The neurocognitive basis of confabulatory introspection: choice blindness and the brain

This thesis investigates the neurocognitive mechanisms of introspection using choice blindness and neuroimaging (fMRI). Choice blindness is a phenomenon in which people fail to notice that the outcome of their decision is not what they had originally chosen, and end up confabulating explanations for why they chose it. This thesis provides the first description of the brain networks involved in the failure to detect manipulations and in the production of confabulated explanations in choice blindness. It also investigates more deeply the condition under which illusions of choices arise in choice blindness, showing that this phenomenon persists even when people are instructed to detect manipulation, and how people can reject their genuine choice when reached through a wrong action. These empirical results are integrated in a broader review of the research in cognitive science, which suggests that introspection relies on the same interpretative neurocognitive mechanisms we use to understand other people’s behaviour.

This thesis investigates the neurocognitive mechanisms of introspection using choice blindness and neuroimaging (fMRI). Choice blindness is a phenomenon in which people fail to notice that the outcome of their decision is not what they had originally chosen, and end up confabulating explanations for why they chose it. This thesis provides the first description of the brain networks involved in the failure to detect manipulations and in the production of confabulated explanations in choice blindness. It also investigates more deeply the condition under which illusions of choices arise in choice blindness, showing that this phenomenon persists even when people are instructed to detect manipulation, and how people can reject their genuine choice when reached through a wrong action. These empirical results are integrated in a broader review of the research in cognitive science, which suggests that introspection relies on the same interpretative neurocognitive mechanisms we use to understand other people’s behaviour.