Chambers were positioned over FEF/PFC (one chamber with access to both regions) and SEF using stereotaxic coordinates (FEF/PFC: A25, L20; SEF: A25, midline). In the same surgery, IOX1 we implanted scleral search coils. Animals recovered for 1–2 weeks before training resumed. Procedures were approved by and conducted under the auspices of the University of Pittsburgh Institutional Animal

Care and Use Committee and were in compliance with the guidelines set forth in the United States Public Health Service Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. To determine appropriate target locations for the metacognition task (described below), we initially characterized the receptive field of each neuron using simple visual oculomotor tasks (see Sommer and Wurtz, 2004). First, the monkey made visually guided saccades to targets in eight directions (cardinal directions and diagonals). After the neuron’s preferred direction was established, the monkey performed visually guided saccades

of varying amplitudes in that direction. If necessary, directions and amplitudes were adjusted, and the tasks were repeated to refine the assessment of the field. Once the receptive field center was located, we had the monkey make memory-guided saccades to that location, to distinguish visual-, delay-, and saccade-related activity (Mays and Sparks, 1980). We accepted neurons with any combination of these signals. The task was described previously in detail (Middlebrooks and

Sommer, 2011). Each trial consisted of a Decision 4-Aminobutyrate aminotransferase Stage and a Bet Stage, separated by an interstage period (Figure 1A). In the decision selleckchem stage the animal was required to detect and report the location of a masked visual target (Thompson and Schall, 1999), and in the bet stage was required to report, via a wager, whether a correct or incorrect decision had been made in the decision stage (Shields et al., 2005). Appropriate betting, thus optimal reward delivery, required the animal to maintain a representation of its decision. It is the maintenance of that decision signal, and its use for betting, that we refer to as metacognition. To obtain reward on any trial, completion of both the decision and bet stages was required. Decision Stage. The monkey fixated a spot for 500–800 ms (randomized; Figure 1A, left). Then, a dim target appeared in one of four possible locations (also randomized). The locations were constant in a session but could vary between sessions; eccentricities ranged from 5–25 degrees and directions, relative to horizontal, ranged from 0–60 degrees. For each neuron, these parameters were chosen so that, when possible, at least one target location was in the receptive field center. The locations were mirror symmetric across the vertical meridian. After the target appeared, identical mask stimuli (white squares) appeared at all four locations.