Confidence and certainty: distinct probabilistic quantities for different goals

Pouget, A., Drugowitsch, J., Kepecs, A. (February 2016) Confidence and certainty: distinct probabilistic quantities for different goals. Nat Neurosci, 19 (3). pp. 366-74. ISSN 1546-1726 (Electronic)1097-6256 (Linking)

URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26906503
DOI: 10.1038/nn.4240

Abstract

When facing uncertainty, adaptive behavioral strategies demand that the brain performs probabilistic computations. In this probabilistic framework, the notion of certainty and confidence would appear to be closely related, so much so that it is tempting to conclude that these two concepts are one and the same. We argue that there are computational reasons to distinguish between these two concepts. Specifically, we propose that confidence should be defined as the probability that a decision or a proposition, overt or covert, is correct given the evidence, a critical quantity in complex sequential decisions. We suggest that the term certainty should be reserved to refer to the encoding of all other probability distributions over sensory and cognitive variables. We also discuss strategies for studying the neural codes for confidence and certainty and argue that clear definitions of neural codes are essential to understanding the relative contributions of various cortical areas to decision making.

Item Type: Paper
Subjects: organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions > tissues types and functions > neural networks
CSHL Authors:
Communities: CSHL labs > Kepecs lab
Depositing User: Matt Covey
Date: 23 February 2016
Date Deposited: 01 Mar 2016 20:58
Last Modified: 08 Jul 2021 15:35
PMCID: PMC5378479
Related URLs:
URI: https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/32372

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