Metacognition: computation, biology and function

By Stephen M. Fleming, R. J. Dolan, ChrisD . Frith. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2012

313 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Many complex systems maintain a self-referential check and balance. In animals, such reflective monitoring and control processes have been grouped under the rubric of metacognition. In this introductory article to a Theme Issue on metacognition, we review recent and rapidly progressing developments from neuroscience, cognitive psychology, computer science and philosophy of mind. While each of these areas is represented in detail by individual contributions to the volume, we take this opportunity to draw links between disciplines, and highlight areas where further integration is needed. Specifically, we cover the definition, measurement, neurobiology and possible functions of metacognition, and assess the relationship between metacognition and consciousness. We propose a framework in which level of representation, order of behaviour and access consciousness are orthogonal dimensions of the conceptual landscape.

Subfields: Cognitive Neuroscience, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/01d3ba7366ce90b36c8af8ae64f832a91d3fb17f

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Cognitive Neuroscience

1. Karl J. Friston
2. Klaas E. Stephan
3. Robin L. Carhart-Harris
4. Rick A Adams
5. ChrisD . Frith
6. Harriet R. Brown
7. Andy Clark
8. David J. Nutt

In Social Psychology

1. Karl J. Friston
2. ChrisD . Frith
3. Rick A Adams
4. Klaas E. Stephan
5. Harriet R. Brown
6. Robert Leech
7. Robin L. Carhart-Harris
8. Murray Shanahan

Citations in the corpus

• The Computational Anatomy of Psychosis (2013, background): “Behaviorally, precision and beliefs about precision (including subjective confidence in beliefs) are to some extent dissociable (Fleming et al., 2012).”
• Metacognition in Psychology (2019, background): “…even though there is also agreement that there are relatively stable individual differences in people’s basic sensitivity to metacognitive feelings (Fleming et al., 2012), there is substantial variation in people’s metacognitive strategies and knowledge by age, experience, personality, situation,…”
• The entropic brain: a theory of conscious states informed by neuroimaging research with psychedelic drugs (2014, background): “This is because in healthy adults, the formation of a mature ego endows the mind with a capacity for metacognition i.e., an ability to reflect on one’s own thoughts and behavior (Shimamura, 2000; Fleming et al., 2012).”
• Undecidability and opacity of metacognition in animals and humans (2013, background): “We often stipulate—with qualifications—the flawed definition(s) and agent execution of cognition and metacognition (e.g., Shimamura and Metcalfe, 1994; Koriat and Goldsmith, 1996, 1998; Smith, 2009; Terrace and Son, 2009; Frith, 2012; Fleming et al., 2012; Yeung and Summerfield, 2012).”