Perceptual decision confidence is sensitive to forgone physical effort expenditure

Contemporary theoretical accounts of metacognition propose that action-related information is used in the computation perceptual decision confidence. We investigated whether amount expended physical effort, or ‘motoric sunk cost’ a decision, influences confidence judgements humans. In particular, we examined people feel more confident decisions which required effort to report. Forty-two participants performed luminance discrimination task involved identifying two flickering grayscale squares was brightest. Participants reported their choice by squeezing hand-held dynamometers. Across trials, report varied across three levels (low, medium, high). Critically, were only aware level on each trial once they had initiated motor response, meaning varying requirements could not influence initial decisions. Following rated choice. found greater This suggests humans are sensitive motoric costs and supports contemporary models actions inform