2019 Conference on Cognitive Computational Neuroscience

13-16 September 2019    Berlin, Germany

Technical Program

Paper Detail

Paper: PS-2A.17
Session: Poster Session 2A
Location: H Lichthof
Session Time: Sunday, September 15, 17:15 - 20:15
Presentation Time:Sunday, September 15, 17:15 - 20:15
Presentation: Poster
Publication: 2019 Conference on Cognitive Computational Neuroscience, 13-16 September 2019, Berlin, Germany
Paper Title: FEF Biases the Persistence of Expectation
Manuscript:  Click here to view manuscript
License: Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.32470/CCN.2019.1359-0
Authors: Brandon Caie, Queen's University, Canada; Paul Schrater, University of Minnesota, United States; Aarlenne Khan, University of Montreal, Canada; Gunnar Blohm, Queen's University, Canada
Abstract: Expectations arise from past experience. How and where in the brain this happens is not well understood. Here, we used fMRI-guided HD-tDCS in combination with a new computational model and EEG to investigate the role of right frontal eye fields(rFEF) in the formation of expectations. Human participants performed a free choice saccade task before, during and after stimulation. Participants formed persistent choice biases based on choice history despite randomness in the task. Our model– a distributed Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process that was embedded in a reinforcement learning framework – allowed for quantification of the build-up of expectations underlying choice bias. Anodal(cathodal) stimulation increased (decreased) the influence of trial history on expectation. This effect was reversed post stimulation. Contrasting pre- vs post-stimulation EEG shows that the power of alpha and theta oscillations was dependent on the stimulation polarity, the amount of time that has passed since the previous choice, and the degree to which expectation biased the subsequent choice. This suggests that the neural activity giving rise to low-frequency oscillations in FEF plays an active role in shaping how expectations form and persist.