This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. We proposed experiments that test hypotheses about the neural mechanisms that underlie the brain's ability to make decisions. Our experiments address the mechanism used by the brain to convert sensory information represented by neurons in the visual cortex to a decision about what this information means for purposes of planning behavior. We showed that neurons in the association cortex of the macaque represent the accumulation of this evidence for one choice and against an alternative. This year, we demonstrated that the mechanism that explains choice and decision time also applies when the environment controls the availability of evidence. The surprising finding is that the brain acts as it would in a choice-reaction time experiment. It terminates the decision when ready despite the availability of addition information (Kiani et al, 2008). We have also completed a study of the mechanism to decision-making when there are more than 2 options (Churchland et al, 2008). Several theoretical studies performed in collaboration with investigators outside the WaNPRC were completed this year (Wong et al, 2008;Beck et al, 2008;Ganguli et al, 2008). Decision-making bridges the gap between sensation and behavior. Nearly all non-reflexive behaviors require the brain to draw upon its sensory cortex to guide future behavior. Thus, the neural mechanisms for the simple decisions we study are likely to lend insight into more complex cognitive strategies. Our experiments ultimately furnish new insights into the causes and treatments of mental disorders affecting perception, planning and reasoning.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Center for Research Resources (NCRR)
Type
Primate Research Center Grants (P51)
Project #
5P51RR000166-48
Application #
7958874
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRR1-CM-8 (02))
Project Start
2009-05-01
Project End
2010-04-30
Budget Start
2009-05-01
Budget End
2010-04-30
Support Year
48
Fiscal Year
2009
Total Cost
$315,187
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Washington
Department
Type
Other Domestic Higher Education
DUNS #
605799469
City
Seattle
State
WA
Country
United States
Zip Code
98195
Pham, Amelie; Carrasco, Marisa; Kiorpes, Lynne (2018) Endogenous attention improves perception in amblyopic macaques. J Vis 18:11
Zanos, Stavros; Rembado, Irene; Chen, Daofen et al. (2018) Phase-Locked Stimulation during Cortical Beta Oscillations Produces Bidirectional Synaptic Plasticity in Awake Monkeys. Curr Biol 28:2515-2526.e4
Choi, Hannah; Pasupathy, Anitha; Shea-Brown, Eric (2018) Predictive Coding in Area V4: Dynamic Shape Discrimination under Partial Occlusion. Neural Comput 30:1209-1257
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Wool, Lauren E; Crook, Joanna D; Troy, John B et al. (2018) Nonselective Wiring Accounts for Red-Green Opponency in Midget Ganglion Cells of the Primate Retina. J Neurosci 38:1520-1540
Hasegawa, Yu; Curtis, Britni; Yutuc, Vernon et al. (2018) Microbial structure and function in infant and juvenile rhesus macaques are primarily affected by age, not vaccination status. Sci Rep 8:15867
Oleskiw, Timothy D; Nowack, Amy; Pasupathy, Anitha (2018) Joint coding of shape and blur in area V4. Nat Commun 9:466
Eberle, R; Jones-Engel, L (2017) Understanding Primate Herpesviruses. J Emerg Dis Virol 3:
McAdams, Ryan M; McPherson, Ronald J; Kapur, Raj P et al. (2017) Focal Brain Injury Associated with a Model of Severe Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy in Nonhuman Primates. Dev Neurosci 39:107-123

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