Changes of mind in decision-making

Arbora Resulaj, Roozbeh Kiani, Daniel M. Wolpert and Michael N. Shadlen ()
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Arbora Resulaj: Computational and Biological Learning Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1PZ, UK
Roozbeh Kiani: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA
Daniel M. Wolpert: Computational and Biological Learning Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1PZ, UK
Michael N. Shadlen: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA

Nature, 2009, vol. 461, issue 7261, 263-266

Abstract: Decisions, decisions How do we change our minds? Theoretical neuroscientists have developed plausible models for how the brain comes to a decision based on 'noisy' and often ambiguous information, but these assume that once that decision is made, it is made for good. Now a series of experiments on subjects who were asked to move a handle to one of two positions dependent on a noisy visual stimulus has been used to develop a new model that accounts for how and when we change our mind after we make a decision. Analysis of the rare occasions where subjects changed their mind half way through selecting their answer shows that even after making a decision the brain continues to process the information it had gathered — information still in the processing pipeline— to either reverse or reaffirm its initial decision. The new theory introduces the acts of vacillation and self correction into the decision-making process.

Date: 2009
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DOI: 10.1038/nature08275

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