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Confidence regulates feedback processing during human probabilistic learning
Michael Ben Yehuda1, Robin A Murphy1, Mike E Le Pelley2
1Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford.
Journal of Experimental Psychology. General
|November 12, 2024
Summary
High confidence in task knowledge reduces feedback processing and learning. Participants prioritized subjective confidence over objective accuracy when deciding whether to seek more information.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Decision Science
Background:
- Uncertainty is a significant challenge in goal-directed learning and decision-making.
- The precise role of subjective confidence judgments in modulating learning and subsequent actions remains poorly understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the hypothesis that confidence judgments actively regulate the allocation of cognitive resources towards seeking and processing feedback.
- To examine how confidence influences learning and decision-making in an operant learning task.
Main Methods:
- Three experiments utilized an operant learning task to assess the relationship between confidence and feedback processing.
- Electrophysiological markers were recorded to quantify feedback processing.
- Bayesian modeling was employed to analyze belief updating and the perceived informative value of feedback.
Main Results:
- Increased confidence was correlated with diminished electrophysiological responses to feedback.
- Higher confidence led to reduced updating of beliefs after receiving feedback.
- Participants' willingness to pay for feedback was primarily driven by subjective confidence, not objective accuracy.
Conclusions:
- Confidence plays a critical role in regulating learning by modulating the processing and value assigned to feedback.
- Highly confident individuals may discount feedback, potentially hindering adaptive learning.
- Subjective confidence, rather than objective performance, significantly guides information-seeking behavior.
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