Parsing a perceptual decision into a sequence of moments of thought
Theoretical, computational, and experimental studies have converged to a model of decision-making in which sensory evidence is stochastically integrated to a threshold, implementing a shift from an analog to a discrete form of computation. Understanding how this process can be chained and sequenced...
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2011
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| Acceso en línea: | https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_16625145_v5_n_p_Graziano http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_16625145_v5_n_p_Graziano |
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paper:paper_16625145_v5_n_p_Graziano2025-07-30T19:01:27Z Parsing a perceptual decision into a sequence of moments of thought Graziano, Martin Sigman, Mariano Decision-making Mental algorithms Sequential operations Vision adult article chronosequence cognition decision making female human human experiment male mental performance mental task moment of thought motor performance thinking time perception Theoretical, computational, and experimental studies have converged to a model of decision-making in which sensory evidence is stochastically integrated to a threshold, implementing a shift from an analog to a discrete form of computation. Understanding how this process can be chained and sequenced - as virtually all real-life tasks involve a sequence of decisions - remains an open question in neuroscience. We reasoned that incorporating a virtual continuum of possible behavioral outcomes in a simple decision task - a fundamental ingredient of real-life decision-making - should result in a progressive sequential approximation to the correct response. We used real-time tracking of motor action in a decision task, as a measure of cognitive states reflecting an internal decision process. We found that response trajectories were spontaneously segmented into a discrete sequence of explorations separated by brief stops (about 200ms) - which remained unconscious to the participants. The characteristics of these stops were indicative of a decision process - a "moment of thought": their duration correlated with the difficulty of the decision and with the efficiency of the subsequent exploration. Our findings suggest that simple navigation in an abstract space involves a discrete sequence of explorations and stops and, moreover, that these stops reveal a fingerprint of moments of thought. © 2011 Graziano, Polosecki, Shalom and Sigman. Fil:Graziano, M. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. Fil:Sigman, M. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. 2011 https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_16625145_v5_n_p_Graziano http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_16625145_v5_n_p_Graziano |
| institution |
Universidad de Buenos Aires |
| institution_str |
I-28 |
| repository_str |
R-134 |
| collection |
Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA) |
| topic |
Decision-making Mental algorithms Sequential operations Vision adult article chronosequence cognition decision making female human human experiment male mental performance mental task moment of thought motor performance thinking time perception |
| spellingShingle |
Decision-making Mental algorithms Sequential operations Vision adult article chronosequence cognition decision making female human human experiment male mental performance mental task moment of thought motor performance thinking time perception Graziano, Martin Sigman, Mariano Parsing a perceptual decision into a sequence of moments of thought |
| topic_facet |
Decision-making Mental algorithms Sequential operations Vision adult article chronosequence cognition decision making female human human experiment male mental performance mental task moment of thought motor performance thinking time perception |
| description |
Theoretical, computational, and experimental studies have converged to a model of decision-making in which sensory evidence is stochastically integrated to a threshold, implementing a shift from an analog to a discrete form of computation. Understanding how this process can be chained and sequenced - as virtually all real-life tasks involve a sequence of decisions - remains an open question in neuroscience. We reasoned that incorporating a virtual continuum of possible behavioral outcomes in a simple decision task - a fundamental ingredient of real-life decision-making - should result in a progressive sequential approximation to the correct response. We used real-time tracking of motor action in a decision task, as a measure of cognitive states reflecting an internal decision process. We found that response trajectories were spontaneously segmented into a discrete sequence of explorations separated by brief stops (about 200ms) - which remained unconscious to the participants. The characteristics of these stops were indicative of a decision process - a "moment of thought": their duration correlated with the difficulty of the decision and with the efficiency of the subsequent exploration. Our findings suggest that simple navigation in an abstract space involves a discrete sequence of explorations and stops and, moreover, that these stops reveal a fingerprint of moments of thought. © 2011 Graziano, Polosecki, Shalom and Sigman. |
| author |
Graziano, Martin Sigman, Mariano |
| author_facet |
Graziano, Martin Sigman, Mariano |
| author_sort |
Graziano, Martin |
| title |
Parsing a perceptual decision into a sequence of moments of thought |
| title_short |
Parsing a perceptual decision into a sequence of moments of thought |
| title_full |
Parsing a perceptual decision into a sequence of moments of thought |
| title_fullStr |
Parsing a perceptual decision into a sequence of moments of thought |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Parsing a perceptual decision into a sequence of moments of thought |
| title_sort |
parsing a perceptual decision into a sequence of moments of thought |
| publishDate |
2011 |
| url |
https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_16625145_v5_n_p_Graziano http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_16625145_v5_n_p_Graziano |
| work_keys_str_mv |
AT grazianomartin parsingaperceptualdecisionintoasequenceofmomentsofthought AT sigmanmariano parsingaperceptualdecisionintoasequenceofmomentsofthought |
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1840327364050944000 |