Context-Sensitive Computational Mechanisms of Decision Making

Abstract

Real-world information is primarily sensory in nature, and understandably people attach value to the sensory information to prepare for appropriate behavioral responses. This review presents research from value-based, perceptual, and social decision-making domains, so far studied using isolated paradigms and their corresponding computational models. For example, in perceptual decision making, the sensory evidence accumulation rather than value computation becomes central to choice behavior. Furthermore, we identify cross-linkages between the perceptual and value-based domains to help us better understand generic processes pertaining to individual decision making. The purpose of this review is 2-fold. First, we identify the need for integrated study of different domains of decision making. Second, given that both our perception and valuation are influenced by the surrounding context, we suggest the integration of different types of information in decision making could be done by studying contextual influences in decision making. Future research needs to attempt toward a system-level understanding of various subprocesses involved in decision making.

Causal evidence for a domain-specific role of left superior frontal sulcus in human perceptual decision making

“…Even though some previous studies have suggested that DLPFC activity may reflect value-based evidence integration , Sokol-Hessner et al 2012, it is hard to directly compare the implicated neural processes to those underlying perceptual choices, due to major differences in the stimuli and experimental approaches classically used in each domain (Balleine 2007, Gold and Shadlen 2007, Krawczyk 2002. While there are good theoretical reasons to believe that common mechanisms may underlie both perceptual and value-based choices (Chawla andMiyapuram 2018, Summerfield andTsetsos 2012), the number of studies directly comparing the neural mechanisms between both choice domains is surprisingly limited. The few existing studies have all used correlational neuroimaging techniques (Grueschow et al 2015, Polania et al 2014, and no study to date has used causal brain-stimulation techniques in combination with neuroimaging to directly compare the neuro-computational contributions of the SFS to both types of choice.…”