The activity of individual nerve cells in the brain can tell us how confident we are in our decisions, according to a recent study by researchers at the University of Bonn. Their results were published in Current Biology.
A total of twelve men and women took part in their experiment. "We showed them photos of two different snacks, for example, a chocolate bar and a bag of chips," explains researcher Florian Mormann. "They were then asked to use a slider to indicate which of these alternatives they would rather eat." The more they moved the slider from its center position towards the left or right photo, the more confident they were in their decision.
Participants had to judge a total of 190 different snack pairs in this way. While this was happening, the scientists recorded the activity of 830 nerve cells in the temporal lobe. "We discovered that the frequency of the electrical pulses in some neurons, in other words, their 'firing rate', changed with increasing decision confidence," explains researcher Alexander Unruh-Pinheiro. "For instance, some fired more frequently, the more confident the respective test person was in their decision."
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According to the team, this is the first time that such a correlation between nerve cell activity and decision confidence has been identified. "It is possible that we not only store what decision we made but also how confident we were in it," speculates Mormann. "Perhaps such a learning process saves us from future wrong decisions."