Ever-so-slight delay improves decision-making accuracy The mechanism requires that decision-makers do nothing -- just briefly. Postponing the onset of the decision process by as little as 50 to 100 milliseconds enables the brain to focus attention on the most relevant information and block out irrelevant distractors, said PLoS ONE publication last author Jack Grinband, PhD, associate research scientist in the Taub Institute and assistant professor of clinical radiology (physics). This way, rather than working longer or harder at making the decision, the brain simply postpones the decision onset to a more beneficial point in time. In making decisions, the brain integrates many small pieces of potentially contradictory sensory information. Imagine that youre coming up to a traffic light -- the target -- and need to decide whether the light is red or green, said Dr. Teichert. There is typically little ambiguity, and you make the correct decision quickly, in a matter of tens of milliseconds. The decision process itself, however, does not distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information. Hence, a task is made more difficult if irrelevant information -- a distractor -- interferes with the processing of the target. Distractors are present all the time; in this case, it might be in the form of traffic lights regulating traffic in other lanes. Though the brain is able to enhance relevant information and filter out distractions, these mechanisms take time. If the decision process starts while the brain is still processing irrelevant information, errors can occur.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Mar 2014 14:34:24 +0000
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