Neural correlates, computation and behavioural impact of decision confidence

被引:574
作者
Kepecs, Adam [1 ]
Uchida, Naoshige [1 ,2 ,3 ]
Zariwala, Hatim A. [1 ,4 ]
Mainen, Zachary F. [1 ,5 ]
机构
[1] Cold Spring Harbor Lab, Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724 USA
[2] Harvard Univ, Dept Mol & Cellular Biol, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
[3] Harvard Univ, Ctr Brain Sci, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
[4] Allen Inst Brain Sci, Seattle, WA 98103 USA
[5] Gulbenkian Inst Sci, Champalimaud Neurosci Programme, P-2780901 Oeiras, Portugal
基金
美国国家卫生研究院;
关键词
D O I
10.1038/nature07200
中图分类号
O [数理科学和化学]; P [天文学、地球科学]; Q [生物科学]; N [自然科学总论];
学科分类号
07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;
摘要
Humans and other animals must often make decisions on the basis of imperfect evidence(1,2). Statisticians use measures such as P values to assign degrees of confidence to propositions, but little is known about how the brain computes confidence estimates about decisions. We explored this issue using behavioural analysis and neural recordings in rats in combination with computational modelling. Subjects were trained to perform an odour categorization task that allowed decision confidence to be manipulated by varying the distance of the test stimulus to the category boundary. To understand how confidence could be computed along with the choice itself, using standard models of decision-making(3-6), we defined a simple measure that quantified the quality of the evidence contributing to a particular decision. Here we show that the firing rates of many single neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex match closely to the predictions of confidence models and cannot be readily explained by alternative mechanisms, such as learning stimulus - outcome associations(7-10). Moreover, when tested using a delayed reward version of the task, we found that rats' willingness to wait for rewards increased with confidence, as predicted by the theoretical model. These results indicate that confidence estimates, previously suggested to require 'metacognition'(11,12) and conscious awareness(13,14), are available even in the rodent brain, can be computed with relatively simple operations, and can drive adaptive behaviour. We suggest that confidence estimation may be a fundamental and ubiquitous component of decision- making.
引用
收藏
页码:227 / U55
页数:7
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