An Integrated Theory of Attention and Decision Making

Grant number: DP0880080 | Funding period: 2008 - 2011

Completed

Abstract

Biologically, the fundamental computational task carried out by the human brain is the translation of perception into action. To perform this translation, attentional processes select relevant stimuli from the environment and decision processes then identify the selected stimuli. This project develops an integrated theory of attention and decision making in simple visual tasks, which will help us understand how these tasks are carried out in the brain. Understanding how these tasks are performed biologically will aid in the design of autonomous information-gathering and decision-making agents whose actions simulate human behaviour.

Related publications (3)

From Poisson shot noise to the integrated Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process: Neurally principled models of information accumulation in decision-making and response time

PL Smith

2010-04-01

In the diffusion model of decision-making, evidence is accumulated by a Wiener diffusion process. A neurally motivated account of ..

Perceptual Discrimination in Static and Dynamic Noise: The Temporal Relation Between Perceptual Encoding and Decision Making

R Ratcliff, PL Smith

2010-02-01

The authors report 9 new experiments and reanalyze 3 published experiments that investigate factors affecting the time course of p..

An Integrated Theory of Attention and Decision Making in Visual Signal Detection

PL Smith, R Ratcliff

2009-04-01

The simplest attentional task, detecting a cued stimulus in an otherwise empty visual field, produces complex patterns of performa..

University of Melbourne Researchers

Philip L. Smith