Identifying the Neural Correlates of Mental Simulation in Multi-Step Planning
New York University
Summary
Planning is the ability to think ahead by considering possible future actions and their consequences. This research study aims to understand how the brain supports multi-step planning by testing whether people simulate promising future move sequences while deciding what to do next. Healthy adult volunteers will learn and play a strategy game called "Four-in-a-Row" (similar to Connect Four). Participants will complete two sessions on successive days: an online behavioral training/playing session and an in-person brain-recording session at New York University. During the brain-recording session, participants will view mid-game board positions and choose the best move while the study team records brain activity (using magnetoencephalography \[MEG\] or functional MRI \[fMRI\]) and eye movements. Data from the game and eye tracking will also be used to fit computational models of planning that help interpret the neural measurements.
Description
This is a human neuroimaging study consisting of two related experiments designed to characterize the neural correlates of mental simulation during multi-step planning in the "Four-in-a-Row" game. Planning is modeled as a feature-based heuristic evaluation combined with look-ahead (tree search) that evaluates candidate actions by simulating future states and outcomes. Participants complete two sessions on successive days. Session 1 is a \~60-minute online behavioral session in which participants learn the rules of Four-in-a-Row (including a comprehension/quiz check) and play multiple games ag…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 18–64 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion Criteria: * N/A Exclusion Criteria: * History of neurological or psychiatric illness * Vulnerable populations
Interventions
- BehavioralFour-in-a-Row Task
Deterministic, adversarial 'Four-in-a-Row' decision-making task that requires thinking multiple steps ahead. Participants complete a training/gameplay session and a laboratory session in which they choose moves from mid-game positions while behavioral responses (and eye movements, if applicable) are recorded. After the neuroimaging session, participants may play a full match outside the scanner for an additional monetary reward.
Location
- New York UniversityNew York, New York