Primary Investigator: dr Marta Siedlecka

The general aim of the project is to investigate the relationship between metacognitive judgments of confidence and performance monitoring as a function of cognitive control. Although both metacognition and cognitive control are thought to allow the cognitive system to regulate and monitor information processing and its consequences, they have been studied independently in different paradigms and conceptual frameworks. However, over the last few years the growing amount of data has challenged the traditional views on metacognition, suggesting that decisional confidence is informed not only by the information underlying decisions themselves, but that it also refers to the whole decision and motor-related response process. At the same time, the process of deciding which action to take is thought to be monitored by cognitive control. Surprisingly, there have been almost no studies investigating the relation between metacognitive judgments and the monitoring aspect of cognitive control. Therefore, we will test the hypothesis that confidence judgments are informed by the effects of performance monitoring. By creating conditions that engage different monitoring processes, we will investigate how indexes of monitoring are related to reported confidence level and whether engaging these processes influences metacognitive accuracy (the relation between the confidence in a decision and the actual accuracy of this decision).We propose three research lines in which we will manipulate the presence of correct or erroneous motor response, type of cognitive conflict, and perceived task difficulty. We plan to prepare computer tasks that will on one hand be based on paradigms used for studying cognitive control and, on the other hand, on methodology of confidence studies. We will use subjective, behavioural and neurophysiological (EEG) measures of performance monitoring. In order to estimate how different performance-related information contributes to confidence level and metacognitive accuracy, we will use causal analysis and carry out advanced statistical analyses (structural models and hierarchical Bayesian estimation of metacognitive accuracy).Confidence judgments are the most universal and probably most commonly used measure of metacognition in studies on decision-making, memory, perception, and even consciousness. The experimental paradigms and methods of analysis proposed in this project will allow us to interpret the results in the context of existing data and theories of confidence; we will also contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms of confidence judgments. Moreover, this project integrates data from different research areas (decision-making, metacognition, and cognitive control) that have not yet been studied and interpreted within a single conceptual framework. The issue of the relationship between performance monitoring and confidence seems crucial for understanding how the higher cognitive functions regulate the dynamics of human cognition. We believe that the results of the project will provide data for building an integrated model of metacognition and cognitive control.