Decoding Decision-Making and Feedback Interactions: Insights From EEG Activation Network

Xucheng Liu, Lu Shen, Ze Wang, Wei Tao, Shun Liu, Fali Li, Peng Xu, Tzyy-Ping Jung, Feng Wan

Abstract: The interaction of the brain’s decision-making and feedback stages is crucial for guiding human behavior. Previous studies mainly focused on the interaction immediately after the feedback, resulting in a limited understanding of brain communication dynamics during the interaction process. This study examined the communication dynamics of the brain network during decision-feedback interaction under various feedback conditions by employing a newly developed activation network approach to reveal its underlying neural mechanism. Thirty participants completed a decision-feedback task that involved a sequence of cue-induced predictions with highly predictable, somewhat predictable, and unpredictable feedback conditions. We constructed the activation network for all experimental stages using source-level EEG data in the alpha band. Notably, the brain exhibited the highest communication efficiency ($p < 0.05$) in receiving and integrating feedback with decision-making information during the feedback stage. Furthermore, the network-behavior correlations indicated that the brain tends to evaluate unexpected feedback under highly predictable conditions and expected feedback under unpredictable conditions, suggesting distinct neural strategies of the decision-feedback interaction process. Finally, we decoded the optimization process of decision-feedback interaction across the entire task. Although network correlations between the decision and feedback stages decreased over time (high predictable: $r = -0.447$, $p = 0.001$; unpredictable: $r = -0.305$, $p = 0.032$), classification accuracy significantly improved (${r = -0.448}$, $p = 0.010$, best accuracy: 86.667% ) under the highly predictable condition, corresponding with enhanced prediction behavior. These results indicate the optimization process of the cognitive resources allocation that supports more efficient interaction and improved predictive performance. Our findings advance the understanding of the mechanisms of decision-feedback interaction.