Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34588440›Full record

ArticleNature communications2021

Bayesian inference with incomplete knowledge explains perceptual confidence and its deviations from accuracy.

Koosha Khalvati, Roozbeh Kiani, Rajesh P N Rao

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
27citing 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

27 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  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. Bayesian confidence in optimal decisions.Psychological review · 2024
    Article
  11. Article
  12. Recurrent Neural Circuits Overcome Partial Inactivation by Compensation and Re-learning.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2024
    Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Metacognitive awareness in the sound-induced flash illusion.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023
    Article
  20. Review
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

3 authors.

Koosha KhalvatiPaul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-5986-0924
Roozbeh KianiCenter for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-0614-6791
Rajesh P N RaoPaul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. rao@cs.washington.edu.

Funding

CRCNS: Neural coding and computation in large ensembles in prefrontal cortexR01MH109180 · NIMH · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY · PI KIANI, ROOZBEH · 2015 to 2018
$939k
CRCNS: Innovative Approaches to Science & Engineering Research on Brain FunctionR01MH112166 · NIMH · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · PI RAO, RAJESH P. N. · 2016 to 2019
$571k
NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH109180NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH112166
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

In perceptual decisions, subjects infer hidden states of the environment based on noisy sensory information. Here we show that both choice and its associated confidence are explained by a Bayesian framework based on partially observable Markov decision processes (POMDPs). We test our model on monkeys performing a direction-discrimination task with post-decision wagering, demonstrating that the model explains objective accuracy and predicts subjective confidence. Further, we show that the model replicates well-known discrepancies of confidence and accuracy, including the hard-easy effect, opposing effects of stimulus variability on confidence and accuracy, dependence of confidence ratings on simultaneous or sequential reports of choice and confidence, apparent difference between choice and confidence sensitivity, and seemingly disproportionate influence of choice-congruent evidence on confidence. These effects may not be signatures of sub-optimal inference or discrepant computational processes for choice and confidence. Rather, they arise in Bayesian inference with incomplete knowledge of the environment.

Indexed as

Models, PsychologicalAnimalsBayes TheoremChoice BehaviorDiscrimination, PsychologicalEye-Tracking TechnologyMacacaMarkov ChainsModels, AnimalMotion PerceptionPhotic StimulationReaction TimeSaccades

Identifiers

PMID34588440
PMCPMC8481237

What OpenQuestion holds

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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.