Visibility Is Not Equivalent to Confidence in a Low Contrast Orientation Discrimination Task

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Psychology
• Visual Perception

Background:

• Subjective reports in visual tasks often show confidence exceeding visibility.
• The generality and reliability of this dissociation require further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare subjective reports of discrimination confidence and visibility.
• To examine the relationship between these reports and objective performance in a visual task.

Main Methods:

• An orientation discrimination task was employed with varying stimulus contrast.
• Participants provided subjective reports on both confidence and visibility.

Main Results:

• Liberal criteria were used for confidence reports compared to visibility reports.
• Confidence reports better predicted accuracy, but only visibility reports correlated with stimulus contrast on incorrect trials.

Conclusions:

• The distinction between confidence and visibility is reconcilable with partial awareness and higher-order thought theories.
• Differentiating subjective visibility and confidence is crucial for consciousness research.