Effects of cortical microstimulation on confidence in a perceptual decision
Open accessAbstract
Decisions are often associated with a degree of certainty, or confidence--an estimate of the probability that the chosen option will be correct. Recent neurophysiological results suggest that the central processing of evidence leading to a perceptual decision also establishes a level of confidence. Here we provide a causal test of this hypothesis by electrically stimulating areas of the visual cortex involved in motion perception. Monkeys discriminated the direction of motion in a noisy display and were sometimes allowed to opt out of the direction choice if their confidence was low. Microstimulation did not reduce overall confidence in the decision but instead altered confidence in a manner that mimicked a change in visual motion, plus a small increase in sensory noise. The results suggest that the same sensory neural signals support choice, reaction time, and confidence in a decision and that artificial manipulation of these signals preserves the quantitative relationship between accumulated evidence and confidence.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The main distinction of the model is the recognition that the time to decision influences confidence.
“Its main distinction is the recognition that the time to decision influences confidence (Fetsch et al., 2014; Kiani et al., 2014a).”
From A common mechanism underlies changes of mind about decisions and confidence (2016) · cites this paper as Fetsch et al., 2014
When the decision maker terminates deliberation, the choice is accompanied by a degree of certainty (confidence) based on the same stream of evidence that supported that decision.
“Thus, when the decision maker terminates deliberation, the choice is accompanied by a degree of certainty (i.e., confidence), based on the same stream of evidence that supported that decision (Fetsch et al., 2014).”
From A common mechanism underlies changes of mind about decisions and confidence (2016) · cites this paper as Fetsch et al., 2014
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet
References 53 · Cited by 185
- Authors
- Fetsch, C. R., Kiani, R., Newsome, W. T., & Shadlen, M. N.
- Affiliations
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute (US)
- New York University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Shadlen, Michael N.
- Venue
- Neuron
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2014-08
- Volume
- 83
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 797-804
- ISSN
- 0896-6273 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4141901
- OpenAlex
- W2160672381
- Cited by
- 185
- References
- 53
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 27 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 22 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 6
- FWCI
- 10.97
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Update notices
- erratum (2014-10-01)
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Neuron (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Center for Research Resources (RR00166)
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute
- National Eye Institute (EY11378, P30EY01730)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural dynamics and brain function
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Keywords
- decision confidence, perceptual decision making, visual cortex, motion direction discrimination, sensory noise, evidence accumulation, reaction time, monkeys
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Choice Behavior, Decision Making, Discrimination, Psychological, Electric Stimulation, Macaca mulatta, Male, Models, Psychological, Motion Perception, Photic Stimulation, Reaction Time, Visual Cortex
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
