Week 11 - Lecture 11 Flashcards
(26 cards)
What is the etymology of the term metacognition?
Coined by Flavell (1970s): “meta-” = beyond/self-referential
Define metacognition.
Thinking about thinking
What does metacognition involve?
Mentally represent, evaluate, and act upon one’s own mental states
Why is metacognition important?
Identify cognitive strengths & weaknesses, enhance learning, problem-solving, decision-making, foster self-correction, flexible thinking, resilience
What are the components of metacognition?
- Metacognitive Knowledge
- Metacognitive Control
What is metacognitive knowledge?
Declarative knowledge of one’s cognitive processes
What is monitoring in metacognition?
Awareness of “how am I doing?” during a task
Define metacognitive control.
Regulation of behaviour based on metacognitive knowledge
Give an example of metacognitive control.
- Stopping or altering a task when it’s too hard
- Choosing to seek help or take notes
What is calibration in metacognition?
Matching metacognition with reality
What are the three types of calibration?
- Perfect
- Overconfidence
- Underconfidence
Describe the Introspection Task used to study metacognition.
Participants asked to have no thoughts for 20 sec, with 5 y olds rarely reporting thoughts and 8 y olds/adults mostly doing so
When does metacognition emerge in children?
Kindergarten–Preschool (≈ 4–5 years)
What is the knowledge-control lag?
Children monitor knowledge before they control that knowledge
What is cognitive offloading?
Physical actions that reduce mental load
List examples of cognitive offloading.
- To-do lists
- Calendars
- Calculator use
- Google searches
- Gestures
- Maps
- Smartphone reminders
What is the Expected Value of Control (EVC)?
Weigh benefits vs costs (mental & physical effort) in decision-making
What is a consequence of erroneous metacognition in adults?
Excessive offloading linked to short-term declines in unaided ability
What did Redshaw et al. (2018) study?
Map-rotation task with lazy-Susan manipulanda focusing on offloading rates
What did Armitage & Redshaw (2022) investigate?
Children’s ability to mark locations of hidden stickers
What is the significance of the age range 6-11 in metacognitive development?
Offloading levels out individual differences in rotation ability
What is social offloading?
Leveraging other people to boost cognitive performance
What was the Puppet Paradigm study about?
Children choose between “strong” vs “weak” helpers, learning to pick the more competent one
What are some ongoing research projects mentioned?
- Compelled Strategy Use
- Value Manipulations
- Joint Action Extensions
- Ecological Validity
- Metacognition Measures
- Longitudinal Studies
- Metacognitive Training
