The neural system of metacognition accompanying decision-making in the prefrontal cortex
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Abstract
Decision-making is usually accompanied by metacognition, through which a decision maker monitors uncertainty regarding a decision and may then consequently revise the decision. These metacognitive processes can occur prior to or in the absence of feedback. However, the neural mechanisms of metacognition remain controversial. One theory proposes an independent neural system for metacognition in the prefrontal cortex (PFC); the other, that metacognitive processes coincide and overlap with the systems used for the decision-making process per se. In this study, we devised a novel "decision-redecision" paradigm to investigate the neural metacognitive processes involved in redecision as compared to the initial decision-making process. The participants underwent a perceptual decision-making task and a rule-based decision-making task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We found that the anterior PFC, including the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and lateral frontopolar cortex (lFPC), were more extensively activated after the initial decision. The dACC activity in redecision positively scaled with decision uncertainty and correlated with individual metacognitive uncertainty monitoring abilities-commonly occurring in both tasks-indicating that the dACC was specifically involved in decision uncertainty monitoring. In contrast, the lFPC activity seen in redecision processing was scaled with decision uncertainty reduction and correlated with individual accuracy changes-positively in the rule-based decision-making task and negatively in the perceptual decision-making task. Our results show that the lFPC was specifically involved in metacognitive control of decision adjustment and was subject to different control demands of the tasks. Therefore, our findings support that a separate neural system in the PFC is essentially involved in metacognition and further, that functions of the PFC in metacognition are dissociable.
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Metacognitive judgments heighten activity in a network of prefrontal regions, notably dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and lateral frontopolar cortex.
“Such comparisons have highlighted a network of prefrontal regions, notably dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and lateral frontopolar cortex, in which activity is heightened when metacognitive judgments are required (Fleming et al. 2012, Qiu et al. 2018, Yeon et al. 2020).”
From Metacognition and Confidence: A Review and Synthesis (2024) · cites this paper as Qiu et al. 2018
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- Authors
- Qiu, L., Su, J., Ni, Y., Bai, Y., Zhang, X., Li, X., & Wan, X.
- Affiliations
- Beijing Normal University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Wan, Xiaohong
- Venue
- PLOS Biology
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2018-04-23
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- e2004037
- ISSN
- 1544-9173 (ISSN-L)
- 1545-7885
- PMC
- PMC5933819
- OpenAlex
- W2951856121
- Cited by
- 125
- References
- 68
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 11
- FWCI
- 6.55
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Update notices
- new_version (2018-05-03)
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- PLoS Biology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (61273063, 31471068)
- Recruitment Program of Global Experts
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2017EYT33)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › General Decision Sciences › Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural dynamics and brain function
- Keywords
- metacognition, decision-making, prefrontal cortex, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, perceptual decision making, rule-based decision making, metacognitive regulation, neural dissociation
- MeSH terms
- Metacognition, Adult, Brain Mapping, Choice Behavior, Decision Making, Female, Gyrus Cinguli, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Nerve Net, Psychological Tests, Prefrontal Cortex, Feedback, Psychological, Uncertainty
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