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.
Highlights
Decision-making is a process of evidence accumulation
Our results suggest the existence of a neural system located in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) mainly involved in metacognition and independent from the neural system of decisionmaking
We found that dorsal anterior cingulate cortex activity significantly correlated with metacognitive monitoring of decision uncertainty and that lateral frontopolar cortex activation correlated instead with metacognitive control
Summary
Decision-making is a process of evidence accumulation. That evidence may come from sensory signals of external stimuli or from mental representations of internal cognitive operations. Variations in evidence can create uncertainty in the person rendering a decision. The decision maker is normally explicitly or implicitly aware of uncertainties about a decision and confirms or revises a decision even prior to, or in the absence of, external feedback. In the framework of cognitive control, the processes of decision uncertainty monitoring—and consequent decision adjustments—are termed metacognition, that is, ‘cognition about cognition’ [1,2,3,4]. Metacognition generally accompanies decision-making with uncertainty, the underlying neural system of the metacognitive processes in decision uncertainty monitoring and consequent decision adjustments remains less clear than that of the decision-making process per se [5, 6]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
