Frontal scalp potentials foretell perceptual choice confidence

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Science
• Decision-Making

Background:

• Decision-making involves implicit questions of timing and certainty.
• The relationship between choice confidence and response time is complex and nonmonotonic.
• A frontoparietal network is implicated in linking choice confidence and action, but its dynamics are unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the neural correlates of predecisional choice confidence.
• To elucidate the dynamic interplay within the frontoparietal network during decision-making.

Main Methods:

• Recorded stimulus-locked frontal event-related potentials (ERPs) in human participants.
• Analyzed ERP components in relation to choice confidence and response time.

Main Results:

• A novel frontal ERP component (positive peak ~500 ms) was identified, scaling with confidence but not stimulus level.
• Centroparietal ERP amplitude showed an inverse relationship with response time.
• The frontal confidence component preceded the response, explaining the inverse confidence-response time relationship when accuracy is prioritized.

Conclusions:

• Frontal ERPs provide an early neural representation of predecisional choice confidence.
• This finding supports the causal role of confidence in decision-making, suggesting decisions are made faster due to higher confidence.
• The study enhances understanding of the frontoparietal decision-making circuitry.