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The road least taken

Nature Neuroscience volume 11, pages 623–624 (2008)Cite this article

Decisions between two alternatives have been extensively studied and modeled. A study now reports that during choices among several options, the responses of neurons in the lateral intraparietal area are still well described by the integration-to-bound model, supporting the general applicability of this computational framework.

When Robert Frost came to a fork in the road, he famously chose the road less traveled. How did he come to this important decision? He looked carefully at his two options, spent some time deliberating and bravely set forth along his chosen path. However, this account fails to specify some important details about the process. What are the relevant qualities that he should extract regarding the two paths? How does he compare those qualities? How long should he spend making his decision? Finally and most importantly, how and where is all of this information processed in his brain? Although these questions are beyond the scope of the poem, the neuroscience community has taken up this task and has begun to shed light on the neural mechanisms underlying decision-making.

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Figure 1: Four choices diverged in a yellow wood.

Katie Ris-Vicari

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Washington University, School of Medicine, Box 8108, 660 S Euclid Ave, St. Louis, 63110, Missouri, USA

    Vinod Rao & Lawrence H Snyder

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  1. Vinod Rao
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  2. Lawrence H Snyder
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Rao, V., Snyder, L. The road least taken. Nat Neurosci 11, 623–624 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn0608-623

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn0608-623

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