Linking individual differences in cognitive control and perception: Meta-perception in older and younger adults

Abstract

Visual perception is not only shaped by sensitivity, but also by confidence, i.e. the ability to estimate the accuracy of a visual decision. There is robust evidence that younger observers have access to a reliable measure of their own uncertainty when making visual decisions. This metacognitive ability might be challenged during aging due to increasing sensory noise and decreasing cognitive control resources. We investigated age effects on visual confidence using a confidence forced-choice paradigm. We determined discrimination thresholds for trials in which perceptual judgements were indicated as confident and for those in which they were declined as confident. Younger adults (19-38 years) showed significantly lower discrimination thresholds than older adults (60-78 years). In both age groups, perceptual performance was linked to confidence judgements, but overall results suggest reduced confidence efficiency in older adults. However, we observed substantial variability of confidence effects across all particpants. This variability was closely linked to individual differences in cognitive control capacities, i.e. executive function. Our findings provide evidence for age-related differences in meta-perceptual efficiency that present a specific challenge to perceptual performance in old age. We propose that these age effects are primarily mediated by cognitive control resources, supporting their crucial role for metacognitive efficiency.