Vision for the blind

Visual psychophysics and blinded inference for decision models

Bibliographic Data

ID21640586
AuthorsPhilip L Smith (0000-0002-2381-9372, The University of Melbourne), Simon D Lilburn (0000-0001-8820-8188, The University of Melbourne)
Year2020
Volume27
Issue5
Pages882-910
Publication date2020-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePsychonomic Bulletin & Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1069-9384 • E-ISSN: 1531-5320
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.3758/s13423-020-01742-7
PMID32514800
OpenAlexW3033125256
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited83

Evidence accumulation models like the diffusion model are increasingly used by researchers to identify the contributions of sensory and decisional factors to the speed and accuracy of decision-making. Drift rates, decision criteria, and nondecision times estimated from such models provide meaningful estimates of the quality of evidence in the stimulus, the bias and caution in the decision process, and the duration of nondecision processes. Recently, Dutilh et al. ( Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 26 , 1051–1069, 2019) carried out a large-scale, blinded validation study of decision models using the random dot motion (RDM) task. They found that the parameters of the diffusion model were generally well recovered, but there was a pervasive failure of selective influence, such that manipulations of evidence quality, decision bias, and caution also affected estimated nondecision times. This failure casts doubt on the psychometric validity of such estimates. Here we argue that the RDM task has unusual perceptual characteristics that may be better described by a model in which drift and diffusion rates increase over time rather than turn on abruptly. We reanalyze the Dutilh et al. data using models with abrupt and continuous-onset drift and diffusion rates and find that the continuous-onset model provides a better overall fit and more meaningful parameter estimates, which accord with the known psychophysical properties of the RDM task. We argue that further selective influence studies that fail to take into account the visual properties of the evidence entering the decision process are likely to be unproductive

Cognition · Cognitive psychology · Decision process · Decision quality · Econometrics · Inference · Perception · Psychophysics · RDM · Computer Science · Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies · Neural dynamics and brain function · Neuroscience · Psychology · Visual perception and processing mechanisms · Artificial Intelligence

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