Research Projects

The human brain processes complex and noisy information from the environment, which is integrated over time to make perceptual decisions. The drift-diffusion model (DDM) captures the underlying processes of simple, binary decisions well. The efficacy of information processing in this process is given by the drift rate (µ), which depends on the rate of evidence accumulation and the quality of sensory signals. The research aims to investigate the influence of emotion cues and subjective anxiety severity on perceptual decision-making in the visual sensory domain. The study will examine two measures of information processing efficiency: behavioral drift rate and electroencephalographic centroparietal positivity (CPP buildup rate). The research aims to reveal the mechanism by which environmental affective information influences the flow of information to visual sensory areas in individuals with varying anxiety severities. The findings could inform the influences of external emotion cues and internal severities of state and trait anxiety on decision-making, which is relevant in disorders accompanied by dysfunctions of optimal decision-making.