{"id":{"repo_id":"tdl","oai_identifier":"oai:tdl-ir.tdl.org:2152/39742"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/tdl/oai:tdl-ir.tdl.org:2152/39742","repository":{"repo_id":"tdl","name":"Texas Digital Library","base_url":"https://tdl-ir.tdl.org/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Decision-making in the primate brain : formation, location, and causal manipulation","abstract":"Interaction within the environment relies on the ability to accumulate sensory evidence in favor of a decision. Despite the paramount importance of decision-making to survival, the neural instantiations and computational principles governing the process have remained elusive. In this thesis I consider how sensory evidence is accumulated to guide decisions, and where in the primate brain this process takes place. I report the results of three main experiments. In the first, I test whether sensory evidence is accumulated differentially for motion in the frontoparallel plane (i.e. 2D motion; left/right) compared to motion through depth (i.e. 3D motion; towards/away). I show that integration of 3D motion is different than 2D and likely relies on a mechanism that is distinct. In the second experiment, I test an influential theory in cognitive neuroscience: that neurons in the monkey lateral intraparietal (LIP) cortex accumulate sensory information in favor of a decision communicated by an eye-movement. I found that despite strong correlations between LIP responses and decisions, reversible inactivation of neurons in LIP had no measurable impact on decision-making performance. More generally, I show that decision-related activity does not necessarily play a causal role in choices. In the final experiment, I test whether the process of making a decision stands to influence functions that are decision irrelevant. I found that causally manipulating the amount of sensory evidence available to human observers influenced decision-irrelevant oculomotor commands, suggesting that even during non- oculomotor decisions, oculomotor regions of the brain are recruited. Taken together, the experimental findings reported motivate new ideas about evidence accumulation and advance our understanding of the decision-making process in the primate brain.","abstract_html":"Interaction within the environment relies on the ability to accumulate sensory evidence in favor of a decision. Despite the paramount importance of decision-making to survival, the neural instantiations and computational principles governing the process have remained elusive. In this thesis I consider how sensory evidence is accumulated to guide decisions, and where in the primate brain this process takes place. I report the results of three main experiments. In the first, I test whether sensory evidence is accumulated differentially for motion in the frontoparallel plane (i.e. 2D motion; left/right) compared to motion through depth (i.e. 3D motion; towards/away). I show that integration of 3D motion is different than 2D and likely relies on a mechanism that is distinct. In the second experiment, I test an influential theory in cognitive neuroscience: that neurons in the monkey lateral intraparietal (LIP) cortex accumulate sensory information in favor of a decision communicated by an eye-movement. I found that despite strong correlations between LIP responses and decisions, reversible inactivation of neurons in LIP had no measurable impact on decision-making performance. More generally, I show that decision-related activity does not necessarily play a causal role in choices. In the final experiment, I test whether the process of making a decision stands to influence functions that are decision irrelevant. I found that causally manipulating the amount of sensory evidence available to human observers influenced decision-irrelevant oculomotor commands, suggesting that even during non- oculomotor decisions, oculomotor regions of the brain are recruited. Taken together, the experimental findings reported motivate new ideas about evidence accumulation and advance our understanding of the decision-making process in the primate brain.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Katz, Leor Nadav"],"institution":null,"degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Huk, Alexander C.","Aldrich, Richard","Cormack, Lawrence K","Hayhoe, Mary","Priebe, Nicholas","Seidmann, Eyal"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2016,"date_issued":"2016-05","date_published":"2016-05","updated_at":"2026-07-27T21:19:37Z","subjects":["Decision-making","Evidence accumulation","Lateral intraparietal","LIP","Perception","Motion","3d","Eye movements"],"languages":["en"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/2152/39742"],"render_values":[{"text":"http://hdl.handle.net/2152/39742","href":"http://hdl.handle.net/2152/39742","code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/2152/39742","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Huk, Alexander C.","Aldrich, Richard","Cormack, Lawrence K","Hayhoe, Mary","Priebe, Nicholas","Seidmann, Eyal"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Katz, Leor Nadav"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2016-08-31T17:53:53Z","2026-03-24T18:25:32Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2016-08-31T17:53:53Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2016-05"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Decision-making","Evidence accumulation","Lateral intraparietal","LIP","Perception","Motion","3d","Eye movements"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/2152/39742"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/2152/39742"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Interaction within the environment relies on the ability to accumulate sensory evidence in favor of a decision. Despite the paramount importance of decision-making to survival, the neural instantiations and computational principles governing the process have remained elusive. In this thesis I consider how sensory evidence is accumulated to guide decisions, and where in the primate brain this process takes place. I report the results of three main experiments. In the first, I test whether sensory evidence is accumulated differentially for motion in the frontoparallel plane (i.e. 2D motion; left/right) compared to motion through depth (i.e. 3D motion; towards/away). I show that integration of 3D motion is different than 2D and likely relies on a mechanism that is distinct. In the second experiment, I test an influential theory in cognitive neuroscience: that neurons in the monkey lateral intraparietal (LIP) cortex accumulate sensory information in favor of a decision communicated by an eye-movement. I found that despite strong correlations between LIP responses and decisions, reversible inactivation of neurons in LIP had no measurable impact on decision-making performance. More generally, I show that decision-related activity does not necessarily play a causal role in choices. In the final experiment, I test whether the process of making a decision stands to influence functions that are decision irrelevant. I found that causally manipulating the amount of sensory evidence available to human observers influenced decision-irrelevant oculomotor commands, suggesting that even during non- oculomotor decisions, oculomotor regions of the brain are recruited. Taken together, the experimental findings reported motivate new ideas about evidence accumulation and advance our understanding of the decision-making process in the primate brain."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Decision-making in the primate brain : formation, location, and causal manipulation"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Huk, Alexander C.","Aldrich, Richard","Cormack, Lawrence K","Hayhoe, Mary","Priebe, Nicholas","Seidmann, Eyal"],"dc:creator":["Katz, Leor Nadav"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2016-08-31T17:53:53Z","2026-03-24T18:25:32Z"],"dc:date.available":["2016-08-31T17:53:53Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2016-05"],"dc:description.abstract":["Interaction within the environment relies on the ability to accumulate sensory evidence in favor of a decision. Despite the paramount importance of decision-making to survival, the neural instantiations and computational principles governing the process have remained elusive. In this thesis I consider how sensory evidence is accumulated to guide decisions, and where in the primate brain this process takes place. I report the results of three main experiments. In the first, I test whether sensory evidence is accumulated differentially for motion in the frontoparallel plane (i.e. 2D motion; left/right) compared to motion through depth (i.e. 3D motion; towards/away). I show that integration of 3D motion is different than 2D and likely relies on a mechanism that is distinct. In the second experiment, I test an influential theory in cognitive neuroscience: that neurons in the monkey lateral intraparietal (LIP) cortex accumulate sensory information in favor of a decision communicated by an eye-movement. I found that despite strong correlations between LIP responses and decisions, reversible inactivation of neurons in LIP had no measurable impact on decision-making performance. More generally, I show that decision-related activity does not necessarily play a causal role in choices. In the final experiment, I test whether the process of making a decision stands to influence functions that are decision irrelevant. I found that causally manipulating the amount of sensory evidence available to human observers influenced decision-irrelevant oculomotor commands, suggesting that even during non- oculomotor decisions, oculomotor regions of the brain are recruited. 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