Abstract
BackgroundDecision-making is a fundamental capacity which is crucial to many higher-order psychological functions. We recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) during a visual target-identification task that required go-nogo choices. Targets were identified on the basis of cross-dimensional conjunctions of particular colors and forms. Color discriminability was manipulated in three conditions to determine the effects of color distinctiveness on component processes of decision-making.ResultsTarget identification was accompanied by the emergence of prefrontal P2a and P3b. Selection negativity (SN) revealed that target-compatible features captured attention more than target-incompatible features, suggesting that intra-dimensional attentional capture was goal-contingent. No changes of cross-dimensional selection priorities were measurable when color discriminability was altered. Peak latencies of the color-related SN provided a chronometric measure of the duration of attention-related neural processing. ERPs recorded over the frontocentral scalp (N2c, P3a) revealed that color-overlap distractors, more than form-overlap distractors, required additional late selection. The need for additional response selection induced by color-overlap distractors was severely reduced when color discriminability decreased.ConclusionWe propose a simple model of cross-dimensional perceptual decision-making. The temporal synchrony of separate color-related and form-related choices determines whether or not distractor processing includes post-perceptual stages. ERP measures contribute to a comprehensive explanation of the temporal dynamics of component processes of perceptual decision-making.
Highlights
Decision-making is a fundamental capacity which is crucial to many higher-order psychological functions
We propose a simple model of cross-dimensional perceptual decision-making
event-related potentials (ERPs) measures contribute to a comprehensive explanation of the temporal dynamics of component processes of perceptual decision-making
Summary
Decision-making is a fundamental capacity which is crucial to many higher-order psychological functions. Color discriminability was manipulated in three conditions to determine the effects of color distinctiveness on component processes of decision-making. Adaptive performance requires decision processes capable of identifying perceptual situations demanding specific responses. Performance emerges from interaction between an organism's goals (top-down influences) and stimuli that impact on that organism (bottom-up influences). Decision processes must be able to resolve possible conflicts between stimulus-driven (reflexive) and goal-contingent (voluntary) control over per-. This study aims at describing the temporal dynamics of neural processes related to component processes of perceptual decision-making (perceptual analysis, selective attention, conflict-related processing) in humans. Potts [21] proposed that the P2a reflects stimulus evaluation in the service of the task demands, i.e., an early, perhaps preliminary, target identification mechanism
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