Two-interval discrimination involves comparison of two stimuli that are presented at different times. It has three phases: loading, in which the first stimulus is perceived and stored in working memory; maintenance of working memory; decision making, in which the second stimulus is perceived and compared with the first. In behaving monkeys, each phase is associated with characteristic firing activity of neurons in the prefrontal cortex. This model implements both working memory and decision making with a mutual inhibition network that reproduces all three phases of two-interval discrimination. Machens, C.K., Romo, R., and Brody, C.D. Flexible control of mutual inhibition: a neural model of two-interval discrimination. Science 307:1121-1124, 2005.
Model Type: Connectionist Network
Region(s) or Organism(s): Prefrontal cortex (PFC)
Model Concept(s): Action Selection/Decision Making; Maintenance
Simulation Environment: MATLAB (web link to model)
References:
Machens CK, Romo R, Brody CD. (2005). Flexible control of mutual inhibition: a neural model of two-interval discrimination. Science (New York, N.Y.). 307 [PubMed]