Neural correlates, computation and behavioural impact of decision confidence

Adam Kepecs (), Naoshige Uchida, Hatim A. Zariwala and Zachary F. Mainen ()
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Adam Kepecs: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 1 Bungtown Road, Cold Spring Harbor, New York 11724, USA
Naoshige Uchida: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 1 Bungtown Road, Cold Spring Harbor, New York 11724, USA
Hatim A. Zariwala: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 1 Bungtown Road, Cold Spring Harbor, New York 11724, USA
Zachary F. Mainen: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 1 Bungtown Road, Cold Spring Harbor, New York 11724, USA

Nature, 2008, vol. 455, issue 7210, 227-231

Abstract: Confidence trick In decision-making, many factors affect the final choice, including ones degree of confidence in its correctness. Traditionally, such 'metacognition' has been thought to be the hallmark of self-consciousness and unique to primates. But Kepecs et al. now show that rats also appear to compute and use estimates of their own confidence when making difficult perceptual decisions. The rats received a reward when deciding correctly which of two odours in a mixture was the stronger. By varying the exact mixture of components, the difficulty of the decision could be adjusted. Neurons in the brain's orbitofrontal cortex fired much more vigorously in the difficult tests than in easy ones. This suggests that confidence estimation may be a fundamental and ubiquitous part of the decision-making process.

Date: 2008
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DOI: 10.1038/nature07200

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