Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Brain Imaging

Brain Imaging

Brain imaging technologies provide critical insights into both the structure and function of the human brain, enabling medical professionals and researchers to diagnose, study, and treat neurological disorders or psychiatric disorders more effectively.
These technologies include computerized axial tomography (CAT or CT scans), positron-emission tomography (PET scans), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and Transcranial Magnetic...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Physical contact reveals a hidden layer of cortical architecture.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026

Same author

A Bayesian approach to temporal surgical segmentation model fusion.

International journal of computer assisted radiology and surgery·2026

Same author

Modeling attention and binding in the brain through bidirectional recurrent gating.

Nature communications·2026

Same author

Mid-superior temporal sulcus encodes spatial context and behavioral state in freely moving macaques.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026

Same author

A preregistered, open pipeline for early cerebral palsy risk assessment from infant videos.

GigaScience·2026

Same author

Toward a science of prospective learning.

Neuron·2025

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Apr 16, 2026

How to Find Effects of Stimulus Processing on Event Related Brain Potentials of Close Others when Hyperscanning Partners

How to Find Effects of Stimulus Processing on Event Related Brain Potentials of Close Others when Hyperscanning Partners

Published on: May 31, 2018

Using psychophysics to ask if the brain samples or maximizes.

Daniel E Acuna¹, Max Berniker², Hugo L Fernandes³

¹Sensory Motor Performance Program, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA Biomedical Engineering, Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.

Journal of Vision

|March 14, 2015

Summary

The two-alternative forced-choice task may not always accurately measure sensory precision due to decision-making mechanisms. This study reveals that humans likely use a maximum a posteriori mechanism in these tasks.

Keywords:

Bayesian decision-making just-noticeable difference (JND)maximum a posteriori psychophysics sampling two-alternative forced choice (2AFC)

More Related Videos

Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy of the Sensory and Motor Brain Regions with Simultaneous Kinematic and EMG Monitoring During Motor Tasks

Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy of the Sensory and Motor Brain Regions with Simultaneous Kinematic and EMG Monitoring During Motor Tasks

Published on: December 5, 2014

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Observing Virtual Social Interactions

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Observing Virtual Social Interactions

Published on: July 6, 2011

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Apr 16, 2026

How to Find Effects of Stimulus Processing on Event Related Brain Potentials of Close Others when Hyperscanning Partners

How to Find Effects of Stimulus Processing on Event Related Brain Potentials of Close Others when Hyperscanning Partners

Published on: May 31, 2018

Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy of the Sensory and Motor Brain Regions with Simultaneous Kinematic and EMG Monitoring During Motor Tasks

Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy of the Sensory and Motor Brain Regions with Simultaneous Kinematic and EMG Monitoring During Motor Tasks

Published on: December 5, 2014

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Observing Virtual Social Interactions

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Observing Virtual Social Interactions

Published on: July 6, 2011

Area of Science:

Cognitive psychology
Psychophysics
Decision science

Background:

The two-alternative forced-choice (2AFC) task is widely used to assess sensory precision by measuring just-noticeable differences.
However, the assumption that 2AFC tasks accurately reflect sensory precision holds true only for certain decision-making mechanisms.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the impact of different decision-making mechanisms on the outcomes of the 2AFC task.
To determine which decision-making mechanism, sampling or maximum a posteriori (MAP), is employed by human subjects in 2AFC tasks.
To establish the 2AFC task as a tool for studying decision-making under uncertainty.

Main Methods:

Derivation of behavioral predictions for sampling and maximum a posteriori decision-making mechanisms.
Design and execution of a combined visual 2AFC and estimation experiment.
Analysis of subject behavior to infer the underlying decision-making strategy.

Main Results:

Behavioral predictions for both sampling and maximum a posteriori mechanisms were derived.
Experimental results strongly indicated that human subjects utilize a maximum a posteriori decision-making mechanism.
The study successfully validated the 2AFC task for probing decision strategies.

Conclusions:

The standard two-alternative forced-choice task can be adapted to reveal the decision-making mechanisms employed by individuals.
Human subjects appear to favor a maximum a posteriori strategy when performing 2AFC tasks.
This research provides a framework for using psychophysical tasks to understand decision-making under uncertainty.