Brain networks of perceptual decision-making: an fMRI ALE meta-analysis

Abstract

In the recent perceptual decision-making literature, a fronto-parietal network is typically reported to primarily represent the neural substrate of human perceptual decision-making. However, the view that only cortical areas are involved in perceptual decision-making has been challenged by several neurocomputational models which all argue that the basal ganglia play an essential role in perceptual decisions. To consolidate these different views, we conducted an Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) meta-analysis on the existing neuroimaging literature. The results argue in favor of the involvement of a frontal-parietal network in general perceptual decision-making that is possibly complemented by the basal ganglia, and modulated in substantial parts by task difficulty. In contrast, expectation of reward, an important aspect of many decision-making processes, shows almost no overlap with the general perceptual decision-making network.

Keywords: decision-making; fronto-parietal-basal ganglia; meta-analysis.

Figure 1

The selection procedure for the inclusion of empirical studies. The left arm shows the selection process of the empirical studies based on the abstracts. The right arm shows the selection process of the review papers based on the abstracts. The number of results per selection stage is reported in bold. Several keywords resulted in the inclusion of the same study, which is reflected by the total N. Subsequently only the unique papers were used in the next selection step. The interrater congruency between the two independent raters is reported in italics. For instance, of the 3102 empirical abstracts, both raters independently agreed on 98.17% of the abstracts to either exclude them or to read the full text. The remaining abstracts were discussed and a consensus was reached on whether to exclude the abstract or to read the full text.

Figure 2

The significant Activation Likelihood Estimate (ALE) clusters for the three separate ALE analyses in standard Montreal Neurological Institute space. Red: Task > Control; blue: Hard > Easy; green: Reward > Control. Numbers indicate Z coordinates in MNI space.

Figure 3

The significant conjunction and subtraction clusters in standard Montreal Neurological Institute space. Green: The significant conjunction clusters for the task-general network and the task difficulty network are located in the right pre-SMA, left pre-motor cortex, bilateral anterior insula, and right PFm. Blue: The significant conjunction cluster for the task-general and reward networks is located in right anterior insula. Red: The unique areas for the task-general network compared to the reward-based network are located in left pre-SMA cortex, right hIP2, and right anterior insula. Violet: The unique areas for the reward-based network are located in left nucleus accumbens and right frontal orbital cortex. Numbers indicate Z coordinates in MNI space.