Confidence Through Consensus: a Neural Mechanism for Uncertainty Monitoring

Overview

Journal Sci Rep

Specialty Science

Date 2016 Feb 25

PMID 26907162

Citations 5

Authors

Luciano Paz

Andrea Insabato

Ariel Zylberberg

Gustavo Deco

Mariano Sigman

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Models that integrate sensory evidence to a threshold can explain task accuracy, response times and confidence, yet it is still unclear how confidence is encoded in the brain. Classic models assume that confidence is encoded in some form of balance between the evidence integrated in favor and against the selected option. However, recent experiments that measure the sensory evidence's influence on choice and confidence contradict these classic models. We propose that the decision is taken by many loosely coupled modules each of which represent a stochastic sample of the sensory evidence integral. Confidence is then encoded in the dispersion between modules. We show that our proposal can account for the well established relations between confidence, and stimuli discriminability and reaction times, as well as the fluctuations influence on choice and confidence.

Citing Articles

A Population Representation of the Confidence in a Decision in the Parietal Cortex.

Zylberberg A, Shadlen M bioRxiv. 2024; .

PMID: 39229195 PMC: 11370442. DOI: 10.1101/2024.08.15.608159.

Adaptive neurons compute confidence in a decision network.

Li L, Wang D Sci Rep. 2021; 11(1):22190.

PMID: 34772969 PMC: 8589983. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-01523-9.

A sensory integration account for time perception.

Toso A, Fassihi A, Paz L, Pulecchi F, Diamond M PLoS Comput Biol. 2021; 17(1):e1008668.

PMID: 33513135 PMC: 7875380. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008668.

Nonlinear neural network dynamics accounts for human confidence in a sequence of perceptual decisions.

Berlemont K, Martin J, Sackur J, Nadal J Sci Rep. 2020; 10(1):7940.

PMID: 32409634 PMC: 7224191. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-63582-8.

Prestimulus alpha-band power biases visual discrimination confidence, but not accuracy.

Samaha J, Iemi L, Postle B Conscious Cogn. 2017; 54:47-55.

PMID: 28222937 PMC: 5561529. DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2017.02.005.

References

Brunton B, Botvinick M, Brody C . Rats and humans can optimally accumulate evidence for decision-making. Science. 2013; 340(6128):95-8. DOI: 10.1126/science.1233912. View

Cecchi G, Sigman M, Alonso J, Martinez L, Chialvo D, Magnasco M . Noise in neurons is message dependent. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2000; 97(10):5557-61. PMC: 25867. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.100113597. View

Lo C, Wang X . Cortico-basal ganglia circuit mechanism for a decision threshold in reaction time tasks. Nat Neurosci. 2006; 9(7):956-63. DOI: 10.1038/nn1722. View

Ma W, Beck J, Latham P, Pouget A . Bayesian inference with probabilistic population codes. Nat Neurosci. 2006; 9(11):1432-8. DOI: 10.1038/nn1790. View

Vickers D, Packer J . Effects of alternating set for speed or accuracy on response time, accuracy and confidence in a unidimensional discrimination task. Acta Psychol (Amst). 1982; 50(2):179-97. DOI: 10.1016/0001-6918(82)90006-3. View

Audley R . A stochastic model for individual choice behavior. Psychol Rev. 1960; 67:1-15. DOI: 10.1037/h0046438. View

Kepecs A, Uchida N, Zariwala H, Mainen Z . Neural correlates, computation and behavioural impact of decision confidence. Nature. 2008; 455(7210):227-31. DOI: 10.1038/nature07200. View

Wong K, Wang X . A recurrent network mechanism of time integration in perceptual decisions. J Neurosci. 2006; 26(4):1314-28. PMC: 6674568. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3733-05.2006. View

Chevalier G, Deniau J . Disinhibition as a basic process in the expression of striatal functions. Trends Neurosci. 1990; 13(7):277-80. DOI: 10.1016/0166-2236(90)90109-n. View

10.

Rolls E, Grabenhorst F, Deco G . Choice, difficulty, and confidence in the brain. Neuroimage. 2010; 53(2):694-706. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.06.073. View

11.

Kiani R, Shadlen M . Representation of confidence associated with a decision by neurons in the parietal cortex. Science. 2009; 324(5928):759-64. PMC: 2738936. DOI: 10.1126/science.1169405. View

12.

Smith P, Ratcliff R . Psychology and neurobiology of simple decisions. Trends Neurosci. 2004; 27(3):161-8. DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2004.01.006. View

13.

Maniscalco B, Lau H . A signal detection theoretic approach for estimating metacognitive sensitivity from confidence ratings. Conscious Cogn. 2011; 21(1):422-30. DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2011.09.021. View

14.

Wang M, Yang Y, Wang C, Gamo N, Jin L, Mazer J . NMDA receptors subserve persistent neuronal firing during working memory in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Neuron. 2013; 77(4):736-49. PMC: 3584418. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2012.12.032. View

15.

Brown S, Heathcote A . The simplest complete model of choice response time: linear ballistic accumulation. Cogn Psychol. 2008; 57(3):153-78. DOI: 10.1016/j.cogpsych.2007.12.002. View

16.

Pleskac T, Busemeyer J . Two-stage dynamic signal detection: a theory of choice, decision time, and confidence. Psychol Rev. 2010; 117(3):864-901. DOI: 10.1037/a0019737. View

17.

Usher M, McClelland J . The time course of perceptual choice: the leaky, competing accumulator model. Psychol Rev. 2001; 108(3):550-92. DOI: 10.1037/0033-295x.108.3.550. View

18.

de Lafuente V, Jazayeri M, Shadlen M . Representation of accumulating evidence for a decision in two parietal areas. J Neurosci. 2015; 35(10):4306-18. PMC: 4355201. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2451-14.2015. View

19.

Thura D, Beauregard-Racine J, Fradet C, Cisek P . Decision making by urgency gating: theory and experimental support. J Neurophysiol. 2012; 108(11):2912-30. DOI: 10.1152/jn.01071.2011. View

20.

Kornell N, Rhodes M, Castel A, Tauber S . The ease-of-processing heuristic and the stability bias: dissociating memory, memory beliefs, and memory judgments. Psychol Sci. 2011; 22(6):787-94. DOI: 10.1177/0956797611407929. View