though more complex and hence penalized by model selection, the HGF provided a more likely model of the participants' behaviour. Matching motor responses were only primed (faster) in the most experimentally volatile context. This bias was reversed so that mismatched actions were primed when beliefs about volatility were lower. Inferential statistics indicated that matching responses were only primed in unpredictable contexts when stimuli-response congruence was at 50:50 chance. Outside of these unpredictable blocks the classic stimulus-response compatibility effect was reversed: Incongruent responses were faster than congruent ones. We show that hierarchical Bayesian learning of environmental statistics may underlie response priming during dyadic interactions.
Topics: Adult; Humans; Reaction Time; Bayes Theorem; Imitative Behavior; Learning
PubMed: 36008626
DOI: 10.3758/s13423-022-02161-6 -
ENeuro 2022The temporal dynamics of perceptual decisions offer a key window into the cognitive processes contributing to decision-making. Investigating perceptual dynamics in a...
The temporal dynamics of perceptual decisions offer a key window into the cognitive processes contributing to decision-making. Investigating perceptual dynamics in a genetically tractable animal model can facilitate the subsequent unpacking of the underlying neural mechanisms. Here, we investigated the time course as well as fundamental psychophysical constants governing visual perceptual decision-making in freely behaving mice. We did so by analyzing response accuracy against reaction time (RT), i.e., conditional accuracy, in a series of two-alternative forced choice (2-AFC) orientation discrimination tasks in which we varied target size, luminance, duration, and presence of a foil. Our results quantified two distinct stages in the time course of mouse visual decision-making: a "sensory encoding" stage in which conditional accuracy exhibits a classic trade-off with response speed, and a subsequent "short-term memory (STM)-dependent" stage in which conditional accuracy exhibits a classic asymptotic decay following stimulus offset. We estimated the duration of visual sensory encoding as 200-320 ms across tasks, the lower bound of the duration of STM as ∼1700 ms, and the briefest duration of visual stimulus input that is informative as ≤50 ms. Separately, by varying stimulus onset delay, we demonstrated that the conditional accuracy function (CAF) and RT distribution can be independently modulated, and found that the duration for which mice naturally withhold from responding is a quantitative metric of impulsivity. Taken together, our results establish a quantitative foundation for investigating the neural circuit bases of visual decision dynamics in mice.
Topics: Animals; Decision Making; Discrimination, Psychological; Mice; Reaction Time; Visual Perception
PubMed: 35228308
DOI: 10.1523/ENEURO.0161-21.2022 -
Journal of Vision Jul 2022Visual systems exploit temporal continuity principles to achieve stable spatial perception, manifested as the serial dependence and central tendency effects. These...
Visual systems exploit temporal continuity principles to achieve stable spatial perception, manifested as the serial dependence and central tendency effects. These effects are posited to reflect a smoothing process whereby past and present information integrates over time to decrease noise and stabilize perception. Meanwhile, the basic spatial coordinate-Cartesian versus polar-that scaffolds the integration process in two-dimensional continuous space remains unknown. The spatial coordinates are largely related to the allocentric and egocentric reference frames and presumably correspond with early and late processing stages in spatial perception. Here, four experiments consistently demonstrate that Cartesian outperforms polar coordinates in characterizing the serial bias-serial dependence and central tendency effect-in two-dimensional continuous spatial perception. The superiority of Cartesian coordinates is robust, independent of task environment (online and offline task), experimental length (short and long blocks), spatial context (shape of visual mask), and response modality (keyboard and mouse). Taken together, the visual system relies on the Cartesian coordinates for spatiotemporal integration to facilitate stable representation of external information, supporting the involvement of allocentric reference frame and top-down modulation in spatial perception over long time intervals.
Topics: Reaction Time; Space Perception
PubMed: 35857298
DOI: 10.1167/jov.22.8.13 -
Psychiatry Research Jul 2022Attentional function in substance use disorder (SUD) is not well understood. To probe attentional function in SUD as a function of primary substance of abuse, we...
Attentional function in substance use disorder (SUD) is not well understood. To probe attentional function in SUD as a function of primary substance of abuse, we administered the attentional network task (ANT) to 44 individuals with Cocaine Use Disorder (CoUD), 49 individuals with Cannabis Use Disorder (CaUD), 86 individuals with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD), and 107 controls with no SUD, along with the stop-signal task (SST). The ANT quantifies the effects of (temporal) alerting cues and (spatial) orienting cues to reduce reaction time (RT) to targets, as well as probing how conflicting (target-incongruent) stimuli slow RT. The SST quantifies individuals' ability to inhibit already-initiated motor responses. After controlling for sex representation and age, OUD and CaUD participants showed blunted alerting effects compared to controls, whereas CaUD and CoUD participants showed greater stimulus conflict (flanker) effects. Finally, CoUD participants showed a trend toward increased orienting ability. In SST performance, no SUD group showed a prolonged stop-signal reaction compared to controls. However, the OUD group (and CoUD group at trend level) showed prolonged "go" RT to targets and reduced hit rates. These data indicate differences in attentional function in persons with SUD as a function of the primary substance use.
Topics: Attention; Cues; Executive Function; Humans; Opioid-Related Disorders; Reaction Time
PubMed: 35533472
DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2022.114591 -
Cognitive Neuroscience Apr 2017Why does training on a task reduce the reaction time for performing it? New research points to changes in white matter pathways as one likely mechanism. These pathways... (Review)
Review
Why does training on a task reduce the reaction time for performing it? New research points to changes in white matter pathways as one likely mechanism. These pathways connect remote brain areas involved in performing the task. Genetic variations may be involved in individual differences in the extent of this improvement. If white matter change is involved in improved reaction time with training, it may point the way toward understanding where and how generalization occurs. We examine the hypothesis that brain pathways shared by different tasks may result in improved performance of cognitive tasks remote from the training.
Topics: Humans; Practice, Psychological; Psychomotor Performance; Reaction Time; Transfer, Psychology; White Matter
PubMed: 27064751
DOI: 10.1080/17588928.2016.1173664 -
Attention, Perception & Psychophysics May 2022A warning signal preceding an imperative stimulus by a certain foreperiod can accelerate responses (foreperiod effect). When foreperiod is varied within a block, the...
A warning signal preceding an imperative stimulus by a certain foreperiod can accelerate responses (foreperiod effect). When foreperiod is varied within a block, the foreperiod effect on reaction time (RT) is modulated by both the current and the prior foreperiods. Using a non-aging foreperiod distribution in a simple-reaction task, Capizzi et al. (Cognition, 134, 39-49, 2015) found equal sequential effects for different foreperiods, which they credited to repetition priming. The multiple-trace theory of Los et al. (Frontiers in Psychology, 5, Article 1058, 2014) attributes the slope of the foreperiod-RT function to the foreperiod distribution. We conducted three experiments that examined these predicted relations. Experiment 1 tested Capizzi et al.'s prediction in a choice-reaction task and found an increasing foreperiod-RT function but a larger sequential effect at the shorter foreperiod. Experiment 2 used two distinct short foreperiods with the same foreperiod distribution and found a decreasing foreperiod-RT function. By increasing the difference between the foreperiods used in Experiment 2, Experiment 3 yielded a larger sequential effect overall. The experiments provide evidence that, with a non-aging foreperiod distribution, the variable-foreperiod paradigm yields unequal sequential-effect sizes at the different foreperiods, consistent with the multiple-trace theory but contrary to Capizzi et al.'s repetition-priming account. The foreperiod-RT functions are similar to those of the fixed-foreperiod paradigm, which is not predicted by the multiple trace theory.
Topics: Cognition; Humans; Reaction Time; Repetition Priming
PubMed: 35391659
DOI: 10.3758/s13414-022-02476-5 -
Industrial Health 1990Contingent negative variations (CNV) were recorded during the S1-S2 interval of two simple and one discriminative task at Fz, Cz and Pz of 12 physically-trained college...
Contingent negative variations (CNV) were recorded during the S1-S2 interval of two simple and one discriminative task at Fz, Cz and Pz of 12 physically-trained college athletes and 12 non-trained students. The reaction time to S2 was also measured. The whole mean CNV amplitude average over the 2 sec S1-S2 interval and the segmented CNV amplitudes of the 250 msec epochs were submitted to 4-way ANOVA (physical training x task x electrode position x gender), while the mean reaction time was analyzed by 3-way ANOVA. The whole mean CNV amplitude and all the segmented CNV amplitudes were greater in the physically-trained group than in the non-trained group. In all tasks the mean reaction times of the physically-trained group were significantly shorter than those of the non-trained group. The main effect of gender was not statistically significant with respect to the CNV amplitudes and the mean reaction time. The increased CNV amplitude and the shortened reaction time of the physically-trained group were discussed in relation to the reported psychophysiological correlates of CNV. The present study shows that CNV provides a technique of possible value for assessing attention and motor preparation of workers engaged in vigilance tasks.
Topics: Adult; Contingent Negative Variation; Discrimination, Psychological; Female; Humans; Male; Physical Education and Training; Psychomotor Performance; Reaction Time; Reference Values
PubMed: 2376531
DOI: 10.2486/indhealth.28.97 -
Child Neuropsychology : a Journal on... Oct 2019The term "processing speed" (PS) encompasses many components including perceptual, cognitive and output speed. Despite evidence for reduced PS in...
The term "processing speed" (PS) encompasses many components including perceptual, cognitive and output speed. Despite evidence for reduced PS in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), little is known about which component(s) is most impacted in ADHD, or how it may vary by subtypes. Participants included 151 children, ages 8-12 years, with ADHD Predominantly Inattentive Type, ADHD Combined Type and typically developing controls using DSM-IV criteria. All children completed four measures of processing speed: Symbol Search, Coding, Decision Speed, and simple reaction time. We found children with ADHD-PI and ADHD-C had slower perceptual and psychomotor/incidental learning speed than controls and that ADHD-PI had slower decision speed than controls. The subtypes did not differ on any of these measures. Mean reaction time was intact in ADHD. Hence, at a very basic output level, children with ADHD do not have impaired speed overall, but as task demands increase their processing speed becomes less efficient than controls'. Further, perceptual and psychomotor speed were related to inattention, and psychomotor speed/incidental learning was related to hyperactivity/impulsivity. Thus, inattention may contribute to less efficient performance and worse attention to detail on tasks with a higher perceptual and/or psychomotor load; whereas hyperactivity/impulsivity may affect psychomotor speed/incidental learning, possibly via greater inaccuracy and/or reduced learning efficiency. Decision speed was not related to either dimension. Results suggest that PS deficits are primarily linked to the inattention dimension of ADHD but not exclusively. Findings also suggest PS is not a singular process but rather a multifaceted system that is differentially impacted in ADHD.
Topics: Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity; Child; Female; Humans; Male; Reaction Time
PubMed: 30558479
DOI: 10.1080/09297049.2018.1556625 -
Behavior Research Methods Oct 2023Evidence-accumulation models are a useful tool for investigating the cognitive processes that give rise to behavioural data patterns in reaction times (RTs) and error...
Evidence-accumulation models are a useful tool for investigating the cognitive processes that give rise to behavioural data patterns in reaction times (RTs) and error rates. In their simplest form, evidence-accumulation models include three parameters: The average rate of evidence accumulation over time (drift rate) and the amount of evidence that needs to be accumulated before a response becomes selected (boundary) both characterise the response-selection process; a third parameter summarises all processes before and after the response-selection process (non-decision time). Researchers often compute experimental effects as simple difference scores between two within-subject conditions and such difference scores can also be computed on model parameters. In the present paper, we report spurious correlations between such model parameter difference scores, both in empirical data and in computer simulations. The most pronounced spurious effect is a negative correlation between boundary difference and non-decision difference, which amounts to r = - .70 or larger. In the simulations, we only observed this spurious negative correlation when either (a) there was no true difference in model parameters between simulated experimental conditions, or (b) only drift rate was manipulated between simulated experimental conditions; when a true difference existed in boundary separation, non-decision time, or all three main parameters, the correlation disappeared. We suggest that care should be taken when using evidence-accumulation model difference scores for correlational approaches because the parameter difference scores can correlate in the absence of any true inter-individual differences at the population level.
Topics: Humans; Reaction Time; Individuality; Computer Simulation
PubMed: 36138317
DOI: 10.3758/s13428-022-01956-8 -
Cell Reports Mar 2023Decision making often depends on vague information that leads to uncertainty, which is a quantity contingent not on choice but on probability distributions of sensory...
Decision making often depends on vague information that leads to uncertainty, which is a quantity contingent not on choice but on probability distributions of sensory evidence and other cognitive variables. Uncertainty may be computed in parallel and interact with decision making. Here, we adapt the classic random-dot motion direction discrimination task to allow subjects to indicate their uncertainty without having to form a decision first. The subjects' choices and reaction times for perceptual decisions and uncertainty responses are measured, respectively. We then build a value-based model in which decisions are based on optimizing value computed from a drift-diffusion process. The model accounts for key features of subjects' behavior and the variation across the individuals. It explains how the addition of the uncertainty option affects perceptual decision making. Our work establishes a value-based theoretical framework for studying uncertainty and perceptual decisions that can be readily applied in future investigations of the underlying neural mechanism.
Topics: Humans; Uncertainty; Decision Making; Reaction Time; Probability
PubMed: 36924497
DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112232