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ABSTRACT Decisions are never perfect, with confidence in one's choices fluctuating over time. How subjective confidence and valuation of choice options interact at the level of brain
and behavior is unknown. Using a dynamic model of the decision process, we show that confidence reflects the evolution of a decision variable over time, explaining the observed relation
between confidence, value, accuracy and reaction time. As predicted by our dynamic model, we show that a functional magnetic resonance imaging signal in human ventromedial prefrontal cortex
(vmPFC) reflects both value comparison and confidence in the value comparison process. Crucially, individuals varied in how they related confidence to accuracy, allowing us to show that this
introspective ability is predicted by a measure of functional connectivity between vmPFC and rostrolateral prefrontal cortex. Our findings provide a mechanistic link between noise in value
comparison and metacognitive awareness of choice, enabling us both to want and to express knowledge of what we want. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe This is a preview of
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ADDITIONAL ACCESS OPTIONS: * Log in * Learn about institutional subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS SUBJECTIVE VALUE AND DECISION
ENTROPY ARE JOINTLY ENCODED BY ALIGNED GRADIENTS ACROSS THE HUMAN BRAIN Article Open access 21 October 2020 NEURAL AND COMPUTATIONAL UNDERPINNINGS OF BIASED CONFIDENCE IN HUMAN
REINFORCEMENT LEARNING Article Open access 28 October 2023 SOURCES OF CONFIDENCE IN VALUE-BASED CHOICE Article Open access 17 December 2021 REFERENCES * Rangel, A. & Hare, T. Neural
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Visualization of group inference data in functional neuroimaging. _Neuroinformatics_ 7, 73–82 (2009). Article Google Scholar Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We thank T. Fitzgerald, D.
Kumaran and T. Sharot for comments on a previous draft of this manuscript, and T. Behrens and N. Daw for discussions. This work was supported by a Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator Award,
098362/Z/12/Z to R.J.D.; S.M.F. and B.D.M. are supported by Sir Henry Wellcome Fellowships (B.D.M., 082674/Z/07/Z; S.M.F., WT096185). The Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging is supported
by core funding from the Wellcome Trust, 091593/Z/10/Z. AUTHOR INFORMATION Author notes * Benedetto De Martino and Stephen M Fleming: These authors contributed equally to this work. AUTHORS
AND AFFILIATIONS * Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London, UK Benedetto De Martino & Neil Garrett * Wellcome Trust Center for Neuroimaging, at University
College, London, UK Benedetto De Martino, Stephen M Fleming & Raymond J Dolan * Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California,
USA Benedetto De Martino * Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, New York, USA Stephen M Fleming * Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Stephen M Fleming Authors * Benedetto De Martino View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Stephen M Fleming View author publications You can
also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Neil Garrett View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Raymond J Dolan View author
publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS B.D.M. and S.M.F. conceived and designed the study. B.D.M., N.G. and S.M.F. developed stimuli and
gathered and analyzed behavioral and fMRI data. B.D.M., S.M.F. and R.J.D. interpreted the data and wrote the paper. CORRESPONDING AUTHORS Correspondence to Benedetto De Martino or Stephen M
Fleming. ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING INTERESTS The authors declare no competing financial interests. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION SUPPLEMENTARY TEXT AND FIGURES Supplementary Figures 1–4,
Supplementary Tables 1–4 (PDF 598 kb) RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE De Martino, B., Fleming, S., Garrett, N. _et al._ Confidence in
value-based choice. _Nat Neurosci_ 16, 105–110 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3279 Download citation * Received: 06 August 2012 * Accepted: 15 November 2012 * Published: 09 December 2012
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