CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 155Neural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesVisual perception and processing mechanismsDecision-Making and Behavioral Economics

Neural mediators of changes of mind about perceptual decisions

Open access
Fleming, Stephen M., van der Putten, Elisabeth J., Daw, Nathaniel D.·2018·Nature Neuroscience
DOI 10.1038/s41593-018-0104-6PMC PMC5878683
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Changing one's mind on the basis of new evidence is a hallmark of cognitive flexibility. To revise our confidence in a previous decision, we should use new evidence to update beliefs about choice accuracy. How this process unfolds in the human brain, however, remains unknown. Here we manipulated whether additional sensory evidence supports or negates a previous motion direction discrimination judgment while recording markers of neural activity in the human brain using fMRI. A signature of post-decision evidence (change in log-odds correct) was selectively observed in the activity of posterior medial frontal cortex. In contrast, distinct activity profiles in anterior prefrontal cortex mediated the impact of post-decision evidence on subjective confidence, independently of changes in decision value. Together our findings reveal candidate neural mediators of post-decisional changes of mind in the human brain and indicate possible targets for ameliorating deficits in cognitive flexibility.

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.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1038/s41593-018-0104-6

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.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

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 folded X signature was observed in the fMRI activity of pMFC.

    “This folded X signature was observed in the fMRI activity of pMFC, consistent with this region (negatively) accumulating evidence in a frame of reference of choice accuracy and providing a computational bridge between studies on confidence and on error monitoring.”

    From Metacognition and Confidence: A Review and Synthesis (2024) · cites this paper as Fleming et al. 2018

  • In a random dot motion discrimination study, providing stronger postdecision evidence led to a stronger folded X pattern in confidence ratings.

    “In a study of random dot motion discrimination, providing stronger postdecision evidence indeed led to a stronger folded X pattern in confidence ratings (Fleming et al. 2018).”

    From Metacognition and Confidence: A Review and Synthesis (2024) · cites this paper as Fleming et al. 2018

  • fMRI neural correlates of evidence against a choice are tracked in pMFC (the neural generator of the ERN), whereas more anterior prefrontal regions covary with subjective confidence.

    “Consistent with this perspective, fMRI neural correlates of evidence against a choice were tracked in pMFC (the neural generator of the ERN), whereas more anterior prefrontal regions covaried with subjective confidence (Fleming et al. 2018).”

    From Metacognition and Confidence: A Review and Synthesis (2024) · cites this paper as Fleming et al. 2018

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 64 · Cited by 155

Research works printed but not linked: 42

  1. [1]Kiani R Cueva CJ Reppas JB Newsome WT Dynamics of Neural Population Responses in Prefrontal Cortex Indicate Changes of Mind on Single Trials Current Biology 2014 24 1542 1547 24954050 PMC4191655
  2. [2]Resulaj A Kiani R Wolpert DM Shadlen MN Changes of mind in decision-making Nature 2009 461 263 266 19693010 PMC2875179
  3. [5]Pouget A Drugowitsch J Kepecs A Confidence and certainty: distinct probabilistic quantities for different goals Nature Neuroscience 2016 19 366 374 26906503 PMC5378479
  4. [6]Bronfman ZZ Decisions reduce sensitivity to subsequent information Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B-Biological Sciences 2015 282 20150228 PMC4590468 26108628
  5. [7]Yu S Pleskac TJ Zeigenfuse MD Dynamics of postdecisional processing of confidence Journal of Experimental Psychology. General 2015 144 489 510 25844627
  6. [10]Bonini F Action monitoring and medial frontal cortex: leading role of supplementary motor area Science 2014 343 888 891 24558161
  7. [11]Fleming SM Ryu J Golfinos JG Blackmon KE Domain-specific impairment in metacognitive accuracy following anterior prefrontal lesions Brain 2014 137 2811 2822 25100039 PMC4163038
  8. [12]Fleming SM Huijgen J Dolan RJ Prefrontal Contributions to Metacognition in Perceptual Decision Making J Neurosci 2012 32 6117 6125 22553018 PMC3359781
  9. [14]Hilgenstock R Weiss T Witte OW You'd better think twice: post-decision perceptual confidence NeuroImage 2014 99 323 331 24862076
  10. [16]Sanders JI Hangya B Kepecs A Signatures of a Statistical Computation in the Human Sense of Confidence Neuron 2016 90 499 506 27151640 PMC5350614
  11. [17]Rushworth MFS Behrens TEJ Choice, uncertainty and value in prefrontal and cingulate cortex Nature Neuroscience 2008 11 389 18368045
  12. [18]De Martino B Fleming SM Garrett N Dolan RJ Confidence in value-based choice Nature Neuroscience 2013 16 105 110 23222911 PMC3786394
  13. [19]Lebreton M Abitbol R Daunizeau J Pessiglione M Automatic integration of confidence in the brain valuation signal Nature Neuroscience 2015 18 1159 1167 26192748
  14. [20]Baron RM Kenny DA The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations Journal of personality and social psychology 1986 51 1173 1182 3806354
  15. [21]Atlas LY Lindquist MA Bolger N Wager TD Brain mediators of the effects of noxious heat on pain Pain 2014 155 1632 1648 24845572 PMC4104234
  16. [22]Zhang H Maloney LT Ubiquitous log odds: a common representation of probability and frequency distortion in perception, action, and cognition Front Neurosci 2012 6 1 22294978 PMC3261445
  17. [24]Neubert F-X Mars RB Thomas AG Sallet J Rushworth MFS Comparison of human ventral frontal cortex areas for cognitive control and language with areas in monkey frontal cortex Neuron 2014 81 700 713 24485097
  18. [25]Fleming SM Daw ND Self-evaluation of decision-making: A general Bayesian framework for metacognitive computation Psychological Review 2017 124 91 114 28004960 PMC5178868
  19. [26]Insabato A Pannunzi M Rolls ET Deco G Confidence-Related Decision Making Journal of Neurophysiology 2010 104 539 547 20393062
  20. [27]Fleck MS Daselaar SM Dobbins IG Cabeza R Role of prefrontal and anterior cingulate regions in decision-making processes shared by memory and nonmemory tasks Cerebral Cortex 2006 16 1623 1630 16400154
  21. [28]Kenny DA Korchmaros JD Bolger N Lower level mediation in multilevel models Psychol Methods 2003 8 115 128 12924810
  22. [29]Kepecs A Uchida N Zariwala Mainen Neural correlates, computation and behavioural impact of decision confidence Nature 2008 455 227 231 18690210
  23. [30]Lak A Orbitofrontal cortex is required for optimal waiting based on decision confidence Neuron 2014 84 190 201 25242219 PMC4364549
  24. [31]Wallis JD Cross-species studies of orbitofrontal cortex and value-based decision-making Nature Neuroscience 2011 15 13 19 22101646 PMC3549638
  25. [32]Kolling N Behrens TEJ Mars RB Rushworth MFS Neural mechanisms of foraging Science 2012 336 95 98 22491854 PMC3440844
  26. [33]Neubert F-X Mars RB Sallet J Rushworth MFS Connectivity reveals relationship of brain areas for reward-guided learning and decision making in human and monkey frontal cortex Proceedings of the national academy of sciences 2015 112 E2695 704 PMC4443352 25947150
  27. [34]Boldt A Yeung N Shared neural markers of decision confidence and error detection J Neurosci 2015 35 3478 3484 25716847 PMC4339357
  28. [36]Yeung N Summerfield C Metacognition in human decision-making: confidence and error monitoring 2012 367 1310 1321 PMC3318764 22492749
  29. [38]Atlas LY Bolger N Lindquist MA Wager TD Brain mediators of predictive cue effects on perceived pain J Neurosci 2010 30 12964 12977 20881115 PMC2966558
  30. [40]Badre D Doll BB Long NM Frank MJ Rostrolateral prefrontal cortex and individual differences in uncertainty-driven exploration Neuron 2012 73 595 607 22325209 PMC3285405
  31. [41]Purcell BA Kiani R Hierarchical decision processes that operate over distinct timescales underlie choice and changes in strategy Proceedings of the national academy of sciences 2016 113 E4531 40 PMC4978308 27432960
  32. [42]Shea N Supra-personal cognitive control and metacognition Trends in Cognitive Sciences 2014 10.1016/j.tics.2014.01.006 PMC3989995 24582436 · DOI · Paper page
  33. [45]Moritz S Woodward TS A generalized bias against disconfirmatory evidence in schizophrenia Psychiatry Research 2006 142 157 165 16631258
  34. [46]Woodward TS Buchy L Moritz S Liotti M A bias against disconfirmatory evidence is associated with delusion proneness in a nonclinical sample Schizophr Bull 2007 33 1023 1028 17347526 PMC2632321
  35. [47]Brainard DH The Psychophysics Toolbox Spatial Vision 1997 10 433 436 9176952
  36. [48]Pelli DG The VideoToolbox software for visual psychophysics: transforming numbers into movies Spatial Vision 1997 10 437 442 9176953
  37. [52]Moore DA Healy PJ The trouble with overconfidence Psychological Review 2008 115 502 517 18426301
  38. [56]Andersson JL Hutton C Ashburner J Turner R Friston K Modeling geometric deformations in EPI time series NeuroImage 2001 13 903 919 11304086
  39. [57]Ashburner J Friston KJ Unified segmentation NeuroImage 2005 26 839 851 15955494
  40. [58]Bartra O McGuire JT Kable JW The valuation system: A coordinate-based meta-analysis of BOLD fMRI experiments examining neural correlates of subjective value NeuroImage 2013 76 412 427 23507394 PMC3756836
  41. [60]Efron B Tibshirani R An Introduction to the Bootstrap CRC Press 1993
  42. [62]Eklund A Nichols TE Knutsson H Cluster failure: Why fMRI inferences for spatial extent have inflated false-positive rates Proceedings of the national academy of sciences 2016 113 7900 7905 PMC4948312 27357684

Authors
Fleming, S. M., van der Putten, E. J., & Daw, N. D.
Affiliations
  • Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging (GB)
  • Princeton University (US)
Corresponding author
Fleming, Stephen M.
ORCID
Venue
Nature Neuroscience
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2018-03-12
Volume
21
Issue
4
Pages
617-624
ISSN
  • 1097-6256 (ISSN-L)
  • 1546-1726
DOI
10.1038/s41593-018-0104-6
PMC
PMC5878683
OpenAlex
W2793524180
Cited by
155
References
64
Citations by year
2026: 9 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 21 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 25 · 2019: 22 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 1
FWCI
11.91
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
Locations
  • Nature Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
  • Max Planck Digital Library (submittedVersion)
  • MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Wellcome Trust (WT096185, 203147/Z/16/Z, 203147, 096185)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
  • Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › General Decision Sciences › Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics
Keywords
change of mind, cognitive flexibility, posterior medial frontal cortex, anterior prefrontal cortex, perceptual decision making, motion direction discrimination, belief updating, decision value
MeSH terms
Adult, Bayes Theorem, Brain, Brain Mapping, Decision Making, Female, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Judgment, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Oxygen, Photic Stimulation, Logistic Models, Young Adult

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