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The neural system of metacognition accompanying decision-making in the prefrontal cortex.
PLoS Biol. 2018 04; 16(4):e2004037.PB

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.

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Authors+Show Affiliations

Qiu L
State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
Su J
State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
Ni Y
State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
Bai Y
State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
Zhang X
State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
Li X
State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
Wan X
State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.

MeSH

AdultBrain MappingChoice BehaviorDecision MakingFeedback, PsychologicalFemaleGyrus CinguliHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingMaleMetacognitionNerve NetPrefrontal CortexPsychological TestsUncertainty

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Language

eng

PubMed ID

29684004

Citation

Qiu, Lirong, et al. "The Neural System of Metacognition Accompanying Decision-making in the Prefrontal Cortex." PLoS Biology, vol. 16, no. 4, 2018, pp. e2004037.
Qiu L, Su J, Ni Y, et al. The neural system of metacognition accompanying decision-making in the prefrontal cortex. PLoS Biol. 2018;16(4):e2004037.
Qiu, L., Su, J., Ni, Y., Bai, Y., Zhang, X., Li, X., & Wan, X. (2018). The neural system of metacognition accompanying decision-making in the prefrontal cortex. PLoS Biology, 16(4), e2004037. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2004037
Qiu L, et al. The Neural System of Metacognition Accompanying Decision-making in the Prefrontal Cortex. PLoS Biol. 2018;16(4):e2004037. PubMed PMID: 29684004.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
TY - JOUR T1 - The neural system of metacognition accompanying decision-making in the prefrontal cortex. AU - Qiu,Lirong, AU - Su,Jie, AU - Ni,Yinmei, AU - Bai,Yang, AU - Zhang,Xuesong, AU - Li,Xiaoli, AU - Wan,Xiaohong, Y1 - 2018/04/23/ PY - 2017/08/24/received PY - 2018/03/23/accepted PY - 2018/05/03/revised PY - 2018/4/24/pubmed PY - 2019/3/28/medline PY - 2018/4/24/entrez SP - e2004037 EP - e2004037 JF - PLoS biology JO - PLoS Biol VL - 16 IS - 4 N2 - 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. SN - 1545-7885 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/29684004/The_neural_system_of_metacognition_accompanying_decision_making_in_the_prefrontal_cortex_ DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -