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Updated: Jun 5, 2026
07:13
A Two-interval Forced-choice Task for Multisensory Comparisons
Published on: November 9, 2018
Complementary roles of systems representing sensory evidence and systems detecting task difficulty during perceptual
Douglas A Ruff1, Sean Marrett, Hauke R Heekeren
1Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health Bethesda, MD, USA.
Frontiers in Neuroscience
|December 22, 2010
Summary
Brain activity in decision-making regions varies with task difficulty. Some areas increase activity for harder decisions, while others decrease, suggesting a flexible scaling mechanism.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Decision Science
Background:
- Perceptual decision making involves processing sensory input to choose between options.
- Two frameworks exist for defining brain regions in decision making: evidence accumulation to a threshold or activity reflecting decision difficulty.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate brain activity patterns during perceptual decision making.
- To determine if brain region activity aligns with evidence accumulation or decision difficulty frameworks.
Main Methods:
- Subjects performed a face detection task with degraded images.
- Blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) activity was recorded simultaneously.
- Correlation between BOLD activity and reaction time (task difficulty) was calculated.
Main Results:
- Right supplementary eye field, right frontal eye field, and right inferior frontal gyrus showed increased BOLD activity positively correlated with reaction time.
- Left superior frontal sulcus and left middle temporal gyrus showed decreased BOLD activity negatively correlated with reaction time.
Conclusions:
- Results support a model where brain region activity scales with task demands.
- A flexible mechanism explains varying BOLD signal changes across different brain regions during decision making.
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