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Dissociable encoding of evolving beliefs and momentary belief updates in distinct neural decision signals

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  • Elisabet Parés-Pujolràs

    (University College Dublin)

  • Simon P. Kelly

    (University College Dublin)

  • Peter R. Murphy

    (Maynooth University)

Abstract

Making accurate decisions in noisy environments requires integrating evidence over time. Studies of simple perceptual decisions in static environments have identified two human neurophysiological signals that evolve with similar integration dynamics, with one - the centroparietal positivity - appearing to compute the running integral and continuously feed it to the other - motor beta lateralisation. However, it remains unknown whether and how these signals serve more distinct functional roles in more complex scenarios. Here, we use a volatile expanded judgement task that dissociates raw sensory information, belief updates, and the evolving belief itself. We find that motor beta lateralisation traces the evolving belief across stimuli, while the centroparietal positivity locally encodes the belief updates associated with each individual stimulus. These results suggest a flexible computational hierarchy where context-dependent belief updates can be computed sample-by-sample at an intermediate processing level to modify downstream belief representations for protracted decisions about discrete stimuli.

Suggested Citation

  • Elisabet Parés-Pujolràs & Simon P. Kelly & Peter R. Murphy, 2025. "Dissociable encoding of evolving beliefs and momentary belief updates in distinct neural decision signals," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-14, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-58861-9
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-58861-9
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sabina Gherman & Noah Markowitz & Gelana Tostaeva & Elizabeth Espinal & Ashesh D. Mehta & Redmond G. O’Connell & Simon P. Kelly & Stephan Bickel, 2024. "Intracranial electroencephalography reveals effector-independent evidence accumulation dynamics in multiple human brain regions," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 8(4), pages 758-770, April.
    2. Timothy D. Hanks & Charles D. Kopec & Bingni W. Brunton & Chunyu A. Duan & Jeffrey C. Erlich & Carlos D. Brody, 2015. "Distinct relationships of parietal and prefrontal cortices to evidence accumulation," Nature, Nature, vol. 520(7546), pages 220-223, April.
    3. Natalie A. Steinemann & Redmond G. O’Connell & Simon P. Kelly, 2018. "Decisions are expedited through multiple neural adjustments spanning the sensorimotor hierarchy," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-13, December.
    4. Simon P. Kelly & Elaine A. Corbett & Redmond G. O’Connell, 2021. "Neurocomputational mechanisms of prior-informed perceptual decision-making in humans," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 5(4), pages 467-481, April.
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