# Show Reference: "Probabilistic reasoning by neurons"

Probabilistic reasoning by neurons Nature, Vol. 447, No. 7148. (3 June 2007), pp. 1075-1080, doi:10.1038/nature05852 by Tianming Yang, Michael N. Shadlen
@article{yang-and-shadlen-2007,
abstract = {Our brains allow us to reason about alternatives and to make choices that are likely to pay off. Often there is no one correct answer, but instead one that is favoured simply because it is more likely to lead to reward. A variety of probabilistic classification tasks probe the covert strategies that humans use to decide among alternatives based on evidence that bears only probabilistically on outcome. Here we show that rhesus monkeys can also achieve such reasoning. We have trained two monkeys to choose between a pair of coloured targets after viewing four shapes, shown sequentially, that governed the probability that one of the targets would furnish reward. Monkeys learned to combine probabilistic information from the shape combinations. Moreover, neurons in the parietal cortex reveal the addition and subtraction of probabilistic quantities that underlie decision-making on this task.},
author = {Yang, Tianming and Shadlen, Michael N.},
day = {3},
doi = {10.1038/nature05852},
issn = {0028-0836},
journal = {Nature},
keywords = {ann, bayes, math, population-coding, probability},
month = jun,
number = {7148},
pages = {1075--1080},
pmid = {17546027},
posted-at = {2012-04-10 07:37:29},
priority = {2},
publisher = {Nature Publishing Group},
title = {Probabilistic reasoning by neurons},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature05852},
volume = {447},
year = {2007}
}


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LIP seems to encode decision variables for saccade direction.

Yang and Shadlen show that neurons in LIP (in monkeys) encode the log probability of reward given artificial visual stimuli in a wheather prediction task experiment.

LIP is retinotopic and involved in gaze shifts.