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Domain-general enhancements of metacognitive ability through adaptive training

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Version 2 2023-06-12, 08:58
Version 1 2023-06-09, 16:33
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-12, 08:58 authored by Jason Carpenter, Maxine ShermanMaxine Sherman, Rogier A Kievit, Anil SethAnil Seth, Hakwan Lau, Stephen M Fleming
The metacognitive ability to introspect about self-performance varies substantially across individuals. Given that effective monitoring of performance is deemed important for effective behavioural control, intervening to improve metacognition may have widespread benefits, for example in educational and clinical settings. However, it is unknown whether and how metacognition can be systematically improved through training independently of task performance, or whether metacognitive improvements generalize across different task domains. Across 8 sessions, here we provided feedback to two groups of participants in a perceptual discrimination task: an experimental group (N = 29) received feedback on their metacognitive judgments, while an active control group (N = 32) received feedback on their decision performance only. Relative to the control group, adaptive training led to increases in metacognitive calibration (as assessed by Brier scores) which generalized both to untrained stimuli and an untrained task (recognition memory). Leveraging signal detection modeling we found that metacognitive improvements were driven both by changes in metacognitive efficiency (meta-d’/d’) and confidence level, and that later increases in metacognitive efficiency were positively mediated by earlier shifts in confidence. Our results reveal a striking malleability of introspection and indicate the potential for a domain-general enhancement of metacognitive abilities.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

ISSN

0096-3445

Publisher

American Psychological Association

Issue

1

Volume

148

Page range

51-64

Department affiliated with

  • Informatics Publications

Research groups affiliated with

  • Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics Publications
  • Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2019-01-17

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2019-01-17

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2019-01-16

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