Intrinsic neural timescales mediate the cognitive bias of self – Temporal integration in default-mode network

Abstract Our perceptions and decisions are not always objectively correct as they are featured by a bias related to our self. What are the behavioral, neural, and computational mechanisms of such cognitive bias? Addressing this yet unresolved question, we here investigate whether the cognitive bias is related to temporal integration and segregation as mediated by the brain’s Intrinsic neural timescales (INT). Using Signal Detection Theory (SDT), we operationalize the cognitive bias by the Criterion C as distinguished from the sensitivity index d’. This was probed in a self-task based on morphed self- and other faces. Behavioral data demonstrate clear cognitive bias, i.e., Criterion C. This was related to the EEG-based INT as measured by the autocorrelation window (ACW) in especially the cortical midline structures (CMS) of the transmodal default-mode network (DMN) (as distinct from unimodal visual cortex). Finally, simulation of the same paradigm in a large-scale network model shows high degrees of temporal integration of temporally distinct inputs in CMS/DMN while temporal segregation predominates in visual cortex. Together, we demonstrate a key role of INT-based temporal integration in DMN including its relation to the brain’s uni-transmodal topographical organization in mediating the cognitive bias of our self.