The parieto-occipital cortex is a candidate neural substrate for the human ability to approximate Bayesian inference
Abstract Adaptive decision-making often requires one to infer unobservable states based on incomplete information. Bayesian logic prescribes that individuals should do so by estimating the posterior probability by integrating the prior probability with new information, but the neural basis of this i...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2024-02-01
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| Series: | Communications Biology |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-024-05821-6 |
| _version_ | 1797273578999119872 |
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| author | Nicholas M. Singletary Jacqueline Gottlieb Guillermo Horga |
| author_facet | Nicholas M. Singletary Jacqueline Gottlieb Guillermo Horga |
| author_sort | Nicholas M. Singletary |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Adaptive decision-making often requires one to infer unobservable states based on incomplete information. Bayesian logic prescribes that individuals should do so by estimating the posterior probability by integrating the prior probability with new information, but the neural basis of this integration is incompletely understood. We record fMRI during a task in which participants infer the posterior probability of a hidden state while we independently modulate the prior probability and likelihood of evidence regarding the state; the task incentivizes participants to make accurate inferences and dissociates expected value from posterior probability. Here we show that activation in a region of left parieto-occipital cortex independently tracks the subjective posterior probability, combining its subcomponents of prior probability and evidence likelihood, and reflecting the individual participants’ systematic deviations from objective probabilities. The parieto-occipital cortex is thus a candidate neural substrate for humans’ ability to approximate Bayesian inference by integrating prior beliefs with new information. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T14:46:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2e7c7730cc1543f0aa2a44907d21c96b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2399-3642 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T14:46:26Z |
| publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Communications Biology |
| spelling | doaj.art-2e7c7730cc1543f0aa2a44907d21c96b2024-03-05T19:58:38ZengNature PortfolioCommunications Biology2399-36422024-02-017111810.1038/s42003-024-05821-6The parieto-occipital cortex is a candidate neural substrate for the human ability to approximate Bayesian inferenceNicholas M. Singletary0Jacqueline Gottlieb1Guillermo Horga2Doctoral Program in Neurobiology and Behavior, Columbia UniversityDepartment of Neuroscience, Columbia UniversityNew York State Psychiatric InstituteAbstract Adaptive decision-making often requires one to infer unobservable states based on incomplete information. Bayesian logic prescribes that individuals should do so by estimating the posterior probability by integrating the prior probability with new information, but the neural basis of this integration is incompletely understood. We record fMRI during a task in which participants infer the posterior probability of a hidden state while we independently modulate the prior probability and likelihood of evidence regarding the state; the task incentivizes participants to make accurate inferences and dissociates expected value from posterior probability. Here we show that activation in a region of left parieto-occipital cortex independently tracks the subjective posterior probability, combining its subcomponents of prior probability and evidence likelihood, and reflecting the individual participants’ systematic deviations from objective probabilities. The parieto-occipital cortex is thus a candidate neural substrate for humans’ ability to approximate Bayesian inference by integrating prior beliefs with new information.https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-024-05821-6 |
| spellingShingle | Nicholas M. Singletary Jacqueline Gottlieb Guillermo Horga The parieto-occipital cortex is a candidate neural substrate for the human ability to approximate Bayesian inference Communications Biology |
| title | The parieto-occipital cortex is a candidate neural substrate for the human ability to approximate Bayesian inference |
| title_full | The parieto-occipital cortex is a candidate neural substrate for the human ability to approximate Bayesian inference |
| title_fullStr | The parieto-occipital cortex is a candidate neural substrate for the human ability to approximate Bayesian inference |
| title_full_unstemmed | The parieto-occipital cortex is a candidate neural substrate for the human ability to approximate Bayesian inference |
| title_short | The parieto-occipital cortex is a candidate neural substrate for the human ability to approximate Bayesian inference |
| title_sort | parieto occipital cortex is a candidate neural substrate for the human ability to approximate bayesian inference |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-024-05821-6 |
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