Persistent activity in human parietal cortex mediates perceptual choice repetition bias

Nature Communications, vol. 13, pp. 6015

Abstract

Humans and other animals tend to repeat or alternate their previous choices, even when judging sensory stimuli presented in a random sequence. It is unclear if and how sensory, associative, and motor cortical circuits produce these idiosyncratic behavioral biases. Here, we combined behavioral modeling of a visual perceptual decision with magnetoencephalographic (MEG) analyses of neural dynamics, across multiple regions of the human cerebral cortex. We identified distinct history-dependent neural signals in motor and posterior parietal cortex. Gamma-band activity in parietal cortex tracked previous choices in a sustained fashion, and biased evidence accumulation toward choice repetition; sustained beta-band activity in motor cortex inversely reflected the previous motor action, and biased the accumulation starting point toward alternation. The parietal, not motor, signal mediated the impact of previous on current choice and reflected individual differences in choice repetition. In sum, parietal cortical signals seem to play a key role in shaping choice sequences.

Authors 2

1. Anne E Urai corresponding Aachen Cognitive Psychology Unit Institute of Psychology, Leiden University

   Leiden University · University of Amsterdam · University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf

   Affiliation as printed

   Cognitive Psychology Unit, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands. a.e.urai@fsw.leidenuniv.nl

   Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. a.e.urai@fsw.leidenuniv.nl

   Section Computational Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Neurophysiology and Pathophysiology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany. a.e.urai@fsw.leidenuniv.nl

   Cognitive Psychology Unit, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands

   Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

   Section Computational Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Neurophysiology and Pathophysiology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany

2. Tobias H. Donner corresponding

   University of Amsterdam · University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf · Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin

   Affiliation as printed

   Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Berlin, Germany. t.donner@uke.de

   Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. t.donner@uke.de

   Section Computational Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Neurophysiology and Pathophysiology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany. t.donner@uke.de

   Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Berlin, Germany

   Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

   Section Computational Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Neurophysiology and Pathophysiology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany