A value-based explanation for lapses in perceptual decisions

This thesis aims to provide a formal treatment of deviations from optimality in perceptual decision-making, and reconsider these deviations from the perspective of value-based decision making, ultimately providing a synthesis of the two. In Chapter 2, I describe deviations from optimal multisensory decisions in rats, focusing in particular on “lapses, an often ignored form of error that seems to plague many perceptual studies. In Chapter 3, I outline the traditional models of lapses, and use behavioral manipulations to demonstrate their insufficiency. In Chapter 4, I propose that lapses can instead arise deliberately from trying to balance an exploration-exploitation tradeoff, and test the predictions of this model by manipulating value. Finally in Chapter 5, I discuss how lapses can informative about deficits in decision making, and leverage them to reconcile the role of prefrontal cortex and striatum in perceptual and value-based decisions.