When does evidence accumulation begin after a visual stimulus? Evidence from neurocognitive modeling of EEG and behavior

My previous work has focused on the possibility that Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) recorded with electroencephalography (EEG) can reflect the beginning of evidence accumulation during speeded decision making. Specifically, N200 peak latencies, negative local peaks in occipital-parietal electrodes around 180 ms, are thought to reflect this onset. I discuss why this matches convergent findings in the literature, and why evidence accumulation is not likely to begin immediately after visual information reaches the occipital cortex in most decision-making tasks. I discuss our recent findings on replication of this work with multiple new sources of data, including a preregistered data set. The replication work was performed with a number of analysis procedures, ranging from: basic regressions of N200 latency estimates compared to various Non-Decision Time (NDT) estimates, to fitting neurocognitive models that predict both choice-response times and single-trial N200 latencies. Multiple datasets were used to assess the theory of N200 latencies reflecting evidence accumulation onsets. The results are presented in the context of the best modeling procedures that generate inference about the truth of N200 latencies, as judged in simulation. We use hierarchical Bayesian modeling, simulation-based Bayesian inference, and computational models of ERPs. While little support was found for a 1 ms to 1 ms correspondence between NDTs and N200 latencies, significant positive relationships were found in most analysis procedures and datasets. I discuss what this means for the theory of the beginning of evidence accumulation during visual tasks. I also discuss the future of understanding ERPs in terms of their computational role in cognition.