Metacognition

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Metacognition

Metacognition is defined as "cognition about cognition", or "knowing about knowing". It comes from

the root word "meta", meaning beyond. It can take many forms; it includes knowledge about when

and how to use particular strategies for learning or for problem solving. There are generally two

components of metacognition: knowledge about cognition, and regulation of cognition.

Metamemory, defined as knowing about memory and mnemonic strategies, is an especially important

form of metacognition. Differences in metacognitive processing across cultures have not been widely

studied, but could provide better outcomes in cross-cultural learning between teachers and students.

Some evolutionary psychologists hypothesize that metacognition is used as a survival tool, which

would make metacognition the same across cultures. Writings on metacognition can be traced back at

least as far as Perì Psūchês; and the Parva Naturalia of the Greek philosopher Aristotle.

Definitions

This higher-level cognition was given the label metacognition by American developmental psychologist

John Flavell (1979).

The term metacognition literally means cognition about cognition, or more informally, thinking about

thinking. Flavell defined metacognition as knowledge about cognition and control of cognition. For

example, I am engaging in metacognition if I notice that I am having more trouble learning A than B;

[or] if it strikes me that I should double check C before accepting it as fact.|J. H. Flavell (1976, p. 232).

A. Demetriou, in his theory, one of the neo-Piagetian theories of cognitive development, used the term

hypercognition to refer to self-monitoring, self-representation, and self-regulation processes, which

are regarded as integral components of the human mind. Moreover, with his colleagues, he showed

that these processes participate in general intelligence, together with processing efficiency and

reasoning, which have traditionally been considered to compose fluid intelligence.

Metacognition also thinks about one's own thinking process such as study skills, memory capabilities,

and the ability to monitor learning. This concept needs to be explicitly taught along with content

instruction. Metacognitive knowledge is about our own cognitive processes and our understanding of

how to regulate those processes to maximize learning. Some types of metacognitive knowledge would

include:

1. Person knowledge (declarative knowledge) which is understanding one's own capabilities.

2. Task knowledge (procedural knowledge) which is how one perceives the difficulty of a task which is

the content, length, and the type of assignment.

3. Strategic knowledge (conditional knowledge) which is one's own capability for using strategies to

learn information. Young children are not particularly good at this; it is not until upper elementary

where students start to develop the understanding of strategies that will be effective.

Different fields define metacognition very differently.

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Metacognition variously refers to the study of memory-monitoring and self-regulation, meta-

reasoning, consciousness/awareness and auto-consciousness/self-awareness. In practice these

capacities are used to regulate one's own cognition, to maximize one's potential to think, learn and to

the evaluation of proper ethical/moral rules.

In the domain of experimental psychology, an influential distinction in metacognition (proposed by T.

O. Nelson & L. Narens) is between Monitoring—making judgments about the strength of one's

memories—and Control—using those judgments to guide behavior (in particular, to guide study

choices). Dunlosky, Serra, and Baker (2007) covered this distinction in a review of metamemory

research that focused on how findings from this domain can be applied to other areas of applied

research.

In the domain of cognitive neuroscience, metacognitive monitoring and control has been viewed as a

function of the prefrontal cortex, which receives (monitors) sensory signals from other cortical regions

and through feedback loops implements control (see chapters by Schwartz & Bacon and Shimamura,

in Dunlosky & Bjork, 2008).

Metacognition is studied in the domain of artificial intelligence and modelling.

Therefore, it is the domain of interest of emergent systemics. It has been used, albeit off the original

definition, to describe one's own knowledge that we will die. Writers in the 1990s involved with the

musical "grunge" scene often used the term to describe self-awareness of mortality.

Components

Metacognition is classified into three components:

Metacognitive knowledge (also called metacognitive awareness) is what individuals know about

themselves and others as cognitive processors.

Metacognitive regulation is the regulation of cognition and learning experiences through a set of

activities that help people control their learning.

Metacognitive experiences are those experiences that have something to do with the current, on-

going cognitive endeavor.

Metacognition refers to a level of thinking that involves active control over the process of thinking that

is used in learning situations. Planning the way to approach a learning task, monitoring comprehension,

and evaluating the progress towards the completion of a task: these are skills that are metacognitive

in their nature.

Metacognition includes at least three different types of metacognitive awareness when considering

metacognitive knowledge:

Declarative Knowledge: refers to knowledge about oneself as a learner and about what factors can

influence one's performance. Declarative knowledge can also be referred to as "world knowledge".

Procedural Knowledge: refers to knowledge about doing things. This type of knowledge is displayed

as heuristics and strategies. A high degree of procedural knowledge can allow individuals to perform

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tasks more automatically. This is achieved through a large variety of strategies that can be accessed

more efficiently.

Conditional knowledge: refers to knowing when and why to use declarative and procedural

knowledge. It allows students to allocate their resources when using strategies. This in turn allows the

strategies to become more effective.

Similar to metacognitive knowledge, metacognitive regulation or "regulation of cognition" contains

three skills that are essential.

Planning: refers to the appropriate selection of strategies and the correct allocation of resources that

affect task performance.

Monitoring: refers to one's awareness of comprehension and task performance

Evaluating: refers to appraising the final product of a task and the efficiency at which the task was

performed. This can include re-evaluating strategies that were used.

Similarly, maintaining motivation to see a task to completion is also a metacognitive skill. The ability to

become aware of distracting stimuli – both internal and external – and sustain effort over time also

involves metacognitive or executive functions. The theory that metacognition has a critical role to play

in successful learning means it is important that it be demonstrated by both students and teachers.

Students who demonstrate a wide range of metacognitive skills perform better on exams and complete

work more efficiently. They are self-regulated learners who utilize the "right tool for the job" and

modify learning strategies and skills based on their awareness of effectiveness. Individuals with a high

level of metacognitive knowledge and skill identify blocks to learning as early as possible and change

"tools" or strategies to ensure goal attainment. Swanson (1990) found that metacognitive knowledge

can compensate for IQ and lack of prior knowledge when comparing fifth and sixth grade students'

problem solving. Students with a high-metacognition were reported to have used fewer strategies, but

solved problems more effectively than low-metacognition students, regardless of IQ or prior

knowledge.

Metacognologists are aware of their own strengths and weaknesses, the nature of the task at hand,

and available "tools" or skills. A broader repertoire of "tools" also assists in goal attainment. When

"tools" are general, generic, and context independent, they are more likely to be useful in different

types of learning situations.

Another distinction in metacognition is executive management and strategic knowledge. Executive

management processes involve planning, monitoring, evaluating and revising one's own thinking

processes and products. Strategic knowledge involves knowing what (factual or declarative

knowledge), knowing when and why (conditional or contextual knowledge) and knowing how

(procedural or methodological knowledge). Both executive management and strategic knowledge

metacognition are needed to self-regulate one's own thinking and learning.

Finally, there is no distinction between domain-general and domain-specific metacognitive skills. This

means that metacognitive skills are domain-general in nature and there are no specific skills for certain

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subject areas. The metacognitive skills that are used to review an essay are the same as those that are

used to verify an answer to a math question.

Metacognitive experience is responsible for creating an identity that matters to an individual. The

creation of the identity with meta-cognitive experience is linked to the identity-based motivation (IBM)

model. The identity-based motivation model implies that "identities matter because they provide a

basis for meaning making and for action." A person decides also if the identity matters in two ways

with meta-cognitive experience. First, a current or possible identity is either "part of the self and so

worth pursuing" or the individual thinks that the identity is part of their self, yet it is conflicting with

more important identities and the individual will decide if the identity is or is not worth pursuing.

Second, it also helps an individual decide if an identity should be pursued or abandoned.

Usually, abandoning identity has been linked to meta-cognitive difficulty. Based on the identity-based

motivation model there are naive theories describing difficulty as a way to continue to pursue an

identity. The incremental theory of ability states that if "effort matters then difficulty is likely to be

interpreted as meaning that more effort is needed." Here is an example: a woman who loves to play

clarinet has come upon a hard piece of music. She knows that how much effort she puts into learning

this piece is beneficial. The piece had difficulty so she knew the effort was needed. The identity the

woman wants to pursue is to be a good clarinet player; having a metacognitive experience difficulty

pushed her to learn the difficult piece to continue to identify with her identity. The entity theory of

ability represents the opposite. This theory states that if "effort does not matter then difficulty is likely

to be interpreted as meaning that ability is lacking so effort should be suspended." Based on the

example of the woman playing the clarinet, if she did not want to identify herself as a good clarinet

player, she would not have put in any effort to learn the difficult piece which is an example of using

metacognitive experience difficulty to abandon an identity.

Relation to sapience

Metacognologists believe that the ability to consciously think about thinking is unique to sapient

species and indeed is one of the definitions of sapience. There is evidence that rhesus monkeys and

apes can make accurate judgments about the strengths of their memories of fact and monitor their

own uncertainty, while attempts to demonstrate metacognition in birds have been inconclusive. A

2007 study has provided some evidence for metacognition in rats, but further analysis suggested that

they may have been following simple operant conditioning principles, or a behavioral economic model.

Metacognitive strategies

Metacognitive-like processes are especially ubiquitous when it comes to the discussion of self-

regulated learning. Being engaged in metacognition is a salient feature of good self-regulated learners.

Groups reinforcing collective discussion of metacognition is a salient feature of self-critical and self-

regulating social groups. The activities of strategy selection and application include those concerned

with an ongoing attempt to plan, check, monitor, select, revise, evaluate, etc.

Metacognition is 'stable' in that learners' initial decisions derive from the pertinent fact about their

cognition through years of learning experience. Simultaneously, it is also 'situated' in the sense that it

depends on learners' familiarity with the task, motivation, emotion, and so forth. Individuals need to

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regulate their thoughts about the strategy they are using and adjust it based on the situation to which

the strategy is being applied. At a professional level, this has led to emphasis on the development of

reflective practice, particularly in the education and health-care professions.

Recently, the notion has been applied to the study of second language learners in the field of TESOL

and applied linguistics in general (e.g., Wenden, 1987; Zhang, 2001, 2010). This new development has

been much related to Flavell (1979), where the notion of metacognition is elaborated within a tripartite

theoretical framework. Learner metacognition is defined and investigated by examining their person

knowledge, task knowledge and strategy knowledge.

Wenden (1991) has proposed and used this framework and Zhang (2001) has adopted this approach

and investigated second language learners' metacognition or metacognitive knowledge. In addition to

exploring the relationships between learner metacognition and performance, researchers are also

interested in the effects of metacognitively-oriented strategic instruction on reading comprehension

(e.g., Garner, 1994, in first language contexts, and Chamot, 2005; Zhang, 2010). The efforts are aimed

at developing learner autonomy, interdependence and self-regulation.

Metacognition helps people to perform many cognitive tasks more effectively.[1] Strategies for

promoting metacognition include self-questioning (e.g. "What do I already know about this topic? How

have I solved problems like this before?"), thinking aloud while performing a task, and making graphic

representations (e.g. concept maps, flow charts, semantic webs) of one's thoughts and knowledge.

Carr, 2002, argues that the physical act of writing plays a large part in the development of

metacognitive skills.

Strategy Evaluation matrices (SEM) can help to improve the knowledge of cognition component of

metacogntion. The SEM works by identifying the declarative (Column 1), procedural (Column 2) and

conditional (Column 3 and 4) knowledge about specific strategies. The SEM can help individuals

identify the strength and weaknesses about certain strategies as well as introduce them to new

strategies that they can add to their repertoire.

A regulation checklist (RC) is a useful strategy for improving the regulation of cognition aspect of one’s

metacognition. RCs help individuals to implement a sequence of thoughts that allow them to go over

their own metacogntion. King (1991) found that fifth-grade students who used a regulation checklist

outperformed control students when looking at a variety of questions including written problem

solving, asking strategic questions, and elaborating information.

Metacognitive strategies training can consist of coaching the students in thinking skills that will allow

them to monitor their own learning. Examples of strategies that can be taught to students are word

analysis skills, active reading strategies, listening skills, organizational skills and creating mnemonic

devices.

Meta-Strategic Knowledge

“Meta-Strategic Knowledge” (MSK) is a sub-component of metacognition that is defined as general

knowledge about higher order thinking strategies. MSK had been defined as “general knowledge about

the cognitive procedures that are being manipulated”. The knowledge involved in MSK consists of

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“making generalizations and drawing rules regarding a thinking strategy” and of “naming” the thinking

strategy.

The important conscious act of a meta-strategic strategy is the “conscious” awareness that one is

performing a form of higher order thinking. MSK is an awareness of the type of thinking strategies

being used in specific instances and it consists of the following abilities: making generalizations and

drawing rules regarding a thinking strategy, naming the thinking strategy, explaining when, why and

how such a thinking strategy should be used, when it should not be used, what are the disadvantages

of not using appropriate strategies, and what task characteristics call for the use of the strategy.

MSK deals with the broader picture of the conceptual problem. It creates rules to describe and

understand the physical world around the people who utilize these processes called Higher-order

thinking. This is the capability of the individual to take apart complex problems in order to understand

the components in problem. These are the building blocks to understanding the “big picture” (of the

main problem) through reflection and problem solving.

Characteristics of Theory of Mind: Understanding the mind and the "mental world":

False beliefs: understanding that a belief is only one of many and can be false.

Appearance–reality distinctions: something may look one way but may be something else.

Visual perspective taking: the views of physical objects differ based on perspective.

Introspection: children's awareness and understanding of their own thoughts.

Mental Illness and Metacognition

Sparks of Interest

In the context of mental health, metacognition can be loosely defined as the process that "reinforces

one's subjective sense of being a self and allows for becoming aware that some of one's thoughts and

feelings are symptoms of an illness." The interest in metacognition emerged from a concern for an

individual’s ability to understand their own mental status compared to others as well as the ability to

cope with the source of their distress. These insights into an individual's mental health status can have

a profound effect on the over-all prognosis and recovery. Metacognition brings many unique insights

into the normal daily functioning of a human being. It also demonstrates that a lack of these insights

compromises ‘normal’ functioning. This leads to less healthy functioning. In the Autism spectrum,

there is a profound inability to feel empathy towards the minds of other human beings. In people who

identify as alcoholics, there is a belief that the need to control cognitions is an independent predictor

of alcohol use over anxiety. Alcohol may be used as a coping strategy for controlling unwanted

thoughts and emotions formed by negative perceptions. This is sometimes referred to as self-

medication.

Implications

Well’s and Matthew’s theory proposes that when faced with an undesired choice, an individual can

operate in two distinct modes: ‘object’ and ‘Metacognitive.’ Object mode interprets perceived stimuli

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as truth, where Metacognitive mode understands thoughts as cues that have to be weighted and

evaluated. They are not as easily trusted. There are targeted interventions unique of each patient that

gives rise to the belief that assistance in increasing metacognition in people diagnosed with

schizophrenia is possible through tailored psychotherapy. With a customized therapy in place clients

then have the potential to develop greater ability to engage in complex self-reflection. This can

ultimately be pivotal in the patient's recovery process. In the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder spectrum,

cognitive formulations have greater attention to intrusive thoughts related to the disorder. "Cognitive

Self-Consciousness" are the tendencies to focus attention on thought. Patients with OCD exemplify

varying degrees of these ‘intrusive thoughts.’ Patients also suffering from Generalized Anxiety Disorder

also show negative thought process in their cognition.

With any metacognition strategy, the general consensus is to believe that they are good. But in all

actuality some may be very harmful. Cognitive-Attentional Syndrome (CAS) characterizes a

Metacognitive model of emotion disorder. CAS is consistent with the constant with the attention

strategy of excessively focusing on the source of a threat. This ultimately develops through the client’s

own beliefs. Metacognitive therapy attempts to correct this change in the CAS. One of the techniques

in this model is called Attention Training (ATT). It was designed to diminish the worry and anxiety by a

sense of control and cognitive awareness. Also ATT trains clients to detect threats, test how

controllable reality appears to be.

Works of art as metacognitive artifacts

The concept of metacognition has also been applied to reader-response criticism. Narrative works of

art, including novels, movies and musical compositions, can be characterized as metacognitive artifacts

which are designed by the artist to anticipate and regulate the beliefs and cognitive processes of the

recipient, for instance, how and in which order events and their causes and identities are revealed to

the reader of a detective story. As Menakhem Perry has pointed out, mere order has profound effects

on the aesthetical meaning of a text. Narrative works of art contain a representation of their own ideal

reception process. They are something of a tool with which the creators of the work wish to attain

certain aesthetical and even moral effects.

Mind wandering and metacognition

There is an intimate, dynamic interplay between mind wandering and metacognition. Metacognition

serves to correct the wandering mind, suppressing spontaneous thoughts and bringing attention back

to more "worthwhile" tasks.

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Metacognitive Skills

Metacognition refers to learners' automatic awareness of their own knowledge and their ability to

understand, control, and manipulate their own cognitive processes.2 Metacognitive skills are

important not only in school, but throughout life. For example, Mumford (1986) says that it is essential

that an effective manager be a person who has learned to learn. He describes this person as one who

knows the stages in the process of learning and understands his or her own preferred approaches to

it - a person who can identify and overcome blocks to learning and can bring learning from off-the-job

learning to on-the-job situations.

As you read this section, do not worry about distinguishing between metacognitive skills and some of

the other terms in this chapter. Metacognition overlaps heavily with some of these other terms. The

terminology simply supplies an additional useful way to look at thought processes.

Metacognition is a relatively new field, and theorists have not yet settled on conventional terminology.

However, most metacognitive research falls within the following categories:

Metamemory. This refers to the learners' awareness of and knowledge about their own memory

systems and strategies for using their memories effectively. Metamemory includes (a) awareness of

different memory strategies, (b) knowledge of which strategy to use for a particular memory task, and

(c) knowledge of how to use a given memory strategy most effectively.

Metacomprehension. This term refers to the learners' ability to monitor the degree to which they

understand information being communicated to them, to recognize failures to comprehend, and to

employ repair strategies when failures are identified.

Learners with poor metacomprehension skills often finish reading passages without even knowing that

they have not understood them. On the other hand, learners who are more adept at

metacomprehension will check for confusion or inconsistency, and undertake a corrective strategy,

such as rereading, relating different parts of the passage to one another, looking for topic sentences

or summary paragraphs, or relating the current information to prior knowledge. (See Harris et al.,

1988; - add more)

Self-Regulation. This term refers to the learners' ability to make adjustments in their own learning

processes in response to their perception of feedback regarding their current status of learning. The

concept of self-regulation overlaps heavily with the preceding two terms; its focus is on the ability of

the learners themselves to monitor their own learning (without external stimuli or persuasion) and to

maintain the attitudes necessary to invoke and employ these strategies on their own. To learn most

effectively, students should not only understand what strategies are available and the purposes these

strategies will serve, but also become capable of adequately selecting, employing, monitoring, and

evaluating their use of these strategies. (See Hallahan et al., 1979; Graham & Harris, 1992; Reid &

Harris, 1989, 1993.)

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In addition to its obvious cognitive components, metacognition often has important affective or

personality components. For example, an important part of comprehension is approaching a reading

task with the attitude that the topic is important and worth comprehending. Being aware of the

importance of a positive attitude and deliberately fostering such an attitude is an example of a

metacognitive skill.

In the preceding paragraph, metacognition has been described as a conscious awareness of one's own

knowledge and the conscious ability to understand, control, and manipulate one's own cognitive

processes. This is not quite accurate; but it's difficult to define metacognition more accurately. (It's

easier to point out examples of metacognitive activity than to define what it is.) It would be more

accurate to say that metacognitive strategies are almost always potentially conscious and potentially

controllable (Pressley, Borkowski, & Schneider, 1987). For example, good readers automatically

(unconsciously) employ metacognitive strategies to focus their attention, to derive meaning, and to

make adjustments when something goes wrong. They do not think about or label these skills while

performing them; but if we ask them what they were doing that was successful, they can usually

describe their metacognitive processes accurately. In addition, when serious problems arise - as when

there is a distraction, when they encounter extremely difficult or contradictory text, or when they have

to advise someone else regarding the same skill - they slow down and become consciously aware of

their metacognitive activity.

While it is occasionally useful to consciously reflect on one's metacognitive processes and while it

useful to make learners aware of these processes while they are trying to acquire them, these skills

become most effective when they become overlearned and automatic. If these skills were not

automatic and unconscious, they would occupy some of the effort of the working memory; and this

would have the result of making reading, listening, and other cognitive activities less efficient.

Therefore, like any other skill that becomes automatic and requires minimal activity in the working

memory, metacognitive skills work best when they are overlearned and can operate unconsciously.

Learners with good metacognitive skills are able to monitor and direct their own learning processes.

Like many other processes, metacognitive skills are learned by applying principles from almost every

other chapter in this book. When learning a metacognitive skill, learners typically go through the

following steps (Pressley, Borkowski, & Schneider, 1987):

1. They establish a motivation to learn a metacognitive process. This occurs when either they

themselves or someone else points gives them reason to believe that there would be some benefit to

knowing how to apply the process.

2. They focus their attention on what it is that they or someone else does that is metacognitively useful.

This proper focusing of attention puts the necessary information into working memory. Sometimes

this focusing of attention can occur through modeling, and sometimes it occurs during personal

experience.

3. They talk to themselves about the metacognitive process. This talk can arise during their interactions

with others, but it is their talk to themselves that is essential. This self-talk serves several purposes:

It enables them to understand and encode the process.

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It enables them to practice the process.

It enables them to obtain feedback and to make adjustments regarding their effective use of

the process.

It enables them to transfer the process to new situations beyond those in which it has already

been used.

4. Eventually, they begin to use the process without even being aware that they are doing so.

This process usually represents a high-level implementation of the phases of learning and instruction

described by Gagne and discussed in Chapter 3 of this book. When teachers intervene to help students

develop a metacognitive process, they often use the scaffolded instruction strategies. In addition, the

techniques of cooperative learning and peer tutoring often provide opportunities for students to talk

to others about their thought processes; and it is often the process of formulating thoughts in order

to express them to others that leads to metacognitive development (Piaget, 1964).

Finally, it is interesting to note an important relationship between the higher order skills of

metacognition and the basic or factual skills that may be a part of a specific unit of instruction. Students

typically learn metacognitive skills while they are involved in learning something else. If they are to do

this successfully, it is extremely important that the learners have overlearned the prerequisite content

knowledge for the subject matter topic being studied. If that prerequisite knowledge has not been

mastered to a sufficient level of automaticity, then the working memory of the learner will be

overwhelmed by the subject matter; and the result will be no time for metacognitive reflection.

For example, when children who have largely mastered the prerequisite skills try to solve a word

problem in arithmetic, they can afford to talk to themselves about what they are doing, because their

working memory is not totally occupied with other demands. That is, well prepared children will have

time for metacognitive practice. On the other hand, when children who are missing some of these

prerequisite skills try to solve the same problem, their working memory is likely to be totally occupied

with a frantic need to find the basic skills and facts needed to solve the problem. If this is the case, they

not only have solved the problem less effectively; but they also have little or no time for practicing or

developing metacognitive skills.

When teachers and parents try to help students, it is important not to do too much thinking for them.

By doing their thinking for the children they wish to help, adults or knowledgeable peers may make

them experts at seeking help, rather than expert thinkers. On the other hand, by setting tasks at an

appropriate level and prompting children to think about what they are doing as they successfully

complete these tasks, adults can help children become independent and successful thinkers (Biemiller

& Meichenbaum, 1992). In other words, it is often better to say, What should you do next?" and then

to prompt the children as necessary, instead of simply telling them what to do.

The preceding paragraph describes how the intellectual rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

Knowledge of factual information and basic skills provides a foundation for developing metacognitive

skills; and metacognitive skills enable students to master information and solve problems more easily.

If teachers hope to help low-performing students break out of their intellectual imprisonment, they

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must find a way to help them develop both an automatic grasp of basic skills and effective

metacognitive skills to enable self-directed learning.

Misconceptions with regard to specific subject matter were discussed in Chapters 4 and 6. Wittrock

(1991) notes that learners' misconceptions about learning-to-learn skills and about metacognitive

strategies are also a critical source of learning problems. For example, a student who adheres to a

belief that the best way to learn scientific concepts is to repeat the definitions ten times each night

before going to bed is not as likely to come to an understanding of these concepts as a person who has

a more effective conception of how to master these concepts.

Source: http://education.purduecal.edu/Vockell/EdPsyBook/Edpsy7/edpsy7_meta.htm

http://education.purduecal.edu/Vockell/EdPsyBook/Edpsy7/edpsy7_meta.htm

Metacognition

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