Abstract
Humans can make abstract choices independent of motor actions. However, in laboratory tasks, choices are typically reported with an associated action. Consequentially, knowledge about the neural representation of abstract choices is sparse, and choices are often thought to evolve as motor intentions. Here, we show that in the human brain, perceptual choices are represented in an abstract, motor-independent manner, even when they are directly linked to an action. We measured MEG signals while participants made choices with known or unknown motor response mapping. Using multivariate decoding, we quantified stimulus, perceptual choice, and motor response information with distinct cortical distributions. Choice representations were invariant to whether the response mapping was known during stimulus presentation, and they occupied a distinct representational space from motor signals. As expected from an internal decision variable, they were informed by the stimuli, and their strength predicted decision confidence and accuracy. Our results demonstrate abstract neural choice signals that generalize to action-linked decisions, suggesting a general role of an abstract choice stage in human decision-making.
Funder
H2020 European Research Council
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
State of Baden-Württemberg
German Research Foundation
Open Access Publishing Fund of the University of Tübingen
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subject
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences,General Immunology and Microbiology,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology,General Neuroscience
Reference70 articles.
1. Neural Mechanisms for Interacting with a World Full of Action Choices;P Cisek;Annu Rev Neurosci,2010
2. Neural Basis of a Perceptual Decision in the Parietal Cortex (Area LIP) of the Rhesus Monkey;MN Shadlen;J Neurophysiol,2001
3. Representation of a perceptual decision in developing oculomotor commands;JI Gold;Nature,2000
4. The Neural Basis of Decision Making;JI Gold;Annu Rev Neurosci,2007
5. Macaque dorsal premotor cortex exhibits decision-related activity only when specific stimulus–response associations are known;M Wang;Nat Commun,2019
Cited by
6 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献