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Orbitofrontal cortex is required for optimal waiting based on decision confidence.

ABSTRACT: Confidence judgments are a central example of metacognition-knowledge about one's own cognitive processes. According to this metacognitive view, confidence reports are generated by a second-order monitoring process based on the quality of internal representations about beliefs. Although neural correlates of decision confidence have been recently identified in humans and other animals, it is not well understood whether there are brain areas specifically important for confidence monitoring. To address this issue, we designed a postdecision temporal wagering task in which rats expressed choice confidence by the amount of time they were willing to wait for reward. We found that orbitofrontal cortex inactivation disrupts waiting-based confidence reports without affecting decision accuracy. Furthermore, we show that a normative model can quantitatively account for waiting times based on the computation of decision confidence. These results establish an anatomical locus for a metacognitive report, confidence judgment, distinct from the processes required for perceptual decisions.

SUBMITTER: Lak A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4364549 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Individuals suffering from pathological gambling (PG) show impaired decision making, but it is still not clear how this impairment is related to other traits and neuroanatomical characteristics. In this study, we investigated how the influence of PG on decision making (1) is connected to different impulsivity facets and (2) how it is related to gray matter volume (GMV) in various brain regions. Twenty-eight diagnosed PG patients and 23 healthy controls completed the cups task to measure decision making. In this task, participants had to decide between safe and risky options, which varied in expected value (EV) between risk advantageous, equal EV, and risk disadvantageous choices. A delay discounting task and the Barrant Impulsiveness Scale were applied to assess multiple impulsivity facets. In addition, structural magnetic resonance images were acquired. In comparison to the control group PG patients demonstrated more deficits in decision making, indicated by less EV sensitivity, but there was no significant difference in number of overall risky choices. Also, PG patients showed increased impulsivity in nearly every dimension. Results revealed (1) a positive correlation between decision making impairments and non-planning impulsivity but no significant relation to other impulsivity facets. Although we found no GMV differences between PG patients and controls, (2) a regions of interest analysis showed a correlation between medial orbitofrontal GMV and EV sensitivity in PG patients. Our findings showed that (1) the association between decision making and impulsivity can also be found in PG patients, but only for certain impulsivity facets. This suggests that it is essential to consider measuring different dimensions, when investigating impulsivity in a PG sample. Secondly, our findings revealed that (2) dysfunctional decision making-particularly the component of risk evaluation-is related to decreased GMV in the medial orbitofrontal cortex, a brain region concerned with processing of rewards. Interestingly, we did not find more risky choices for PG patients, and thus, we assume that decision making deficits in PG are primarily related to risk evaluation, not risk seeking, which is in line with our GMV findings.

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Orbitofrontal cortex is required for optimal waiting based on decision confidence.

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