LabStats

We have seen  [ here ]  that the decision making activates a circuit, where the  evaluation  of the alternative solutions to a given problem and the  choice  of the best one would give rise to a learning mechanism for error reduction.   Now let's talk about the main components which influence the decision making (see Figure 1). We can consider the combination of three factors over the decision making process: the  decision environment ; the  quantity of information ; the  decision stream . Figure 1. The components of decision making and the role of the time Decision making is a process which requires the definition of the informative set (environment) by which select and implement the best solution to a given problem. During the decisional process the quantity of information is cumulated until a certain time (t') beyond which the gathering of more information overload the decision maker. That is, the quan...

Even simple (visual) decisions imply higher cognitive functions that integrate noisy sensory stimuli, prior knowledge and the costs-and-benefits related to possible actions in function of their time of occurrence. Accumulation of noisy information is a reliable pattern performed by neural pools in cortical circuitry during decision making (DM) process. This process is time absorbing, especially when the quality of information is poor and there exist many possible alternatives to valuate and compare. There exists large consensus in the studies of DM toward the conformation of a phase of accumulation of evidence until a decision is made [1] . That is, the decision maker is expected to keep on gathering information until the evidence in favor of one of the alternatives suffices. Thus, the stochastic integration of information up to a certain threshold gives rise to a speed-and-accuracy tradeoff (the performance of the responses increases for slower response times) that is bounded ...