Perceptual confidence judgments reflect self-consistency
Open accessAbstract
Each perceptual decision is commonly attached to a judgment of confidence in the uncertainty of that decision. Confidence is classically defined as the estimate of the posterior probability of the decision to be correct, given the evidence. Here we argue that correctness is neither a valid normative statement of what observers should be doing after their perceptual decision nor a proper descriptive statement of what they actually do. Instead, we propose that perceivers aim at being self-consistent with themselves. We present behavioral evidence obtained in two separate psychophysical experiments that human observers achieve that aim. In one experiment adaptation led to aftereffects, and in the other prior stimulus occurrences were manipulated. We show that confidence judgments perfectly follow changes in perceptual reports and response times, regardless of the nature of the bias. Although observers are able to judge the validity of their percepts, they are oblivious to how biased these percepts are. Focusing on self-consistency rather than correctness leads us to interpret confidence as an estimate of the reliability of one's perceptual decision rather than a distance to an unattainable truth.
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A more general computational definition posits that propositional confidence reflects the probability of making a self-consistent choice across multiple presentations of the same decision problem.
“Instead, a more general computational definition posits that propositional confidence reflects the probability of making a self-consistent choice across multiple presentations of the same decision problem (Boundy-Singer et al. 2023, Caziot & Mamassian 2021, Koriat 2012).”
From Metacognition and Confidence: A Review and Synthesis (2024) · cites this paper as Caziot & Mamassian 2021
The Introduction defines self-consistency as the probability of making the same perceptual decision when the same stimulus is presented under identical conditions. The Discussion likewise describes confidence as an estimate of whether one would make that decision again. The paper addresses perceptual confidence, however, and does not establish this as a general definition of propositional confidence. Page numbers were not supplied in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.84)
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Metacognition and Confidence: A Review and Synthesis
Fleming, S. M. (2024) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-022423-032425 · Cited by 256 · see citing works
“For instance, if choice probability is biased by perceptual illusions, confidence often follows suit (Caziot & Mamassian, 2021, Gallagher et al., 2019).”
- Authors
- Caziot, B., & Mamassian, P.
- Affiliations
- Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (FR)
- Corresponding author
- Caziot, Baptiste
- Mamassian, Pascal
- Venue
- Journal of Vision
- Published
- 2021-11-18
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 8
- ISSN
- 1534-7362 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC8606852
- OpenAlex
- W3212937198
- Cited by
- 38
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 2.63
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Vision (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion)
- OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-18-CE28-0015, ANR-17-EURE-0017, ANR-14-NEUC-0006)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Multisensory perception and integration
- Keywords
- perceptual confidence, self-consistency, perceptual decision making, confidence judgments, perceptual reliability, perceptual adaptation, aftereffects, perceptual bias, reaction time (psychology), perceptual reports
- MeSH terms
- Decision Making, Humans, Judgment, Reaction Time, Reproducibility of Results, Uncertainty
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