Decision confidence: EEG correlates of confidence in different phases of an old/new recognition task

ABSTRACT

We use an old-new recognition memory task to investigate the correlates of high and low decision confidence throughout all stages of the memory process. Group-level ERP analysis and single-trial and single-subject classification are performed on four stages of the task (information encoding, retrieval, old/new decision formation, and evaluative feedback processing). The study shows that decision confidence is significantly reflected on a group, as well as on a single-trial basis, in all investigated stages at the neural level, except during encoding. The most pronounced differences between high and low confidence can be found in the ERPs during feedback presentation after a correct answer, whereas almost no differences can be found following a wrong answers. In the feedback stage, the two levels of confidence can be separated with classification accuracies of up to 70 % on average, therefore showing potential to be used as a control state in a BCI application.

KEYWORDS:

• Decision confidence
• EEG
• BCI
• classification
• recognition memory

Acknowledgments

This experiment was realized using Cogent Graphics developed by John Romaya at the LON at the Wellcome Department of Imaging Neuroscience.” This study was funded by the Leibnitz Science Campus Tübingen ‘Informational Environments’ and further supported by the German Research Council (DFG; SP 1533/2-1) and the Open Access Publishing Fund of the University of Tübingen. Tanja Krumpe is a doctoral student at the LEAD Graduate School & Research Network [GSC1028], funded by the Excellence Initiative of the German federal and state governments. The authors declare no competing interests.

Author contribution statement

T.K. completed all laboratory, fieldwork, and data analysis steps and co-wrote the manuscript with M.S.

P.G, M.S, and T.K designed the study and were involved in the interpretation of the results. W.R obtained funding for the research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.