Non-decision Time Research Articles

Information accumulation on the item versus source test of source monitoring: Insights from diffusion modeling.

Source monitoring involves attributing previous experiences (e.g., studied words as items) to their origins (e.g., screen positions as sources). The present study aimed toward a better understanding of temporal aspects of item and source processing. Participants made source decisions for recognized items either in succession (i.e., the standard format) or in separate test blocks providing independent measures of item and source decision speed. Comparable speeds of item and source decision across the test formats would suggest a full separation between item and source processing, whereas different speeds would imply their (partial) temporal overlap. To test these alternatives, we used the drift rate parameter of the diffusion model (Ratcliff, Psychological Review, 85, 59-108, 1978). We examined whether the drift rates, together with the other parameters, assessed separately for the item and source decision varied as a function of the test format. Threshold separation and nondecision time differed between the test formats, but item and source decision speeds represented by drift rates did not change significantly. Thus, despite facilitation on the source decision when the item decision was immediately followed by a test for source memory than when item and source were tested in separate blocks, findings did not suggest that source information already begins accumulating in the item test in the standard format. We discuss the temporal sequence of item and source processing in light of different assumptions about the contribution of familiarity and recollection.

The Effect of Congruent versus Incongruent Distractor Positioning on Electrophysiological Signals during Perceptual Decision-Making.

Key event-related potentials (ERPs) of perceptual decision-making such as centroparietal positivity (CPP) elucidate how evidence is accumulated toward a given choice. Furthermore, this accumulation can be impacted by visual target selection signals such as the N2 contralateral (N2c). How these underlying neural mechanisms of perceptual decision-making are influenced by the spatial congruence of distractors relative to target stimuli remains unclear. Here, we used electroencephalography (EEG) in humans of both sexes to investigate the effect of distractor spatial congruency (same vs different hemifield relative to targets) on perceptual decision-making. We confirmed that responses for perceptual decisions were slower for spatially incongruent versus congruent distractors of high salience. Similarly, markers of target selection (N2c peak amplitude) and evidence accumulation (CPP slope) were found to be lower when distractors were spatially incongruent versus congruent. To evaluate the effects of congruency further, we applied drift diffusion modeling to participant responses, which showed that larger amplitudes of both ERPs were correlated with shorter nondecision times when considering the effect of congruency. The modeling also suggested that congruency's effect on behavior occurred prior to and during evidence accumulation when considering the effects of the N2c peak and CPP slope. These findings point to spatially incongruent distractors, relative to congruent distractors, influencing decisions as early as the initial sensory processing phase and then continuing to exert an effect as evidence is accumulated throughout the decision-making process. Overall, our findings highlight how key electrophysiological signals of perceptual decision-making are influenced by the spatial congruence of target and distractor.

Cognitive Mechanisms of Aberrant Self-Referential Social Perception in Psychosis and Bipolar Disorder: Insights From Computational Modeling.

Individuals with schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BD) show disruptions in self-referential gaze perception-a social perceptual process related to symptoms and functioning. However, our current mechanistic understanding of these dysfunctions and relationships is imprecise. The present study used mathematical modeling to uncover cognitive processes driving gaze perception abnormalities in SZ and BD, and how they relate to cognition, symptoms, and social functioning. We modeled the behavior of 28 SZ, 38 BD, and 34 controls (HC) in a self-referential gaze perception task using drift-diffusion models parameterized to index key cognitive components: drift rate (evidence accumulation efficiency), drift bias (perceptual bias), start point (expectation bias), threshold separation (response caution), and nondecision time (encoding/motor processes). Results revealed that aberrant gaze perception in SZ and BD was driven by less efficient evidence accumulation, perceptual biases predisposing self-referential responses, and greater caution (SZ only). Across SZ and HC, poorer social functioning was related to greater expectation biases. Within SZ, perceptual and expectancy biases were associated with hallucination and delusion severity, respectively. These findings indicate that diminished evidence accumulation and perceptual biases may underlie altered gaze perception in patients and that SZ may engage in compensatory cautiousness, sacrificing response speed to preserve accuracy. Moreover, biases at the belief and perceptual levels may relate to symptoms and functioning. Computational modeling can, therefore, be used to achieve a more nuanced, cognitive process-level understanding of the mechanisms of social cognitive difficulties, including gaze perception, in individuals with SZ and BD.

Using diffusion models for symbolic numeracy tasks to examine aging effects.

We present a model-based analysis of aging effects in three symbolic numeracy tasks using three groups of subjects (young adults, 60- to 69-year-olds, and 70- to 90-year-olds). The tasks are number discrimination (is this number greater or less than 50), number memory (was this number in the list of numbers just displayed), and number line (point to where this number is on this number line). The first two tasks were fit by the standard two-choice diffusion model and the last one by the spatially continuous diffusion model (Ratcliff, 2018). Results showed good fits of the models to accuracy (choices) and response time distributions. In the tasks, nondecision time (the time to encode a stimulus and make a response) increased with age, but the amount of evidence needed for a decision (boundary settings) increased in the number discrimination and number memory tasks, but not the number line task. The number discrimination task produced conflicting accuracy and response time results as a function of age, but the model-based analyses resolved these differences. In the number memory task, drift rates (evidence used to drive the decision process) were lower for the older adults than for young adults, but for the other two (easier) tasks, there was no change in drift rate with age. The analyses extracted differences among individuals in model components, some of which were systematic across tasks. In particular, drift rates were correlated across tasks, which shows consistent individual differences across tasks, results that could not have been obtained without model-based analyses. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Preadolescent externalizing and internalizing symptoms are differentially related to drift-diffusion model parameters and neural activation during a go/no-go task

BackgroundMental health disorders are among the leading causes of disability in childhood and adolescence. Notably, mental health disorders commonly co-occur, indicating that critical mechanisms may relate to multiple forms of psychopathology. One potential transdiagnostic mechanism that has been examined in youth is inhibitory control. However, previous neuroimaging research on inhibitory control in youth has typically not examined transdiagnostic symptom dimensions or used computational modeling to quantify subcomponent processes that affect inhibition. MethodsIn the present study, a diverse sample of preadolescents who were oversampled for psychopathology risk (N = 86, ages 8–12) completed a Go/No-Go task during an fMRI scan. Parents completed a series of questionnaires that were used to capture externalizing and internalizing symptom dimensions. Drift-diffusion modeling (DDM) was applied to preadolescents’ task behavior, and model parameters were linked with neural activation using two contrasts: successful inhibition and failed inhibition. ResultsDuring successful inhibition, bilateral inferior temporal gyrus (ITG) activation was related to non-decision time, and ITG activation was associated with externalizing and internalizing symptoms. During failed inhibition, insula and putamen activation were associated with drift rates, as well as with internalizing symptoms, independent of externalizing symptoms. ConclusionsResults indicate that distinct cognitive processes are related to broader psychopathology symptom dimensions in preadolescents. Future studies should assess relations among computational parameters and clinical risk in youth, which may reveal important prevention and/or intervention targets.

Rhythmic variance influences the speed but not the accuracy of complex averaging decisions.

When a rhythm makes an event predictable, that event is perceived faster, and typically more accurately. However, the experiments showing this used simple tasks, and most manipulated temporal expectancy by using periodic or aperiodic precursors unrelated to stimulus and task. Three experiments tested the generality of these observations in a complex task in which rhythm was intrinsic to, rather than a precursor of, the information needed to respond: listeners averaged the laterality of a stream of noise bursts. We varied presentation rate, degree of periodicity, and average lateralisation. Decisions following a probe tone were fastest after periodic stimuli, and slowest after the most aperiodic stimuli. Without a probe tone, listeners responded sooner during periodic sequences, thus hearing less information. Periodicity did not benefit accuracy overall. This gain in speed but not accuracy for less information is not reported for simpler tasks. Neural entrainment supplemented by cognitive factors provide a tentative explanation. When the task is inherently complex and demands high attention over long durations, both expected-periodic and unexpected-aperiodic stimuli can increase response amplitude, enhancing stimulus representation, but periodicity increases confidence to respond early. Drift diffusion modelling supports this proposal: aperiodicity modulated the decision threshold, but not the drift rate or non-decision time. Together, these new data and the literature point towards task-dependent effects of temporal expectation on decision-making, showing interactions between rhythmic variance, task complexity, and sources of expectation about stimuli. We suggest the implications are worth exploring to extend understanding of rhythmicity on decision-making to everyday situations.

High stakes slow responding, but do not help overcome Pavlovian biases in humans.

"Pavlovian" or "motivational" biases are the phenomenon that the valence of prospective outcomes modulates action invigoration: the prospect of reward invigorates actions, while the prospect of punishment suppresses actions. Effects of the valence of prospective outcomes are well established, but it remains unclear how the magnitude of outcomes ("stake magnitude") modulates these biases. In this preregistered study (N = 55), we manipulated stake magnitude (high vs. low) in an orthogonalized Motivational Go/NoGo Task. We tested whether higher stakes (a) strengthen biases or (b) elicit cognitive control recruitment, enhancing the suppression of biases in motivationally incongruent conditions. Confirmatory tests showed that high stakes slowed down responding, especially in motivationally incongruent conditions. However, high stakes did not affect whether a response was made or not, and did not change the magnitude of Pavlovian biases. Reinforcement-learning drift-diffusion models (RL-DDMs) fit to the data suggested that response slowing was best captured by stakes prolonging the non-decision time. There was no effect of the stakes on the response threshold (as in typical speed-accuracy trade-offs). In sum, these results suggest that high stakes slow down responses without affecting the expression of Pavlovian biases in behavior. We speculate that this slowing under high stakes might reflect heightened cognitive control, which is however ineffectively used, or reflect positive conditioned suppression, i.e., the interference between goal-directed and consummatory behaviors, a phenomenon previously observed in rodents that might also exist in humans. Pavlovian biases and slowing under high stakes may arise in parallel to each other.

A computational account of conflict processing during mental imagery.

Previous studies examining conflict processing within the context of a color-word Stroop task have focused on both stimulus and response conflicts. However, it has been unclear whether conflict can emerge independently of stimulus conflict. In this study, a novel arrow-gaze mental-rotation Stroop task was introduced to explore the interplay between conflict processing and mental rotation. A modelling approach was utilized to provide a process-level account of the findings. The results of our Stroop task indicate that conflict can emerge from mental rotation in the absence of stimulus conflict. The strength of this imagery conflict effect decreases and even reverses as mental rotation angles increase. Additionally, it was observed that participants responded more quickly and with greater accuracy to small rather than large face orientations. A comparison of three conflict diffusion models-the diffusion model for conflict tasks (DMC), the dual-stage two-phase model (DSTP), and the shrinking spotlight model (SSP)-yielded consistent support for the DSTP over the DMC and SSP in the majority of instances. The DSTP account of the experimental results revealed an increased nondecision time with increasing mental rotation, a reduction in interference from incompatible stimuli, and an improved drift rate in response selection phase, which suggests enhanced cognitive control. The findings from the model-based analysis provide evidence for a novel interaction between cognitive control and mental rotation.

Non-decision time: The Higgs Boson of decision.

Generative models of decision now permeate all subfields of psychology, cognitive, and clinical neuroscience. To successfully investigate decision mechanisms from behavior, it is necessary to assume the presence of delays prior and after the decision process itself. However, directly observing this "non-decision time (NDT)" from behavior long appeared beyond reach, the field mainly relying on models to estimate it. Here, we propose a biological definition of decision that includes perceptual discrimination and action selection, and in turn, explicitly equates NDT with the minimum sensorimotor delay, or "deadtime." We show how this delay is directly observable in behavioral data, without modeling assumptions, using the visual interference approach. We apply this approach to 11 novel and archival data sets from humans and monkeys gathered from multiple labs. We validate the method by showing that visual properties (brightness, color, size) consistently affect empirically measured visuomotor deadtime (VMDT), as predicted by neurophysiology. We then show that endogenous factors (strategic slowing, attention) do not affect VMDT. Therefore, VMDT consistently satisfies widespread selective influence assumptions, in contrast to NDT parameters from model fits. Last, contrasting empirically observed VMDT with NDT estimates from the EZ, drift diffusion, and linear ballistic accumulator models, we conclude that NDT parameters from these models are unlikely to consistently reflect visuomotor delays, neither at a group level nor for individual differences, in contrast to a widely held assumption. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Boosting arousal and cognitive performance through alternating posture: Insights from a multi-method laboratory study.

This study investigated the role of arousal and effort costs in the cognitive benefits of alternating between sitting and standing postures using a sit-stand desk, while measuring executive functions, self-reports, physiology, and neural activity in a 2-h laboratory session aimed to induce mental fatigue. Two sessions were conducted with a one-week gap, during which participants alternated between sitting and standing postures each 20-min block in one session and remained seated in the other. In each block, inhibition, switching, and updating were assessed. We examined effects of time-on-task, acute (local) effects of standing versus sitting posture, and cumulative (global) effects of a standing posture that generalize to the subsequent block in which participants sit. Results (N = 43) confirmed that time-on-task increased mental fatigue and decreased arousal. Standing (versus sitting) led to acute increases in arousal levels, including self-reports, alpha oscillations, and cardiac responses. Standing also decreased physiological and perceived effort costs. Standing enhanced processing speed in the flanker task, attributable to shortened nondecision time and speeded evidence accumulation processes. No significant effects were observed on higher-level executive functions. Alternating postures also increased heart rate variability cumulatively over time. Exploratory mediation analyses indicated that the positive impact of acute posture on enhanced drift rate was mediated by self-reported arousal, whereas decreased nondecision time was mediated by reductions in alpha power. In conclusion, alternating between sitting and standing postures can enhance arousal, decrease effort costs, and improve specific cognitive and physiological outcomes.

Age-related differences in resting-state, task-related, and structural brain connectivity: graph theoretical analyses and visual search performance.

Previous magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) research suggests that aging is associated with a decrease in the functional interconnections within and between groups of locally organized brain regions (modules). Further, this age-related decrease in the segregation of modules appears to be more pronounced for a task, relative to a resting state, reflecting the integration of functional modules and attentional allocation necessary to support task performance. Here, using graph-theoretical analyses, we investigated age-related differences in a whole-brain measure of module connectivity, system segregation, for 68 healthy, community-dwelling individuals 18-78years of age. We obtained resting-state, task-related (visual search), and structural (diffusion-weighted) MRI data. Using a parcellation of modules derived from the participants' resting-state functional MRI data, we demonstrated that the decrease in system segregation from rest to task (i.e., reconfiguration) increased with age, suggesting an age-related increase in the integration of modules required by the attentional demands of visual search. Structural system segregation increased with age, reflecting weaker connectivity both within and between modules. Functional and structural system segregation had qualitatively different influences on age-related decline in visual search performance. Functional system segregation (and reconfiguration) influenced age-related decline in the rate of visual evidence accumulation (drift rate), whereas structural system segregation contributed to age-related slowing of encoding and response processes (nondecision time). The age-related differences in the functional system segregation measures, however, were relatively independent of those associated with structural connectivity.

Staying in control: Characterizing the mechanisms underlying cognitive control in high and low arousal states.

Throughout the day, humans show natural fluctuations in arousal that impact cognitive function. To study the behavioural dynamics of cognitive control during high and low arousal states, healthy participants performed an auditory conflict task during high-intensity physical exercise (N = 39) or drowsiness (N = 33). In line with the pre-registered hypotheses, conflict and conflict adaptation effects were preserved during both altered arousal states. Overall task performance was markedly poorer during low arousal, but not for high arousal. Modelling behavioural dynamics with drift diffusion analysis revealed evidence accumulation and non-decision time decelerated, and decisional boundaries became wider during low arousal, whereas high arousal was unexpectedly associated with a decrease in the interference of task-irrelevant information processing. These findings show how arousal differentially modulates cognitive control at both sides of normal alertness, and further validate drowsiness and physical exercise as key experimental models to disentangle the interaction between physiological fluctuations on cognitive dynamics.

Decomposition of Reinforcement Learning Deficits in Disordered Gambling via Drift Diffusion Modeling and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Gambling disorder is associated with deficits in reward-based learning, but the underlying computational mechanisms are still poorly understood. Here, we examined this issue using a stationary reinforcement learning task in combination with computational modeling and functional resonance imaging (fMRI) in individuals that regular participate in gambling (n = 23, seven fulfilled one to three DSM 5 criteria for gambling disorder, sixteen fulfilled four or more) and matched controls (n = 23). As predicted, the gambling group exhibited substantially reduced accuracy, whereas overall response times (RTs) were not reliably different between groups. We then used comprehensive modeling using reinforcement learning drift diffusion models (RLDDMs) in combination with hierarchical Bayesian parameter estimation to shed light on the computational underpinnings of this performance deficit. In both groups, an RLDDM in which both non-decision time and decision threshold (boundary separation) changed over the course of the experiment accounted for the data best. The model showed good parameter and model recovery, and posterior predictive checks revealed that, in both groups, the model accurately reproduced the evolution of accuracies and RTs over time. Modeling revealed that, compared to controls, the learning impairment in the gambling group was linked to a more rapid reduction in decision thresholds over time, and a reduced impact of value-differences on the drift rate. The gambling group also showed shorter non-decision times. FMRI analyses replicated effects of prediction error coding in the ventral striatum and value coding in the ventro-medial prefrontal cortex, but there was no credible evidence for group differences in these effects. Taken together, our findings show that reinforcement learning impairments in disordered gambling are linked to both maladaptive decision threshold adjustments and a reduced consideration of option values in the choice process.

Clarifying Cognitive Control Deficits in Psychosis via Drift Diffusion Modeling and Attractor Dynamics.

Cognitive control deficits are prominent in individuals with psychotic psychopathology. Studies providing evidence for deficits in proactive control generally examine average performance and not variation across trials for individuals-potentially obscuring detection of essential contributors to cognitive control. Here, we leverage intertrial variability through drift-diffusion models (DDMs) aiming to identify key contributors to cognitive control deficits in psychosis. People with psychosis (PwP; N = 122), their first-degree biological relatives (N = 78), and controls (N = 50) each completed 120 trials of the dot pattern expectancy (DPX) cognitive control task. We fit full hierarchical DDMs to response and reaction time (RT) data for individual trials and then used classification models to compare the DDM parameters with conventional measures of proactive and reactive control. PwP demonstrated slower drift rates on proactive control trials suggesting less efficient use of cue information. Both PwP and relatives showed protracted nondecision times to infrequent trial sequences suggesting slowed perceptual processing. Classification analyses indicated that DDM parameters differentiated between the groups better than conventional measures and identified drift rates during proactive control, nondecision time during reactive control, and cue bias as most important. DDM parameters were associated with real-world functioning and schizotypal traits. Modeling of trial-level data revealed that slow evidence accumulation and longer preparatory periods are the strongest contributors to cognitive control deficits in psychotic psychopathology. This pattern of atypical responding during the DPX is consistent with shallow basins in attractor dynamic models that reflect difficulties in maintaining state representations, possibly mediated by excess neural excitation or poor connectivity.

Cognitive Signatures of Depressive and Anhedonic Symptoms and Affective States Using Computational Modeling and Neurocognitive Testing

BackgroundDeeper phenotyping may improve our understanding of depression. Because depression is heterogeneous, extracting cognitive signatures associated with severity of depressive symptoms, anhedonia, and affective states is a promising approach. MethodsSequential sampling models decomposed behavior from an adaptive approach-avoidance conflict task into computational parameters quantifying latent cognitive signatures. Fifty unselected participants completed clinical scales and the approach-avoidance conflict task by either approaching or avoiding trials offering monetary rewards and electric shocks. ResultsDecision dynamics were best captured by a sequential sampling model with linear collapsing boundaries varying by net offer values, and with drift rates varying by trial-specific reward and aversion, reflecting net evidence accumulation toward approach or avoidance. Unlike conventional behavioral measures, these computational parameters revealed distinct associations with self-reported symptoms. Specifically, passive avoidance tendencies, indexed by starting point biases, were associated with greater severity of depressive symptoms (R = 0.34, p = .019) and anhedonia (R = 0.49, p = .001). Depressive symptoms were also associated with slower encoding and response execution, indexed by nondecision time (R = 0.37, p = .011). Higher reward sensitivity for offers with negative net values, indexed by drift rates, was linked to more sadness (R = 0.29, p = .042) and lower positive affect (R = −0.33, p = .022). Conversely, higher aversion sensitivity was associated with more tension (R = 0.33, p = .025). Finally, less cautious response patterns, indexed by boundary separation, were linked to more negative affect (R = −0.40, p = .005). ConclusionsWe demonstrated the utility of multidimensional computational phenotyping, which could be applied to clinical samples to improve characterization and treatment selection.

A diffusion decision model analysis of the cognitive effects of neurofeedback for ADHD.

To examine cognitive effects of neurofeedback (NF) for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as a secondary outcome of a randomized clinical trial. In a double-blind randomized clinical trial (NCT02251743), 133 7-10-year olds with ADHD received either 38 sessions of NF (n = 78) or control treatment (n = 55) and performed an integrated visual and auditory continuous performance test at baseline, mid- and end-treatment. We used the diffusion decision model to decompose integrated visual and auditory continuous performance test performance at each assessment into cognitive components: efficiency of integrating stimulus information (v), context sensitivity (cv), response cautiousness (a), response bias (z/a), and nondecision time for perceptual encoding and response execution (Ter). Based on prior findings, we tested whether the components known to be deficient improved with NF and explored whether other cognitive components improved using linear mixed modeling. Before NF, children with ADHD showed main deficits in integrating stimulus information (v), which led to less accurate and slower responses than healthy controls (p = .008). The NF group showed significantly more improvement in integrating auditory stimulus information (v) than control treatment (significant group-by-time-by-modality effect: p = .044). NF seems to improve v, deficient in ADHD. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Regulation of craving training to support healthy food choices under stress: A randomized control trial employing the hierarchical drift-diffusion model.

Stress increases the likelihood of consuming unhealthy food in some individuals. Previous research has demonstrated that the Regulation of Craving - Training (ROC-T) intervention can reduce unhealthy food intake. However, its effectiveness under stress and the underlying mechanism remained uncertain. This study aimed to assess the efficacy of the ROC-T intervention in improving healthy food choices and to explore the intervention mechanism through computational modeling employing the hierarchical drift-diffusion model (HDDM). This study adopted a 2 (ROC-T intervention vs. control)*2 (stress vs. no-stress) between-subject experimental design. A total of 118 employees (72 women, Mage=28.74) participated in the online experiment. Results show that the ROC-T intervention increases healthy food choices under stress and no-stress conditions. The HDDM results reveal a significant two-way interaction for non-decision time (Bayes factor, BF = 32.722) and initial bias (BF = 27.350). Specifically, in the no-stress condition, the ROC-T intervention resulted in lower non-decision time and higher initial bias compared with the control group. The findings validated the negative impact of stress on healthy food choices, and that the ROC-T intervention promotes healthy food choices both under stress and no-stress conditions.

Insight into differing decision-making strategies that underlie cognitively effort-based decision making using computational modeling in rats.

The rat cognitive effort task (rCET), a rodent model of cognitive rather than physical effort, requires animals to choose between an easy or hard visuospatial discrimination, with a correct hard choice more highly rewarded. Like in humans, there is stable individual variation in choice behavior. In previous reports, animals were divided into two groups-workers and slackers-based on their mean preference for the harder option. Although these groups differed in their response to pharmacological challenges, the rationale for using this criterion for grouping was not robust. We collated experimental data from multiple cohorts of male and female rats performing the rCET and used a model-based framework combining drift diffusion modeling with cluster analysis to identify the decision-making processes underlying variation in choice behavior. We verified that workers and slackers are statistically different groups but also found distinct intra-group profiles. These subgroups exhibited dissociable performance during the attentional phase, linked to distinct decision-making profiles during choice. Reanalysis of previous pharmacology data using this model-based framework showed that serotonergic drug effects were explained by changes in decision boundaries and non-decision times, while scopolamine's effects were driven by changes in decision starting points and rates of evidence accumulation. Modeling revealed the decision-making processes that are associated with cognitive effort costs, and how these differ across individuals. Reanalysis of drug data provided insight into the mechanisms through which different neurotransmitter systems impact cognitively effortful attention and decision-making processes, with relevance to multiple psychiatric disorders.

EXPLORING LINKS BETWEEN COGNITIVE AGING AND FEATURES OF WORKING MEMORY VIA COMPUTATIONAL MODELING

Abstract With an aging population, understanding cognitive aging is essential for developing interventions to support independence and well-being. Additionally, there is a need for sensitive measures that can differentiate subtle cognitive decline related to neurodegenerative disease from age-related changes. In particular, Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementia (ADRD) increases in prevalence with age and involves progressive cognitive decline. The Color Shapes task (CST) is a visual working memory task that has been shown to be sensitive to early indicators for ADRD. CST involves feature binding (e.g., mental representation of features into a unified whole) that is impaired in people with ADRD. In an experiment, we manipulated different CST properties to study whether drift diffusion modeling (DDM) can account for individual differences in latent decision-making processes generating manifest CST performance scores. DDM allows us to quantify theoretically meaningful cognitive parameters that underlie task performance captured in reaction times and accuracies. 68 U.S. community-residing adults (28-80 years) completed daily smartphone assessments across 8 days with experimentally manipulated versions of the CST. We implemented a single-step Bayesian estimation of experimental conditions contrasts, latent DDM parameters, and their associations. We show how individual differences in experimental contrasts were related to age in terms of cognitive (drift rate), non-cognitive (non-decision time), and meta-cognitive (boundary separation) parameters. The results highlight the benefits of using cognitive process models with optimized cognitive tasks to delineate features of cognitive aging for ADRD research.

Assessing the Longitudinal Associations Between Decision-Making Processes and Attention Problems in Early Adolescence.

Cognitive functions and psychopathology develop in parallel in childhood and adolescence, but the temporal dynamics of their associations are poorly understood. The present study sought to elucidate the intertwined development of decision-making processes and attention problems using longitudinal data from late childhood (9-10 years) to mid-adolescence (11-13 years) from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study (n = 8918). We utilised hierarchical drift-diffusion modelling of behavioural data from the stop-signal task, parent-reported attention problems from the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), and multigroup univariate and bivariate latent change score models. The results showed faster drift rate was associated with lower levels of inattention at baseline, as well as a greater reduction of inattention over time. Moreover, baseline drift rate negatively predicted change in attention problems in females, and baseline attention problems negatively predicted change in drift rate. Neither response caution (decision threshold) nor encoding- and responding processes (non-decision time) were significantly associated with attention problems. There were no significant sex differences in the associations between decision-making processes and attention problems. The study supports previous findings of reduced evidence accumulation in attention problems and additionally shows that development of this aspect of decision-making plays a role in developmental changes in attention problems in youth.