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Confidence predicts speed-accuracy tradeoff for subsequent decisions

Desender, K; Boldt, A; Verguts, T; Donner, TH; (2019) Confidence predicts speed-accuracy tradeoff for subsequent decisions. eLife , 8 , Article e43499. 10.7554/eLife.43499. Green open access

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Abstract

When external feedback about decision outcomes is lacking, agents need to adapt their decision policies based on an internal estimate of the correctness of their choices (i.e., decision confidence). We hypothesized that agents use confidence to continuously update the tradeoff between the speed and accuracy of their decisions: When confidence is low in one decision, the agent needs more evidence before committing to a choice in the next decision, leading to slower but more accurate decisions. We tested this hypothesis by fitting a bounded accumulation decision model to behavioral data from three different perceptual choice tasks. Decision bounds indeed depended on the reported confidence on the previous trial, independent of objective accuracy. This increase in decision bound was predicted by a centro-parietal EEG component sensitive to confidence. We conclude that internally computed neural signals of confidence predict the ongoing adjustment of decision policies.

Type: Article
Title: Confidence predicts speed-accuracy tradeoff for subsequent decisions
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.7554/eLife.43499
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.43499.001
Language: English
Additional information: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
Keywords: research article, neuroscience, decision making, confidence, drift diffusion modeling, EEG, PE, ERN
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10082565
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