title: On the challenges and mechanisms of embodied decisions.
abstract: Neurophysiological studies of decision-making have focused primarily on elucidating the mechanisms of classic economic decisions, for which the relevant variables are the values of expected outcomes and action is simply the means of reporting the selected choice. By contrast, here we focus on the particular challenges of embodied decision-making faced by animals interacting with their environment in real time. In such scenarios, the choices themselves as well as their relative costs and benefits are defined by the momentary geometry of the immediate environment and change continuously during ongoing activity. To deal with the demands of embodied activity, animals require an architecture in which the sensorimotor specification of potential actions, their valuation, selection and even execution can all take place in parallel. Here, we review behavioural and neurophysiological data supporting a proposed brain architecture for dealing with such scenarios, which we argue set the evolutionary foundation for the organization of the mammalian brain.
authors.affiliation: Groupe de Recherche sur le Système Nerveux Central (GRSNC), Département de Neuroscience, Université de Montréal, C.P. 6128 Succursale Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec, Canada H3C 3J7 paul.cisek@umontreal.ca.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cisek
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience (PDN), University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Alexandre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pastor-Bernier
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D004777:Environment; D006801:Humans
keywords: action selection; affordances; decision-making; ecological psychology; embodied behaviour