Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28730465›Full record

ReviewPsychonomic bulletin & review2018

Time-varying decision boundaries: insights from optimality analysis.

Gaurav Malhotra, David S Leslie, Casimir J H Ludwig, Rafal Bogacz

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Psychonomic bulletin & review, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
38citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

38 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
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  10. Review
  11. Bayesian confidence in optimal decisions.Psychological review · 2024
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  19. Biophysical and Architectural Mechanisms of Subthalamic Theta under Response Conflict.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2022
    Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Gaurav MalhotraSchool of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, 12a Priory Road, Bristol, BS8 1TU, UK. gaurav.malhotra@bristol.ac.uk.
David S LeslieDepartment of Mathematics and Statistics, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK.
Casimir J H LudwigSchool of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, 12a Priory Road, Bristol, BS8 1TU, UK.
Rafal BogaczMRC Brain Networks Dynamics Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.

Funding

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council BB/G012717/1Medical Research Council MC_UU_12024/5
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The most widely used account of decision-making proposes that people choose between alternatives by accumulating evidence in favor of each alternative until this evidence reaches a decision boundary. It is frequently assumed that this decision boundary stays constant during a decision, depending on the evidence collected but not on time. Recent experimental and theoretical work has challenged this assumption, showing that constant decision boundaries are, in some circumstances, sub-optimal. We introduce a theoretical model that facilitates identification of the optimal decision boundaries under a wide range of conditions. Time-varying optimal decision boundaries for our model are a result only of uncertainty over the difficulty of each trial and do not require decision deadlines or costs associated with collecting evidence, as assumed by previous authors. Furthermore, the shape of optimal decision boundaries depends on the difficulties of different decisions. When some trials are very difficult, optimal boundaries decrease with time, but for tasks that only include a mixture of easy and medium difficulty trials, the optimal boundaries increase or stay constant. We also show how this simple model can be extended to more complex decision-making tasks such as when people have unequal priors or when they can choose to opt out of decisions. The theoretical model presented here provides an important framework to understand how, why, and whether decision boundaries should change over time in experiments on decision-making.

Indexed as

Models, PsychologicalRewardDecision MakingHumansTime FactorsDecision-makingDecreasing boundsOptimal decisionsReward rate

Identifiers

PMID28730465
PMCPMC5990589

What OpenQuestion holds

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Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.