What is Bayes decision rule? Assume binary classification i.e. $y \in \{-1,1\}$ and that the underlying joint probability distribution generating the data is known i.e. $P_{x,y}(x,y)$ is known 
I was told that Bayes decision rule was the predictor you choose when solving the following minimization problem with the indicator variable cost function (indicating whether you are right or wrong):
$$min_{c \in \mathcal{H}} \mathbb{E}_{x,y}[\mathbb{1}_{\{c(x) \neq y \}}]$$
I was wondering, what was the resulting predictor $c^*$ from solving the above optimization problem and what its relation to the known distribution generating the data was. i.e. what was the predictors $c^*$ relation to $P_{y|x}(1|x)$ and $P_{y|x}(-1|x)$.
What I had done so far was expand $ \mathbb{E}_{x,y}[\mathbb{1}_{\{c(x) \neq y \}}]$:
$\mathbb{E}_{x,y}[\mathbb{1}_{\{c(x) \neq y \}}] =  \mathbb{E}_{x} \mathbb{E}_{y|x}[\mathbb{1}_{\{c(x) \neq y \}}]$
and then minimize the following:
$\mathbb{E}_{y|x}[\mathbb{1}_{\{c(x) \neq y \}}] = P_{y|x}(1 | x)\mathbb{1}_{\{c(x) \neq 1\}} + P_{y|x}(-1|x)\mathbb{1}_{\{ c(x) \neq 1\}}$
But I had a hard time moving on because I was unsure how to minimize the above expression.
Intuitively I want to choose the predictor that makes my error the lowest. So I would choose the label $1$ or $-1$, depending on which had the highest probability of occurring. But I was having a hard time linking that intuition with the math and the equation above, in a precise or rigorous matter.
What is the explicit function for $c^*(x)$?
Is the following function the correct one? If it is, why so?
$$ c^*(x) = sign(2p_{y|x}(1|x) - 1)$$
 A: Consider random variables $X$ and $Y$, where $Y \in \{+1,-1\}$.
When the observation $X$ has value $x$, the decision rule $c(x)$, 
which takes on
one of the two values $+1$ and $-1$, tells us what value the rule thinks $Y$ has
taken on. The choice of decision function $c(x)$ effectively partitions 
the range of $X$
into two disjoint sets $\Gamma_{+1}$ and $\Gamma_{-1}$, that is,
$c(x)$ can be expressed as
$$c(x) = \begin{cases}+1, & x \in \Gamma_{+1},\\-1, & x \in \Gamma_{-1}.
\end{cases} $$
The experiment is performed, resulting in $(X,Y)$ taking on value
$(x,y)$, but we can only observe 
the value of $x$. We apply the function $c(x)$ to get our decision $+1$ or
$-1$ as to what the value of $y$ is. A superior being (who knows everything
including the value of $y$ that has been hidden from us)
then tells us whether 
we made a mistake or not:
mistakes when $y$ does not match the decision $c(x)$ that we reached.
Let $f_{-1}(x)$ denote the conditional density of $X$ given that
$Y = -1$. Then, given that $Y=-1$, we make a mistake if the observed
value of $X$ is in the region $\Gamma_{+1}$, and the conditional
probability of error is thus 
$\displaystyle P(E\mid Y=-1) = \int_{\Gamma_{+1}} f_{-1}(x)\,\mathrm dx.$ Similarly, the
conditional probability of error when $Y=+1$ is
$\displaystyle P(E\mid Y=+1) = \int_{\Gamma_{-1}} f_{+1}(x)\,\mathrm dx.$
Hence, the unconditional probability of error $P(E)$ of this 
decision rule is 
$$\begin{align}
P(E) &= P\{E \mid Y = -1\}P\{Y = -1\} 
+ P\{E \mid Y = +1\}P\{Y = +1\}\\
&= \int_{\Gamma_{+1}}\pi_{-1}\cdot f_{-1}(x)\,\mathrm dx
+ \int_{\Gamma_{-1}}\pi_{+1}\cdot f_{+1}(x)\,\mathrm dx\\
&=  \int_{\Gamma_{+1}}\pi_{-1}\cdot f_{-1}(x)\,\mathrm dx
+ \int_{\Gamma_{-1}}\pi_{+1}\cdot f_{+1}(x)\,\mathrm dx\\
&\quad + \int_{\Gamma_{-1}}\pi_{-1}\cdot f_{-1}(x)\,\mathrm dx
- \int_{\Gamma_{-1}}\pi_{-1}\cdot f_{-1}(x\,\mathrm dx\\
&= \pi_{-1} \int_{\mathbb R}f_{-1}(x)\,\mathrm dx
+ \int_{\Gamma_{-1}}\left[\pi_{+1}\cdot f_{+1}(x)
- \pi_{-1}\cdot f_{-1}(x)\right]\,\mathrm dx\\
P(E) &= \pi_{-1} + \int_{\Gamma_{-1}}\left[\pi_{+1}\cdot f_{+1}(x)
- \pi_{-1}\cdot f_{-1}(x)\right]\,\mathrm dx\tag{1}
\end{align}$$
The Bayesian decision rule is the rule which minimizes the
right side of $(1)$. We can do nothing with the first term
which is the same for all decision rules, but by clever choice
of the region $\Gamma_{-1}$ (the decision rule is effectively
defined by the region $\Gamma_{-1}$), we can make $P(E)$ smaller.
Note that the integrand in $(1)$ can be positive or negative, and
by choosing 
$$\Gamma_{-1} = \{x \colon \pi_{+1}\cdot f_{+1}(x)
- \pi_{-1}\cdot f_{-1}(x) \leq 0\}, \tag{2}$$
(thus excluding from $\Gamma_{-1}$ all points $x$ for which
$\pi_{+1}\cdot f_{+1}(x)
- \pi_{-1}\cdot f_{-1}(x) > 0$), we make sure that the
integrand is never positive in the range of integration,
and so the integral 
has as negative a value as possible. Hence, the decision rule
described in $(2)$  minimizes $P(E)$, and is the Bayesian decision
rule. 

So how does all this play out in terms of posterior distributions?
The posterior distribution of $Y$ given $X$ is discrete,
and the Bayesian decision rule works out to be to choose
whichever value of $Y$ has greater posterior probability.
In fact, we have that
$$\begin{align}
P\{Y=+1\mid X = x\} &= \frac{\pi_{+1}f_{+1}(x)}{\pi_{+1}\cdot f_{+1}(x)
+ \pi_{-1}\cdot f_{-1}(x)}\tag{3}\\
P\{Y=-1\mid X = x\} &= \frac{\pi_{-1}f_{-1}(x)}{\pi_{+1}\cdot f_{+1}(x)
+ \pi_{-1}\cdot f_{-1}(x)}\tag{4}
\end{align}$$
and so, choosing whichever posterior probability is larger gives
the same decision rule as $(2)$. Now, if $P\{Y=+1\mid X = x\} = p_{y|x}(1|x)$
in the OP's notation is larger than $P\{Y=-1\mid X = x\}$, then is is
true that $p_{y|x}(1|x) > \frac 12$, and so 
$\operatorname{sgn}(2p_{y|x}(1|x) -1) = +1$, and so

Yes, the Bayes decision rule $c^*(x)$ can be expressed as
  $\operatorname{sgn}(2p_{y|x}(1|x) -1)$

However, the fact that this choice
minimizes $P(E)$ is a lot harder to see from $(3)$ and $(4)$ or from
the succinct expression $\operatorname{sgn}(2p_{y|x}(1|x) -1)$ than
from the development that led to $(2)$. Or at least, that is how I,
a non-statistician, perceive the matter; your mileage may vary.
A: It is easier to prove it, if you formulate the problem in a slightly different way:
$$
P(c(x) \neq y) \geq P(c^{*}(x) \neq y)
$$
or equivalently,
$$
\mathbb{E}_{x,y}\left[1_{\{c(x)=y\}}\right] \leq \mathbb{E}_{x,y}\left[1_{\{c^{*}(x)=y\}}\right]
$$
and instead of having $y \in \{-1,1\}$, you have $y \in \{0,1\}$.
Notice that $P_{y|x}(0|x) = 1-P_{y|x}(1|x)$ and $1_{\{c(x) = 0\}} = 1-1_{\{c(x) = 1\}}$, hence if we subtract,
$$
\mathbb{E}_{y|x}\left[1_{\{c^{*}(x)=y\}}\right] - \mathbb{E}_{y|x}\left[1_{\{c(x)=y\}}\right] = P_{y|x}(1|x)\left(1_{\{c^{*}(x)=1\}}-1_{\{c(x)=1\}}\right)
+P_{y|x}(0|x)\left(1_{\{c^{*}(x)=0\}}-1_{\{c(x)=0\}}\right) =
\left(2P(1|x)-1\right)\left(1_{\{c^{*}(x)=1\}}-1_{\{c(x)=1\}}\right) \geq 0
$$
Now, if $P(1|x) > 1/2$, then by the definition of $c^{*}(x)$, $c^{*}(x) = 1$, and since $1_{\{c(x)=1\}} \leq 0$, then this expression is greater or equal to zero.
Likewise, if $P(1|x) < 1/2$, then, by definition, $c^{*}(x) = 0$ and since $1_{\{c(x)=1\}} \geq 0$, then the inequality applies.
