Common neural choice signals can emerge artefactually amid multiple distinct value signals

Romy Frömer*, Matthew R. Nassar, Benedikt V. Ehinger, Amitai Shenhav

*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

Previous work has identified characteristic neural signatures of value-based decision-making, including neural dynamics that closely resemble the ramping evidence accumulation process believed to underpin choice. Here we test whether these signatures of the choice process can be temporally dissociated from additional, choice-‘independent’ value signals. Indeed, EEG activity during value-based choice revealed distinct spatiotemporal clusters, with a stimulus-locked cluster reflecting affective reactions to choice sets and a response-locked cluster reflecting choice difficulty. Surprisingly, ‘neither’ of these clusters met the criteria for an evidence accumulation signal. Instead, we found that stimulus-locked activity can ‘mimic’ an evidence accumulation process when aligned to the response. Re-analysing four previous studies, including three perceptual decision-making studies, we show that response-locked signatures of evidence accumulation disappear when stimulus-locked and response-locked activity are modelled jointly. Collectively, our findings show that neural signatures of value can reflect choice-independent processes and look deceptively like evidence accumulation.
Original languageEnglish
JournalNature Human Behaviour
Early online date6 Sept 2024
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 6 Sept 2024

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