Dissociable Neural Networks Supporting Metacognition for Memory and Perception

Abstract

Review of Baird et al.Metacognition in its broadest sense refers both to knowledge about our mental abilities and to the regulatory processes by which we might use that knowledge to control cognition; for example, changing how we perform a task if we feel our current strategy is not optimal (FernandezDuque et al., 2000). While there is debate over the extent to which metacognition relates to existing models of monitoring and cognitive control, the term is generally applied to instances where self-knowledge is either declarative (conscious) or based on nonverbal feelings of uncertainty (Fleming and Dolan, 2012).This relationship between monitoring and control processes is highlighted in the influential Nelson and Narens (1994) model of metacognition, which suggests a separation between two key levels of regulatory processing: a personal "meta" level that acts both to monitor and control processing at the independent "object" level via feedback (Fig. 1). So an example of metacognitive regulation would be a decision-making process where the choice of an action can be made based on the assessment of potential outcomes (an object-level process), but which can also be influenced by an awareness of the confidence with which those outcomes have been determined (a meta-level process). Such a theoretical view of metacognition sits neatly with the Norman and Shallice (1986) model of executive function that posits a similar higher-level system that regulates object-level information (in this case, the allocation of attentional resources to differing sensory and cognitive demands) through a process of monitoring and control. As with executive function, a link between the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and metacognition is now well established, with the anterior PFC (aPFC) in particular seen as pivotal in underpinning metacognitive ability (Fleming et al., 2012).Metacognitive research has focused predominantly on the processes involved in self-knowledge and, in particular, the confidence an individual has regarding their performance on a particular task. In a review of the neural basis of metacognitive ability in memory and decisionmaking, Fleming and Dolan (2012) found that accuracy of such confidence judgments dissociates from underlying task performance and is highly variable across individuals. Baird et al. (2013) use these individual differences in their new study to characterize the brain networks involved in metacognitive knowledge during perceptual and memory tasks.The perceptual task used by Baird et al. (2013) involved a simple two-choice visual discrimination test involving two screens, each displaying six Gabor gratings (small circular patches of alternating dark and white lines). One of the screens included a single grating that had been oriented marginally away from the vertical, which the participants were asked to identify. In comparison, the memory task required an old/new recognition decision to be made about words that had been included or not included on a previously studied wordlist. For both tasks, particip...

Metacognition and action: a new pathway to understanding social and cognitive aspects of expertise in sport

“…“Thus understanding any metacognitive judgment must involve understanding the cognition it measures and the multiple processes that contribute to the judgment” ( Schwartz and Diaz, 2014 , p. 9). Attempts at componential analysis of metacognition are in their infancy ( Fleming and Lau, 2014 ; Garrison, 2014 ), but they appear to be fruitful with regard to understanding its impact upon visual perceptual tasks. Nevertheless, the investigation of the neural basis of metacognition ( Baird et al, 2013 ) is not without its limitations.…”

The Regulation of Task Performance: A Trans-Disciplinary Review

“…This work is well underway. An increasing number of empirical studies and reviews that reveal how the brain facilitates effective task performance have been published (Badre and D'Esposito, 2007 ; Burgess et al, 2007 ; Koechlin and Hyafil, 2007 ; Forbes and Grafman, 2010 ; Badre et al, 2011 ; Fleming and Dolan, 2012 ; Garrison, 2014 ; Clark and Dumas, 2015 ). At the turn of the century, in the US, the National Academy of Sciences ( 2000 ) advised that “neuroscience has advanced to the point where it is time to think critically about the form in which research information is made available to educators so that it is interpreted appropriately for practice—identifying which research findings are ready for implementation and which are not.” By Goswami ( 2004 ), in the UK, Goswami had stated that neuroscience had led to the discovery of “neural markers” that can be used to assess development.…”

“…The prefrontal cortex (PFC; See Figure 1 ) has been isolated as the core brain region for meta-cognition (Middlebrooks and Sommer, 2012 ; for review see Fleming and Dolan, 2012 ). The proposition that meta-cognition is under neural control is supported by a burgeoning amount of neuropsychological literature (e.g., Fleming and Dolan, 2012 ; Garrison, 2014 ). Neuroscientific studies have suggested that a defining function of the anterior PFC may be meta-cognitive awareness, or the process of reflection upon one's own mental contents (Nelson and Narens, 1990 ; Stuss, 2011 ; Fleming and Dolan, 2012 ; Garrison, 2014 ).…”

“…The proposition that meta-cognition is under neural control is supported by a burgeoning amount of neuropsychological literature (e.g., Fleming and Dolan, 2012 ; Garrison, 2014 ). Neuroscientific studies have suggested that a defining function of the anterior PFC may be meta-cognitive awareness, or the process of reflection upon one's own mental contents (Nelson and Narens, 1990 ; Stuss, 2011 ; Fleming and Dolan, 2012 ; Garrison, 2014 ). Evidence from neuroimaging indicates that the PFC operates in concordance with substrates (coordinating but anatomically unconnected areas of the brain) located in the posterior region of the brain (see Figure 1 ), specifically the posterior parietal cortex (PPC; Ikkai and Curtis, 2011 ).…”

“…Meta-cognition is differentiated from cognition as the latter concerns performing a task (e.g., summing a column of numbers), and the former the regulation of that performance by concurrent processes of monitoring and evaluative reflection on the quality of the performance (Clark, 2012 ) often referred to as “thinking about thinking.” For example, changing how we perform a task if we feel that a current strategy is not optimal (Garrison, 2014 ). This two-level framework has extended beyond studies on information recall to encompass the monitoring of perception (Rounis et al, 2010 ), decision-making (Fleming et al, 2010 ), sense of agency (Morsella et al, 2009 ), and learning (Dienes, 2008 ).…”