Orbitofrontal Cortex Is Required for Optimal Waiting Based on Decision Confidence

Lak, A., Costa, G. M., Romberg, E., Koulakov, A. A., Mainen, Z. F., Kepecs, A. (September 2014) Orbitofrontal Cortex Is Required for Optimal Waiting Based on Decision Confidence. Neuron, 84 (1). pp. 190-201. ISSN 0896-6273

URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25242219
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2014.08.039

Abstract

Confidence judgments are a central example of metacognition-knowledge about one's own cognitive processes. According to this metacognitive view, confidence reports are generated by a second-order monitoring process based on the quality of internal representations about beliefs. Although neural correlates of decision confidence have been recently identified in humans and other animals, it is not well understood whether there are brain areas specifically important for confidence monitoring. To address this issue, we designed a postdecision temporal wagering task in which rats expressed choice confidence by the amount of time they were willing to wait for reward. We found that orbitofrontal cortex inactivation disrupts waiting-based confidence reports without affecting decision accuracy. Furthermore, we show that a normative model can quantitatively account for waiting times based on the computation of decision confidence. These results establish an anatomical locus for a metacognitive report, confidence judgment, distinct from the processes required for perceptual decisions.

Item Type: Paper
Subjects: organism description > animal behavior > decision making
organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions > tissues types and functions > orbitofrontal cortex
CSHL Authors:
Communities: CSHL labs > Kepecs lab
CSHL labs > Koulakov lab
Depositing User: Matt Covey
Date: 17 September 2014
Date Deposited: 25 Sep 2014 19:17
Last Modified: 27 Apr 2015 19:25
PMCID: PMC4364549
Related URLs:
URI: https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/30817

Actions (login required)

Administrator's edit/view item Administrator's edit/view item
CSHL HomeAbout CSHLResearchEducationNews & FeaturesCampus & Public EventsCareersGiving