Breaking the Cybernetic Code: Understanding and Treating the Human Metacognitive Control System to Enhance Mental Health

Abstract

The self-regulatory executive function (S-REF) model explains the role of strategic processes and metacognition in psychological disorder and was a major influence on the development of metacognitive therapy. The model identifies a universal style of perseverative negative processing termed the cognitive attentional syndrome (CAS), comprised of worry, rumination, and threat monitoring in the development of disorder. The CAS is linked to dysfunctional metacognitions that include beliefs and plans for regulating cognition. In this paper, I extend the theoretical foundations necessary to support further research on mechanisms linking metacognition to cognitive regulation and effective treatment. I propose a metacognitive control system (MCS) of the S-REF that can be usefully distinguished from cognition and is comprised of multiple structures, information, and processes. The MCS monitors and controls activity of the cognitive system and regulates the behavior of neural networks whose activities bias the way cognition is experienced. Metacognitive information involved in the regulation of on-line processing includes metacognitive beliefs, metacognitive procedural commands, and more transient cybernetic code. Separation of the cognitive and metacognitive systems and modeling their relationship presents major implications concerning what should be done in therapy and how it should be done. The paper concludes with an in-depth consideration of methods that strengthen the psychological basis of psychotherapy and aid in understanding and applying metacognitive therapy in particular. Finally, limitations of the model and implications for future research on self-awareness, self-regulation, and metacognition are discussed.

Metacognitive Beliefs Uniquely Contribute to Interpersonal Problems: A Test Controlling for Adult Attachment, Big-5 Personality Traits, Anxiety, and Depression

“…Need for control positively and significantly correlated with ambivalence-worry and ambivalence-merger, and CSC positively and significantly correlated with ambivalence-merger. These observations are in line with a previous study that reported a relationship between metacognitive beliefs and anxious attachment style ( Myers and Wells, 2015 ) and suggests that further research should investigate the relationships between the metacognitive model ( Wells, 2019 ) and attachment theory. The results support the call for future studies that examine the development of metacognitions as specified in the metacognitive model ( Wells, 2019 ), with insecure attachments offering a candidate risk factor for dysfunction in the metacognitive control system.…”

“…The finding of a contribution of a range of metacognition subscales with an emphasis on negative beliefs about uncontrollability in particular fits with the metacognitive model of psychological disorder (Wells and Matthews, 1994;Wells, 2019) and potentially extends the model to understanding mechanisms of interpersonal dysfunction. In the model, beliefs concerning the uncontrollability and dangerousness of worrying are viewed as part of a common mechanism involving biased and unhelpful patterns of cognitive regulation.…”

“…Furthermore, these factors may be related to a common underlying mechanism. In particular, the metacognitive model of psychological disorders ( Wells and Matthews, 1994 ; Wells, 2019 ) is based on the principle that emotion disorder and interpersonal problems are caused by a pattern of processing and self-regulation termed as the cognitive attentional syndrome (CAS), which consist of perseverative negative thinking such as worry and rumination, threat monitoring, and unhelpful coping behaviors. Individual differences in CAS activity are linked to biases in the persons metacognitive control system, marked by particular metacognitive beliefs.…”

Improving the Effectiveness of Psychological Interventions for Depression and Anxiety in Cardiac Rehabilitation: PATHWAY—A Single-Blind, Parallel, Randomized, Controlled Trial of Group Metacognitive Therapy

“…Thus, the additional treatment appears to have reduced to a greater extent maladaptive metacognitive beliefs and repetitive and unhelpful coping styles, which are hypothesized mechanisms of psychological disorder. 36 …”

Metacognitive beliefs and their relationship with anxiety and depression in physical illnesses: A systematic review

“…“My worrying is uncontrollable; Worrying too much will cause my cancer to return”). Negative metacognitive beliefs are considered to be of particular importance in psychological dysfunction because they lead to a sense of loss of control of thinking and a sense of current threat from cognition itself [ 23 , 28 ]. One of the features of the metacognitive model is that it is transdiagnostic, suggesting that psychological distress is maintained by a common set of processes.…”