Collaborative Research: Interaction of sensory and response processes in decision making

Perceptual decision-making, the act of quickly drawing inferences from sensory information and making appropriate responses, is a critical foundation of human behavior. The timing and the interaction between sensory and response processes in decision making are the focus of this collaborative research program. Neuroscience data has revealed that response planning may be engaged before perceptual processing finishes suggesting that the interaction of perception and action may be a critical aspect of making decisions.

To investigate this, we develop novel experiments that use human electroencephalography (EEG) to measure the time course of perception, attention, and motor processes. We incorporate students from communities that have historically been underserved by higher education STEM programs directly into this research through courses, all-day science events, and a three-week summer school.

There is a tight correspondence where curricula in the educational activities enable these students to carry out novel research throughout the project period supported by researchers. Graduate students play a critical role in the development and implementation of these student projects. These educational programs will be made available to other institutions that seek to enhance STEM education through research training in neuroscience.

All of the experiments make use of innovations in single-trial EEG methods for measuring the dynamics of perceptual and motor activity while participants make decisions about stimuli placed in varying contexts. Novel experimental methods are used to track and manipulate the time-course of attentional control of the flow of sensory information in the brain.

A new area of perceptual neuroscience will be developed with unique tactile perception and decision making experiments. The summer school curriculum focuses on students proposing, programming, running, analyzing, and presenting their own research. The curriculum incorporates programming skills, matrix algebra and signal processing skills, and statistical methods.

The goal is for the students to design, control, and analyze human neuroscience experiments. Interactions with graduate students and faculty mentors will enable students to realize their projects and develop their ambitions to pursue science careers.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.