Assessing Metacognition during a Cognitive Task: Impact of “On-line” Metacognitive Questions on Neuropsychological Performances in a Non-clinical Sample

Abstract

Whereas metacognition is of great interest for neuropsychological practice, little is known about the impact of metacognitive questions during a neuropsychological assessment. This study explored the impact of measuring "on-line" metacognitive processes on neuropsychological performances in a non-clinical population. Participants were randomly assigned to a "standard" or a "metacognitive" neuropsychological test procedure. The "standard" procedure assessed executive functions (Modified Card Sorting Test), episodic memory ("Rappel libre Rappel indicé" 16), working memory (digit span test Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale III) and social cognition (Faces Test). In the "metacognitive" procedure, two questions were added after each item of these tests to evaluate "on-line" metacognitive monitoring and control. Working memory performances were better and episodic memory performances lower in the "metacognitive" versus the "standard" procedure. No significant difference was found concerning executive functioning or social cognition. The assessment of "on-line" metacognition might improve working memory performances by enhancing concentration, and might impair episodic memory performances by acting as a distractor. These findings may have implications for the development of cognitive remediation programs.

Neuropsychological Correlates of Pre-Frailty in Neurocognitive Disorders: A Possible Role for Metacognitive Dysfunction and Mood Changes

“…This fact suggests that they may be impaired in response monitoring, as we have demonstrated through the association between pre-frailty and action monitoring using the m-WCST. Indeed, the main predictor at this level has been MR, expressed by Koren and colleagues as the correlation between the level of confidence expected from the response and correctness of the sorts in the entire WCST ( 46 – 48 ). In particular, our patients have shown failure to monitor their own performance considering the errors made during task execution, in terms of low metacognitive self-awareness.…”

“…This test is aimed to assess “on-line” metacognitive monitoring and control during the execution of the test ( 46 , 47 ). For each card of the test, two questions evaluated “on-line” metacognitive monitoring (“What is your degree of confidence in this answer?”) and control (“Do you want to take this response into account in your total score?”) ( 46 – 48 ). In the original version of Koren’s protocol, the participants were assigned a dollar value for each correct response ( 46 – 48 ).…”

“…For each card of the test, two questions evaluated “on-line” metacognitive monitoring (“What is your degree of confidence in this answer?”) and control (“Do you want to take this response into account in your total score?”) ( 46 – 48 ). In the original version of Koren’s protocol, the participants were assigned a dollar value for each correct response ( 46 – 48 ). In this study, the patients received a monetary gain of 10 cents for each correct answer and they were deprived of 10 cents for every wrong answer ( 49 ).…”

Neuropsychological Research in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Current Status and Future Directions

“…Psychological processes impacting test performance are often overlooked and it is recommended that such processes be closely investigated in future studies. Studies so far have employed several approaches to address this issue, such as breaking down test performance to component processes [e.g., ( 7 , 32 )], employing experimental modification to classic tasks [e.g., ( 73 )], use of self-reports to assess metacognitive processes during [e.g., ( 89 )], or after [e.g., ( 61 )] neuropsychological task performance. Such research may be crucial to clarifying inconsistencies in findings and improving goodness-of-fit to psychopathological models and real-world correlates of functioning in OCD.…”

A Case–Control Study on Behavioral Addictions and Neurocognition: Description of the BANCO and BANCO2 Protocols

“…This form of metacognition assessment does not increase cognitive load because monitoring is not carried out during the task. 114 Moreover, to capture this measure, we use a modified version of the Positive/ Negative Behavioral Addiction Metacognition Scale (PBAMS/NBAMS), 115 which is a self-report questionnaire that assesses participants' general knowledge of their metacognitive capacities.…”