The neural origins of spontaneous or self-initiated actions are not well understood and their interpretation is controversial. To address these issues, we used a task in which rats decide when to abort waiting for a delayed tone. We recorded neurons in the secondary motor cortex (M2) and interpreted our findings in light of an integration-to-bound decision model. A first population of M2 neurons ramped to a constant threshold at rates proportional to waiting time, strongly resembling integrator output. A second population, which we propose provide input to the integrator, fired in sequences and showed trial-to-trial rate fluctuations correlated with waiting times. An integration model fit to these data also quantitatively predicted the observed inter-neuronal correlations. Together, these results reinforce the generality of the integration-to-bound model of decision-making. These models identify the initial intention to act as the moment of threshold crossing while explaining how antecedent subthreshold neural activity can influence an action without implying a decision.

SUMMARY Confidence judgments are a central example of metacognition—knowledge about one’s own cognitive processes. According to this metacognitive view, confidence reports are generated by a second-order monitoring process based on the quality of internal representations about beliefs. Although neural correlates of decision confidence have been recently identified in humans and other animals, it is not well understood whether there are brain areas specifically important for confidence monitoring. To address this issue, we designed a postdecision temporal wagering task in which rats expressed choice confidence by the amount of time they were willing to wait for reward. We found that orbitofrontal cortex inactivation disrupts waiting-based confidence reports without affecting decision accuracy. Furthermore, we show that a normative model can quantitatively account for waiting times based on the computation of decision confidence. These results establish an anatomical locus for a metacognitive report, confidence judgment, distinct from the processes required for perceptual decisions.

Imagine yourself having a conversation with a friend, and he starts yawning. You think, "My friend is getting bored!" Immediately, you try to be more enthusiastic or … you shorten the conversation. Now imagine a bird in the wild that suddenly hears an alarm call from another bird. What does he do? Most likely, his reaction will be to quickly escape to a safe place. These types of situations, where one animal (including humans) uses the behavior of others to guide his or her own behavior, are constantly happening in our daily lives. Importantly, these behaviors provide a number of advantages that are crucial for survival, like protection against threats. But how do the defense behaviors displayed by one individual who directly detects a threat influence the defense behaviors of others who are unaware of it? And what kind of signals are being used? This is exactly what we are tackling here! And we found out that an important cue is … silence!

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