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Neural Mechanisms for Executive Control of Speed-Accuracy Tradeoff

55 Pages Posted: 4 Sep 2020 Publication Status: Review Complete

See all articles by Thomas R. Reppert

Thomas R. Reppert

Vanderbilt University - Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience

Richard P. Heitz

Vanderbilt University - Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience

Jeffrey D. Schall

York University

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Abstract

Noninvasive studies of speed-accuracy tradeoff (SAT) highlight contributions of medial frontal cortex (MFC), but its role is disputed. Hence, neural spiking was sampled in supplementary eye field (SEF) of MFC and in visuomotor frontal eye field (FEF) and superior colliculus (SC) in macaques performing an SAT task. Like visuomotor structures, SEF neurons signaled proactive urgency and stimulus salience when SAT cues changed. Unlike visuomotor structures, SEF modulation signaled choice and timing errors, which predicted production of corrective saccades and signaled reward prediction error. Simultaneous spiking sampled in SEF and visuomotor structures revealed quantitative but not qualitative modulation across SAT states with stronger correlations following errors. These results contextualize findings using noninvasive measures, complement neurophysiological findings in visuomotor structures, endorse the role of medial frontal cortex as a critic for the actor instantiated in visuomotor structures, and improve our understanding of the distributed neural mechanisms of SAT.

Keywords: actor-critic, cognitive control, supplementary eye field, medial frontal cortex, performance monitoring, reward prediction error, executive control

Suggested Citation

Reppert, Thomas R. and Heitz, Richard P. and Schall, Jeffrey D., Neural Mechanisms for Executive Control of Speed-Accuracy Tradeoff. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3667143 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3667143
This version of the paper has not been formally peer reviewed.

Thomas R. Reppert

Vanderbilt University - Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience ( email )

Nashville, TN 37240
United States

Richard P. Heitz

Vanderbilt University - Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience ( email )

Nashville, TN 37240
United States

Jeffrey D. Schall (Contact Author)

York University ( email )

4700 Keele Street
Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3
Canada

HOME PAGE: http://www.yorku.ca/science/research/schalljd/

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