Subjective confidence reflects representation of Bayesian probability in cortex.

ABSTRACT: What gives rise to the human sense of confidence? Here we tested the Bayesian hypothesis that confidence is based on a probability distribution represented in neural population activity. We implemented several computational models of confidence and tested their predictions using psychophysics and functional magnetic resonance imaging. Using a generative model-based decoding technique, we extracted probability distributions from neural population activity in human visual cortex. We found that subjective confidence tracks the shape of the decoded distribution. That is, when sensory evidence was more precise, as indicated by the decoded distribution, observers reported higher levels of confidence. We furthermore found that neural activity in the insula, anterior cingulate and prefrontal corte

SUBMITTER: Geurts LS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7612428 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature