Neural Dynamics Predict Visuomotor Decisions

Studying decisions between two alternatives in the brain can provide a window into the complex manifestation of human decision making. The objective of the present research was to examine possible neural prediction of visuomotor decisions based on electrophysiological measures (Event-Related Desynchronization / Synchronization of the Electroencephalogram). For this purpose, a paradigm of visual motion direction detection was developed, where participants had to decide and on the global direction of randomly moving dots within a short amount of time and report on it by using their left or right hand. It was found that distinct brain activations were specific to the participants’ upcoming left or right hand movements, which were associated with their perceptual decisions. These decisions could be predicted 1,96 seconds before overt behavioral responses. Additionally, issues related to subjective decision awareness were also addressed using models of perceptual decision making and experiential questionnaires. It is concluded that the proposed framework can lead to applications also in the clinical domain.