Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33780449›Full record

ArticlePLoS computational biology2021

Tuned inhibition in perceptual decision-making circuits can explain seemingly suboptimal confidence behavior.

Brian Maniscalco, Brian Odegaard, Piercesare Grimaldi, Seong Hah Cho, Michele A Basso, Hakwan Lau, Megan A K Peters

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PLoS computational biology, 2021. 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. Metacognition and metacognitive monitoring in aging.Psychonomic bulletin & review · 2026
    Review
  2. Confidence Is Detection-Like in High-Dimensional Spaces.Open mind : discoveries in cognitive science · 2026
    Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Computational and Neuronal Basis of Visual Confidence.Annual review of vision science · 2025
    Review
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Double Dissociation of Spontaneous Alpha-Band Activity and Pupil-Linked Arousal on Additive and Multiplicative Perceptual Gain.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2024
    Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Metacognitive awareness in the sound-induced flash illusion.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023
    Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Recent Advances at the Interface of Neuroscience and Artificial Neural Networks.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2022
    Review
  20. 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

7 authors.

Brian ManiscalcoDepartment of Cognitive Sciences, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California, United States of America.ORCID 0000-0003-3116-6188
Brian OdegaardDepartment of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States of America.ORCID 0000-0002-5459-1884
Piercesare GrimaldiFuster Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States of America.
Seong Hah ChoDepartment of Psychology, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR.ORCID 0000-0003-4387-9863
Michele A BassoFuster Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States of America.
Hakwan LauDepartment of Psychology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States of America.ORCID 0000-0001-8433-4232
Megan A K PetersDepartment of Cognitive Sciences, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California, United States of America.ORCID 0000-0002-0248-0816

Funding

Visual Target Selection for Saccadic Eye MovementsR01EY013692 · NEI · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · PI BASSO, MICHELE A · 2002 to 2021
$7.0M
Neural basis of metacognitionR01NS088628 · NINDS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI FLEMING, STEPHEN MICHAEL, LAU, HAKWAN · 2014 to 2018
$1.7M
NEI NIH HHS R01 EY013692NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS088628
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Current dominant views hold that perceptual confidence reflects the probability that a decision is correct. Although these views have enjoyed some empirical support, recent behavioral results indicate that confidence and the probability of being correct can be dissociated. An alternative hypothesis suggests that confidence instead reflects the magnitude of evidence in favor of a decision while being relatively insensitive to the evidence opposing the decision. We considered how this alternative hypothesis might be biologically instantiated by developing a simple neural network model incorporating a known property of sensory neurons: tuned inhibition. The key idea of the model is that the level of inhibition that each accumulator unit receives from units with the opposite tuning preference, i.e. its inhibition 'tuning', dictates its contribution to perceptual decisions versus confidence judgments, such that units with higher tuned inhibition (computing relative evidence for different perceptual interpretations) determine perceptual discrimination decisions, and units with lower tuned inhibition (computing absolute evidence) determine confidence. We demonstrate that this biologically plausible model can account for several counterintuitive findings reported in the literature where confidence and decision accuracy dissociate. By comparing model fits, we further demonstrate that a full complement of behavioral data across several previously published experimental results-including accuracy, reaction time, mean confidence, and metacognitive sensitivity-is best accounted for when confidence is computed from units without, rather than units with, tuned inhibition. Finally, we discuss predictions of our results and model for future neurobiological studies. These findings suggest that the brain has developed and implements this alternative, heuristic theory of perceptual confidence computation by relying on the diversity of neural resources available.

Indexed as

Models, NeurologicalNeural Networks, ComputerAnimalsComputational BiologyDecision MakingInhibition, PsychologicalMacaca mulattaMalePerceptionReaction TimeSuperior Colliculi

Identifiers

PMID33780449
PMCPMC8032199

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.