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Cerebral Cortex Advance Access published online on November 30, 2006
Cerebral Cortex, doi:10.1093/cercor/bhl134
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Article

Dynamics of Oscillatory Activity during Auditory Decision Making

Jochen Kaiser 1 *, Therese Lennert 2, and Werner Lutzenberger 3

1 Institute of Medical Psychology, J. W. Goethe-University, 60528 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2 MEG-Center, Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, Eberhard-Karls-University, 72076 Tübingen, Germany; Graduate School of Neural and Behavioral Sciences, Eberhard-Karls-University, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
3 MEG-Center, Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, Eberhard-Karls-University, 72076 Tübingen, Germany

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Jochen Kaiser, E-mail: j.kaiser{at}med.uni-frankfurt.de


  Abstract

Perceptual decision making requires the comparison and integration of sensory evidence to generate a behavioral response. We used magnetoencephalography to investigate the temporal dynamics of decision making during an auditory task that required forced-choice decisions about whether a pair of syllables S1 and S2 differed either in their acoustic patterns or in the perceived position of their sound sources. Conditions with easy and difficult decisions were created by varying the similarity of S1 and S2. Statistical probability mapping showed enhanced gamma-band activity (GBA) over posterior parietal cortex for spatial and over left inferior frontal cortex for pattern changes (at ~120 to 220 ms after S2 onset). Activations were stronger for easy than difficult decisions. GBA over dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was more pronounced at ~280 to 430 ms for easy than difficult decisions regardless of type of change, possibly reflecting decision-relevant networks that integrate information from higher sensory areas representing the perceptual alternatives. Sensorimotor beta desynchronization as a measure of motor preparation peaked at ~460 ms for easy and at ~520 ms for difficult decisions, thus reflecting the reaction time difference between both conditions. In summary, the analysis of oscillatory activity in magnetoencephalogram served to elucidate the temporal dynamics of perceptual decision making in humans.

Keywords: auditory processing; decision making; gamma-band activity (GBA); magnetoencephalography (MEG); temporal dynamics.
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