Adaptive Choice Biases in Mice and Humans

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Decision Making
• Animal Behavior

Background:

• The role of non-sensory information in perceptual decision-making remains unclear.
• Choice biases, prevalent in mice and humans, can decrease reward outcomes despite their persistence.
• Potential origins of choice biases include functional asymmetries in sensory processing or decision-making.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how experimental conditions influence choice bias production in mice and humans.
• To develop methods for jointly characterizing psychometric performance and innate side-choice behavior.
• To understand the impact of stimulus discriminability on choice biases in different task paradigms.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of forced-choice and un-forced (free-choice) visual tasks.
• Assessment of psychometric performance and side-choice behavior in mice and humans.
• Analysis of choice bias stability, adaptability, and influence of experimental manipulations.

Main Results:

• Both species exhibited stable side-choice biases, forming continuous distributions.
• Stimulus discriminability decreased choice biases in forced-choice tasks but not in free-choice tasks.
• Choice biases were stable across days, identifiable for individuals, and adaptable to non-visual reinforcement.

Conclusions:

• Choice biases are influenced by both internal and external factors.
• The findings highlight the adaptability of choice biases in response to experimental contingencies.
• Task adaptations may serve as diagnostic tools for detecting aberrant choice variability.