title: Neural evidence accumulation persists after choice to inform metacognitive judgments.
abstract: The ability to revise one's certainty or confidence in a preceding choice is a critical feature of adaptive decision-making but the neural mechanisms underpinning this metacognitive process have yet to be characterized. In the present study, we demonstrate that the same build-to-threshold decision variable signal that triggers an initial choice continues to evolve after commitment, and determines the timing and accuracy of self-initiated error detection reports by selectively representing accumulated evidence that the preceding choice was incorrect. We also show that a peri-choice signal generated in medial frontal cortex provides a source of input to this post-decision accumulation process, indicating that metacognitive judgments are not solely based on the accumulation of feedforward sensory evidence. These findings impart novel insights into the generative mechanisms of metacognition.
authors.affiliation: Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.|Institute of Psychology, Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Peter R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.affiliation: Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: Ian H
authors.initials: IH
authors.lastname: Robertson
authors.affiliation: Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: Siobhán
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Harty
authors.affiliation: Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: Redmond G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: O'Connell
mesh_terms: D003657:Decision Making; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D064368:Healthy Volunteers; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D000067489:Metacognition
keywords: EEG; decision-making; diffusion model; error detection; human; metacognition; neuroscience