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Human VMPFC encodes early signatures of confidence in perceptual decisions
Open accessPublished version of a preprint
Abstract
Choice confidence, an individual’s internal estimate of judgment accuracy, plays a critical role in adaptive behaviour, yet its neural representations during decision formation remain underexplored. Here, we recorded simultaneous EEG-fMRI while participants performed a direction discrimination task and rated their confidence on each trial. Using multivariate single-trial discriminant analysis of the EEG, we identified a stimulus-independent component encoding confidence, which appeared prior to subjects’ explicit choice and confidence report, and was consistent with a confidence measure predicted by an accumulation-to-bound model of decision-making. Importantly, trial-to-trial variability in this electrophysiologically-derived confidence signal was uniquely associated with fMRI responses in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC), a region not typically associated with confidence for perceptual decisions. Furthermore, activity in the VMPFC was functionally coupled with regions of the frontal cortex linked to perceptual decision-making and metacognition. Our results suggest that the VMPFC holds an early confidence representation arising from decision dynamics, preceding and potentially informing metacognitive evaluation.
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“Early confidence-related signals were seen in vmPFC [in a pgACC region similar to the one identified by Bang & Fleming (2018)], whereas later judgment-related activation was seen in lateral frontopolar cortex.”
From Metacognition and Confidence: A Review and Synthesis (2024) · cites this paper as Gherman & Philiastides 2018
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“Using EEG-informed fMRI, they could separate early neural activations correlating with confidence from later activations linked to the requirement for an explicit metacognitive judgment.”
From Metacognition and Confidence: A Review and Synthesis (2024) · cites this paper as Gherman & Philiastides 2018
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Clairis, N. (2020) · theses.fr (ABES) · doi:10.70675/5e0e9c10z2c72z4ed2zb4caz900659cedbc0
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A single evidence accumulation process informs perceptual choices and subsequent confidence reportsPreprint
Grogan, J. P., Vermeylen, L., Mannion, S.-L., McCabe, C., Monakhovych, D., Desender, K., & O’Connell, R. G. (2026) · eLife · doi:10.7554/elife.112343.1
A single evidence accumulation process informs perceptual choices and subsequent confidence reportsPreprint
Grogan, J. P., Vermeylen, L., Mannion, S.-L., McCabe, C., Monakhovych, D., Desender, K., & O’Connell, R. G. (2026) · eLife · doi:10.7554/elife.112343
Mudavath, U. K. N., Asadpour, A., Gherman, S., O’Connell, R. G., Kelly, S. P., Bickel, S., Ahamed, S. R., & Wong‐Lin, K. (2026) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.64898/2026.09.30.755781
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Metadata
- Authors
- Gherman, S., & Philiastides, M. G.
- Affiliations
- University of Glasgow (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Philiastides, Marios G.
- Venue
- eLife
- Publisher
- eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
- Published
- 2018-09-24
- Volume
- 7
- ISSN
- 2050-084X (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6199131
- OpenAlex
- W2952945985
- Cited by
- 107
- References
- 100
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 5
- FWCI
- 5.81
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- eLife (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Economic and Social Research Council (ES/L012995/1)
- British Academy (SG121587)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural dynamics and brain function
- Keywords
- decision confidence, perceptual decision making, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, metacognition, EEG-fMRI, direction discrimination, trial-to-trial variability, frontal cortex
- MeSH terms
- Metacognition, Adult, Decision Making, Electroencephalography, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Self Concept, Prefrontal Cortex, Young Adult
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