Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32484806›Full record

ArticlePLoS computational biology2020

Brain dynamics for confidence-weighted learning.

Florent Meyniel

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PLoS computational biology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
22citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

22 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. The Somatosensory Mismatch Negativity.The European journal of neuroscience · 2025
    Review
  5. Article
  6. Evolving choice hysteresis in reinforcement learning: Comparing the adaptive value of positivity bias and gradual perseveration.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  7. Article
  8. Review
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Review
  13. Article
  14. Confidence of probabilistic predictions modulates the cortical response to pain.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023
    Article
  15. Article
  16. Active inference and the two-step task.Scientific reports · 2022
    Article
  17. Article
  18. Neurocomputational Underpinnings of Expected Surprise.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2022
    Article
  19. Article
  20. An implicit representation of stimulus ambiguity in pupil size.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2021
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author.

Florent MeynielCognitive Neuroimaging Unit, NeuroSpin center, Institute for Life Sciences Frédéric Joliot, Fundamental Research Division, Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique et aux énergies alternatives, INSERM, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.ORCID 0000-0002-6992-678X

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Learning in a changing, uncertain environment is a difficult problem. A popular solution is to predict future observations and then use surprising outcomes to update those predictions. However, humans also have a sense of confidence that characterizes the precision of their predictions. Bayesian models use a confidence-weighting principle to regulate learning: for a given surprise, the update is smaller when the confidence about the prediction was higher. Prior behavioral evidence indicates that human learning adheres to this confidence-weighting principle. Here, we explored the human brain dynamics sub-tending the confidence-weighting of learning using magneto-encephalography (MEG). During our volatile probability learning task, subjects' confidence reports conformed with Bayesian inference. MEG revealed several stimulus-evoked brain responses whose amplitude reflected surprise, and some of them were further shaped by confidence: surprise amplified the stimulus-evoked response whereas confidence dampened it. Confidence about predictions also modulated several aspects of the brain state: pupil-linked arousal and beta-range (15-30 Hz) oscillations. The brain state in turn modulated specific stimulus-evoked surprise responses following the confidence-weighting principle. Our results thus indicate that there exist, in the human brain, signals reflecting surprise that are dampened by confidence in a way that is appropriate for learning according to Bayesian inference. They also suggest a mechanism for confidence-weighted learning: confidence about predictions would modulate intrinsic properties of the brain state to amplify or dampen surprise responses evoked by discrepant observations.

Indexed as

LearningBayes TheoremBrainFemaleHumansMaleModels, Neurological

Identifiers

PMID32484806
PMCPMC7292419

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.