Neural representations of metacognitive processes in the medial prefrontal cortex

Poster Session B - Sunday, March 30, 2025, 8:00 – 10:00 am EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Yoshinori Nanjo¹ (yoshinori.nyanjo@gmail.com); ¹RIKEN Center for Brain Science, Japan

Self-monitoring in decision-making is fundamental to self-improvement in cognitive processes. To enhance outcomes in future decisions, individuals must accurately assess the correctness of prior choices and apply the information to control subsequent decisions. Although metacognition encompasses monitoring and control functions, the neural mechanisms underlying these processes and their interactions remain poorly understood. While the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is implicated in both functions, their distinct neural substrates and interrelations require further elucidation. In this study, we employed a sequential perceptual decision-making task involving confidence ratings to examine how initial confidence influences subsequent decisions while recording neural activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Subjects performed size discrimination tasks and rated their decision confidence. Behavioral results revealed that subjects were more likely to change their initial choices in subsequent decisions, independently of perceptual evidence. A neural signature of initial confidence was represented in the anterior medial PFC (amPFC), whereas the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) exhibited heightened activity when subjects changed their choices. Notably, the pregenual ACC (pgACC) was involved in both confidence representation and changes of mind, showing functional connectivity with the amPFC and dACC. These findings highlight the integrative role of the medial PFC in linking metacognitive monitoring to subsequent control processes during sequential decision-making. Our results provide novel insights into the neural mechanisms supporting metacognitive processes, advancing our understanding of how confidence assessments guide adaptive decision-making.

Topic Area: THINKING: Decision making