Evidence Accumulation and the Moment of Recognition: Dissociating Perceptual Recognition Processes Using fMRI

• Published in: The Journal of neuroscience Vol. 27; no. 44; pp. 11912 - 11924
• Main Authors: Ploran, Elisabeth J, Nelson, Steven M, Velanova, Katerina, Donaldson, David I, Petersen, Steven E, Wheeler, Mark E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Soc Neuroscience 31.10.2007; Society for Neuroscience
• Subjects: Adult; Analysis of Variance; Brain Mapping; Cluster Analysis; Decision Making - physiology; Female; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted - methods; Linear Models; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Neuropsychological Tests; Oxygen - blood; Pattern Recognition, Visual - physiology; Photic Stimulation - methods; Psychomotor Performance - physiology; Reaction Time - physiology; Time Factors; Visual Cortex - blood supply; Visual Cortex - physiology
• ISSN: 0270-6474; 1529-2401
• DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3522-07.2007

Decision making can be conceptualized as the culmination of an integrative process in which evidence supporting different response options accumulates gradually over time. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate brain activity leading up to and during decisions about perceptual object identity. Pictures were revealed gradually and subjects signaled the time of recognition (T(R)) with a button press. We examined the time course of T(R)-dependent activity to determine how brain regions tracked the timing of recognition. In several occipital regions, activity increased primarily as stimulus information increased, suggesting a role in lower-level sensory processing. In inferior temporal, frontal, and parietal regions, a gradual buildup in activity peaking in correspondence with T(R) suggested that these regions participated in the accumulation of evidence supporting object identity. In medial frontal cortex, anterior insula/frontal operculum, and thalamus, activity remained near baseline until T(R), suggesting a relation to the moment of recognition or the decision itself. The findings dissociate neural processes that function in concert during perceptual recognition decisions.