Biology subjects

Koculak, M.

Publications and source records attributed to Koculak, M..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2020

Confidence in action: differences between perceived accuracy of decision and motor response

Each of our decisions is associated with a degree of confidence. This confidence can change once we have acted as we might start doubting our choice or even become convinced that we made a mistake. In this study, we explore the relations between action and our confidence that our decision was correct or erroneous. Fifty-six volunteers took part in a perceptual decision task in which their decisions could either lead to action or not. At the end of each trial, participants rated their confidence that their decision was correct, or they reported that they had made an error. The main results showed that when given after a response, confidence ratings were higher and more strongly related to decision accuracy, and post-response reports of errors more often indicated actual errors. The results support the view that error awareness and confidence might be partially based on post-action processing.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.View Full Text

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2020

Task-related motor response inflates confidence

Studies on confidence in decision-making tasks have repeatedly shown correlations between confidence and the characteristics of motor responses. Here, we show the results of two experiments in which we manipulated the type of motor response that precedes confidence rating. Participants decided which box, left or right, contained more dots and then reported their confidence in this decision. In Experiment 1, prior to confidence rating, participants were required to follow a motor cue. Cued-response type was manipulated in two dimensions: task-compatibility (the relation between response set and task-relevant decision alternatives), and stimulus-congruence (spatial correspondence between response key and the location of the stimulus that should be chosen). In Experiment 2, a decision-related response set was randomly varied in each trial, being either vertical (task incompatible) or horizontal (task-compatible, spatially congruent and incongruent). The main results showed that choice confidence increased following task-compatible responses, i.e. responses related to the alternatives of the choice in which confidence was reported. Moreover, confidence was higher in these conditions, independently of response accuracy and spatial congruence with the correct stimuli. We interpret these results as suggesting that action appropriate in the context of a given task is an indicator of successful completion of the decision-related process. Such an action, even a spurious one, inflates decisional confidence.

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2019

TMS-induced motor activation increases visual awareness

The influence of non-visual information on visual awareness judgments has recently gained substantial interest. Using single-pulse Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), we investigate the potential contribution of evidence from the motor system to judgment of visual awareness. We hypothesized that TMS-induced activity in the primary motor cortex (M1) would increase reported visual awareness as compared to the control condition. Additionally, we investigated whether TMS-induced motor-evoked potential could measure accumulated evidence for stimulus perception. Following stimulus presentation and TMS, participants first rated their visual awareness verbally using the Perceptual Awareness Scale, after which they responded manually to a Gabor orientation identification task. Delivering TMS to M1 resulted in higher average awareness ratings as compared to the control condition, in both correct and incorrect identification task response trials, when the hand with which participants responded was contralateral to the stimulated hemisphere (TMS-response-congruent trials). This effect was accompanied by longer Perceptual Awareness Scale response times, irrespective of the congruence between TMS and identification response. Moreover, longer identification response times were observed in TMS-response-congruent trials in the M1 condition as compared to the control condition. Additionally, the amplitudes of motor-evoked potentials were related to the awareness ratings when response congruence was taken into account. We argue that motor-evoked potential can serve as an indirect measure of evidence accumulated for stimulus perception and that longer Perceptual Awareness Scale response times and higher amplitudes of motor-evoked potentials in the M1 condition reflect integration of additional evidence with visual awareness judgment. In conclusion, we advocate that motor activity influences perceptual awareness judgments.

neuroscience↗