The confidence code: parietal alpha oscillations turn expectations into beliefs

Metacognition, the ability to evaluate whether ones decisions are correct, is crucial for adaptive behavior. However, confidence judgments are not bias-free: they can be systematically modulated by predictive cues and beliefs, favoring expectation-consistent judgments, while leaving metacognitive precision unchanged. Here, we identify parietal alpha activity as the causal mechanism linking expectations to metacognitive bias. In Study 1, EEG was recorded while 75 participants performed a visual detection task with symbolic cues signaling target probability. Cues induced a metacognitive bias in confidence without altering metacognitive sensitivity, and cue-driven alpha modulation over the righ