The Neural System of Metacognition Accompanying Decision-Making in The Prefrontal Cortex

Decision-making is usually accompanied by metacognition, through which a decision maker 14 monitors the decision uncertainty and consequently revises the decision, even prior to feedback. 15 However, the neural mechanisms of metacognition remain controversial: one theory proposes 16 that metacognition coincides the decision-making process; and another addresses that it entails 17 an independent neural system in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Here we devised a novel paradigm 18 of “decision-redecision” to investigate the metacognition process in redecision, in comparison 19 with the decision process. We here found that the anterior PFC, including dorsal anterior 20 cingulate cortex (dACC) and lateral frontopolar cortex (lFPC), were exclusively activated after 21 the initial decisions. dACC was involved in decision uncertainty monitoring, whereas lFPC was 22 involved in decision adjustment controlling, subject to control demands of the tasks. Our 23 findings support that the PFC is essentially involved in metacognition and further suggest that 24 functions of the PFC in metacognition are dissociable. 25