An entropy model of decision uncertainty reveals that attention influences decisions but does not alter appearance
Year: 2021
Type: preprint
Abstract: Metacognition, the introspection of one’s own decisions, can inform our understanding of decision mechanisms. Here we show that decision uncertainty reflects the entropy of the psychometric function. To test this novel model, we measured uncertainty in 11 participants as they judged the relative contrast appearance of two stimuli in three experiments: one stimulus was either preceded by an attentional cue and participants performed comparative (Experiment 1) or equality (Experiment 3) judgments; or one stimulus was post-cued and participants were instructionally biased to preferably choose it in a comparative judgment (Experiment 2). The entropy model permitted an otherwise intractable quantitative analysis of participants’ uncertainty, which distinguished the two comparative judgments that produced nearly identical psychometric functions, but not the comparative and equality judgments where the subjective reports revealed different effects of attention. These results show that attention can manipulate the decision mechanism without interfering with veridical perception.
Author: Keith A Schneider
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4408280106