Confidence in a perceptual decision is a subjective estimate of the accuracy of one’s choice. As such, confidence is thought to be an important computation for a variety of cognitive and perceptual processes, and it features heavily in theorizing about conscious access to perceptual states. Recent experiments have revealed a “positive evidence bias” (PEB) in the computations underlying confidence reports. A PEB occurs when confidence, unlike objective choice, overweights the evidence for the correct (or chosen) option, relative to evidence against the correct (or chosen) option. Accordingly, in a perceptual task, appropriate stimulus conditions can be arranged that produce selective changes in confidence reports but no changes in accuracy. Although the PEB is generally assumed to reflect the observer’s perceptual and/or decision processes, post-decisional accounts have not been ruled out. We therefore asked whether the PEB persisted under novel conditions that addressed two possible post-decisional accounts: (i) post-decision evidence accumulation that contributes to a confidence report solicited after the perceptual choice and (ii) a memory bias that emerges in the delay between the stimulus offset and the confidence report. We found that even when the stimulus remained on the screen until observers responded, and when observers reported their choice and confidence simultaneously, the PEB still emerged. Signal detection-based modeling showed that the PEB was not associated with changes to metacognitive efficiency, but rather to confidence criteria. The data show that memory biases cannot explain the PEB and provide evidence against a post-decision evidence accumulation account, bolstering the idea that the PEB is perceptual or decisional in nature.

中文翻译：

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感知信心的积极证据偏差不太可能在决策后

对感知决策的信心是对个人选择准确性的主观估计。因此，信心被认为是各种认知和知觉过程的重要计算，并且在关于有意识地进入知觉状态的理论化方面具有重要意义。最近的实验揭示了置信度报告的计算中存在“正证据偏差”（PEB）。与客观选择不同，当信心相对于反对正确（或选择）选项的证据而言，超过了正确（或选择）选项的证据时，就会出现 PEB。因此，在感知任务中，可以安排适当的刺激条件，从而在置信度报告中产生选择性变化，但不改变准确性。尽管通常假定 PEB 反映了观察者的感知和/或决策过程，不排除决策后账户。因此，我们询问 PEB 是否在解决两个可能的决策后账户的新条件下持续存在：（i）决策后证据积累有助于在感知选择后征求信心报告，以及（ii）在延迟中出现的记忆偏差在刺激抵消和信心报告之间。我们发现，即使在观察者做出反应之前刺激一直留在屏幕上，并且当观察者同时报告他们的选择和信心时，PEB 仍然出现。基于信号检测的建模表明，PEB 与元认知效率的变化无关，而是与置信度标准相关。数据表明，记忆偏差无法解释 PEB 并提供反对决策后证据积累账户的证据，