Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34183869›Full record

ArticleNature neuroscience2021

Causal role for the primate superior colliculus in the computation of evidence for perceptual decisions.

Elizabeth J Jun, Alex R Bautista, Michael D Nunez, Daicia C Allen, Jung H Tak, Eduardo Alvarez, Michele A Basso

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature neuroscience, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 47 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
47citing 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

47 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
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  10. Joint models reveal human subcortical underpinnings of choice and learning behavior.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
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  14. Spatial Processing Enhancement in the Prefrontal Cortex for Rapid Detection of Valuable Objects.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025
    Article
  15. Article
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  18. Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Elizabeth J Jun *Fuster Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, The Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, David Geffen School of Medicine UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Alex R Bautista *Fuster Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, The Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, David Geffen School of Medicine UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Michael D Nunez *Fuster Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, The Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, David Geffen School of Medicine UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9965-6282
Daicia C AllenFuster Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, The Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, David Geffen School of Medicine UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Jung H TakFuster Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, The Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, David Geffen School of Medicine UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Eduardo AlvarezFuster Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, The Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, David Geffen School of Medicine UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Michele A BassoFuster Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, The Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, David Geffen School of Medicine UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA. mbasso@mednet.ucla.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8644-2966

Funding

WaNPRC Macaca nemestrina SPF Breeding ColonyU42OD011123 · OD · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · PI CHARLOTTE HOTCHKISS · 2012 to 2026
$34.4M
Visual Target Selection for Saccadic Eye MovementsR01EY013692 · NEI · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · PI BASSO, MICHELE A · 2002 to 2021
$7.0M
Visual Target Selection for Saccadic Eye MovementsR56EY013692 · NEI · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · PI BASSO, MICHELE A · 2007 to 2007
$352k
NEI NIH HHS R01 EY013692NEI NIH HHS R56 EY013692NIH HHS U42 OD011123
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Trained monkeys performed a two-choice perceptual decision-making task in which they reported the perceived orientation of a dynamic Glass pattern, before and after unilateral, reversible, inactivation of a brainstem area-the superior colliculus (SC)-involved in preparing eye movements. We found that unilateral SC inactivation produced significant decision biases and changes in reaction times consistent with a causal role for the primate SC in perceptual decision-making. Fitting signal detection theory and sequential sampling models to the data showed that SC inactivation produced a decrease in the relative evidence for contralateral decisions, as if adding a constant offset to a time-varying evidence signal for the ipsilateral choice. The results provide causal evidence for an embodied cognition model of perceptual decision-making and provide compelling evidence that the SC of primates (a brainstem structure) plays a causal role in how evidence is computed for decisions-a process usually attributed to the forebrain.

Indexed as

Models, NeurologicalAnimalsDecision MakingMacaca mulattaMaleNeuronsSuperior Colliculi

Identifiers

PMID34183869
PMCPMC8338902

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.