Common neural substrates for uncertainty processing in decision-making and perception

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Wolfgang Einhäuser-Treyer
• Co-Applicant: Dr. Kerstin Preuschoff
• Subject Area: Human Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience
• Term: from 2011 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 200569870

Most decisions in life are based on incomplete information and have uncertain consequences. To successfully cope with real-life situations, the nervous System has to estimate, represent and eventually resolve uncertainty at various levels. Here we | propose to test the hypothesis of a common neural origin for two distinct forms of l uncertainty: perceptual and cognitive uncertainty. Perceptual uncertainty arises from the ambiguity in the mapping from complex Stimuli to sensory Signals. Cognitive uncertainty arises from the stochastic nature of outcomes (rewards, penalties) associated with actions. Perceptual uncertainty finds a prime testbed in rivalry of multi-stable figures (e.g., the Necker cube): although two or more interpretations of the Stimulus are equally consistent with input and prior knowledge, the visual System at any point in time resolves this uncertainty, such that the observer experiences a unique percept. Cognitive uncertainty is readily introduced by gambling paradigms, such äs coin flips. By combining these paradigms - rivalry and gambling - the proposed project addresses the joint basis of both forms of uncertainty: how do perceptual and cognitive uncertainty interact behaviourally and neurally to affect decision-making?

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Switzerland