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Cited by 182Visual perception and processing mechanismsEmbodied and Extended CognitionMultisensory perception and integration

Unexpected arousal modulates the influence of sensory noise on confidence

Open access
Allen, Micah, Frank, Darya, Schwarzkopf, D Samuel, Fardo, Francesca, Winston, Joel S, Hauser, Tobias U, Rees, Geraint·2016·eLife
DOI 10.7554/elife.18103PMC PMC5079750
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Abstract

Human perception is invariably accompanied by a graded feeling of confidence that guides metacognitive awareness and decision-making. It is often assumed that this arises solely from the feed-forward encoding of the strength or precision of sensory inputs. In contrast, interoceptive inference models suggest that confidence reflects a weighted integration of sensory precision and expectations about internal states, such as arousal. Here we test this hypothesis using a novel psychophysical paradigm, in which unseen disgust-cues induced unexpected, unconscious arousal just before participants discriminated motion signals of variable precision. Across measures of perceptual bias, uncertainty, and physiological arousal we found that arousing disgust cues modulated the encoding of sensory noise. Furthermore, the degree to which trial-by-trial pupil fluctuations encoded this nonlinear interaction correlated with trial level confidence. Our results suggest that unexpected arousal regulates perceptual precision, such that subjective confidence reflects the integration of both external sensory and internal, embodied states.

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  • Other background beliefs may be more innate and furnished by evolution, such as associations between interoceptive states and confidence.

    “Other background beliefs may be more innate and furnished by evolution, such as associations between interoceptive states and confidence (Allen et al. 2016, Fiacconi et al. 2016).”

    From Metacognition and Confidence: A Review and Synthesis (2024) · cites this paper as Allen et al. 2016

    The Discussion reports a close link between interoceptive arousal and perceptual confidence, including correlations with cardiac acceleration and pupil dilation. It does not establish that this association is innate or furnished by evolution. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Subliminally presented disgusted faces not only lead to changes in pupil dilation and heart rate but also modulate confidence in a perceptual (random dot motion) decision.

    “For instance, Allen et al. (2016) found that subliminally presented disgusted faces not only led to changes in pupil dilation and heart rate but also modulated confidence in a perceptual (random dot motion) decision.”

    From Metacognition and Confidence: A Review and Synthesis (2024) · cites this paper as Allen et al. 2016

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Allen, M., Frank, D., Schwarzkopf, D. S., Fardo, F., Winston, J. S., Hauser, T. U., & Rees, G.
Affiliations
  • Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging (GB)
  • University of Manchester (GB)
  • University College London (GB)
  • Aarhus University (DK)
Corresponding author
Allen, Micah
ORCID
Venue
eLife
Publisher
eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
Published
2016-10-25
Volume
5
ISSN
2050-084X (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.7554/elife.18103
PMC
PMC5079750
OpenAlex
W2539343854
Cited by
182
References
23
Citations by year
2026: 12 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 24 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 21 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 5
FWCI
13.36
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • eLife (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Research Explorer (The University of Manchester) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
  • MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
  • ResearchSpace (University of Auckland) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • Wellcome Trust (100227, 095939, 091593)
  • European Research Council (310829)
  • Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (151641)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Embodied and Extended Cognition
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Multisensory perception and integration
Keywords
metacognitive confidence, sensory noise, arousal, interoceptive inference, perceptual precision, motion discrimination, pupil size, perceptual uncertainty, perceptual bias
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Arousal, Decision Making, Emotions, Female, Humans, Male, Young Adult

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