Cargando…

Conjunctive representations that integrate stimuli, responses, and rules are critical for action selection

People can use abstract rules to flexibly configure and select actions for specific situations, yet how exactly rules shape actions toward specific sensory and/or motor requirements remains unclear. Both research from animal models and human-level theories of action control point to the role of high...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Kikumoto, Atsushi, Mayr, Ulrich
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: National Academy of Sciences 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7229692/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32341161
http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1922166117
_version_ 1783534806601039872
author Kikumoto, Atsushi
Mayr, Ulrich
author_facet Kikumoto, Atsushi
Mayr, Ulrich
author_sort Kikumoto, Atsushi
collection PubMed
description People can use abstract rules to flexibly configure and select actions for specific situations, yet how exactly rules shape actions toward specific sensory and/or motor requirements remains unclear. Both research from animal models and human-level theories of action control point to the role of highly integrated, conjunctive representations, sometimes referred to as event files. These representations are thought to combine rules with other, goal-relevant sensory and motor features in a nonlinear manner and represent a necessary condition for action selection. However, so far, no methods exist to track such representations in humans during action selection with adequate temporal resolution. Here, we applied time-resolved representational similarity analysis to the spectral-temporal profiles of electroencephalography signals while participants performed a cued, rule-based action selection task. In two experiments, we found that conjunctive representations were active throughout the entire selection period and were functionally dissociable from the representation of constituent features. Specifically, the strength of conjunctions was a highly robust predictor of trial-by-trial variability in response times and was selectively related to an important behavioral indicator of conjunctive representations, the so-called partial-overlap priming pattern. These results provide direct evidence for conjunctive representations as critical precursors of action selection in humans.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7229692
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2020
publisher National Academy of Sciences
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-72296922020-05-26 Conjunctive representations that integrate stimuli, responses, and rules are critical for action selection Kikumoto, Atsushi Mayr, Ulrich Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A Biological Sciences People can use abstract rules to flexibly configure and select actions for specific situations, yet how exactly rules shape actions toward specific sensory and/or motor requirements remains unclear. Both research from animal models and human-level theories of action control point to the role of highly integrated, conjunctive representations, sometimes referred to as event files. These representations are thought to combine rules with other, goal-relevant sensory and motor features in a nonlinear manner and represent a necessary condition for action selection. However, so far, no methods exist to track such representations in humans during action selection with adequate temporal resolution. Here, we applied time-resolved representational similarity analysis to the spectral-temporal profiles of electroencephalography signals while participants performed a cued, rule-based action selection task. In two experiments, we found that conjunctive representations were active throughout the entire selection period and were functionally dissociable from the representation of constituent features. Specifically, the strength of conjunctions was a highly robust predictor of trial-by-trial variability in response times and was selectively related to an important behavioral indicator of conjunctive representations, the so-called partial-overlap priming pattern. These results provide direct evidence for conjunctive representations as critical precursors of action selection in humans. National Academy of Sciences 2020-05-12 2020-04-27 /pmc/articles/PMC7229692/ /pubmed/32341161 http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1922166117 Text en Copyright © 2020 the Author(s). Published by PNAS. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This open access article is distributed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Biological Sciences
Kikumoto, Atsushi
Mayr, Ulrich
Conjunctive representations that integrate stimuli, responses, and rules are critical for action selection
title Conjunctive representations that integrate stimuli, responses, and rules are critical for action selection
title_full Conjunctive representations that integrate stimuli, responses, and rules are critical for action selection
title_fullStr Conjunctive representations that integrate stimuli, responses, and rules are critical for action selection
title_full_unstemmed Conjunctive representations that integrate stimuli, responses, and rules are critical for action selection
title_short Conjunctive representations that integrate stimuli, responses, and rules are critical for action selection
title_sort conjunctive representations that integrate stimuli, responses, and rules are critical for action selection
topic Biological Sciences
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7229692/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32341161
http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1922166117
work_keys_str_mv AT kikumotoatsushi conjunctiverepresentationsthatintegratestimuliresponsesandrulesarecriticalforactionselection
AT mayrulrich conjunctiverepresentationsthatintegratestimuliresponsesandrulesarecriticalforactionselection