History biases reveal novel dissociations between perceptual and metacognitive decision-making

Abstract

Human decision-making and self-reflection often depend on context and internal biases. For instance, decisions are often influenced by preceding choices, regardless of their relevance. It remains unclear how choice history influences different levels of the decision-making hierarchy. We employed analyses grounded in information and detection theories to estimate the relative strength of perceptual and metacognitive history biases, and to investigate whether they emerge from common/unique mechanisms. Though both perception and metacognition tended to be biased towards previous responses, we observed novel dissociations which challenge normative theories of confidence. Different evidence levels often informed perceptual and metacognitive decisions within observers, and response history distinctly influenced 1st (perceptual) and 2nd (metacognitive) order decision-parameters, with the metacognitive bias likely to be strongest and most prevalent in the general population. We propose that recent choices and subjective confidence represent heuristics which inform 1st and 2nd order decisions in the absence of more relevant evidence.