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McWilliams A, Bibby H, Steinbeis N, David AS, Fleming SM. Age-related decreases in global metacognition are independent of local metacognition and task performance. Cognition 2023; 235:105389. [PMID: 36764048 PMCID: PMC10632679 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105389] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2022] [Revised: 01/27/2023] [Accepted: 01/29/2023] [Indexed: 02/12/2023]
Abstract
Metacognition refers to a capacity to reflect on and control other cognitive processes, commonly quantified as the extent to which confidence tracks objective performance. There is conflicting evidence about how "local" metacognition (monitoring of individual judgments) and "global" metacognition (estimates of self-performance) change across the lifespan. Additionally, the degree to which metacognition generalises across cognitive domains may itself change with age due to increased experience with one's own abilities. Using a gamified suite of performance-controlled memory and visual perception tasks, we measured local and global metacognition in an age-stratified sample of 304 healthy volunteers (18-83 years; N = 50 in each of 6 age groups). We calculated both local and global metrics of metacognition and quantified how and whether domain-generality changes with age. First-order task performance was stable across the age range. People's global self-performance estimates and local metacognitive bias decreased with age, indicating overall lower confidence in performance. In contrast, local metacognitive efficiency was spared in older age and remained correlated across the two cognitive domains. A stability of local metacognition indicates distinct mechanisms contributing to local and global metacognition. Our study reveals how local and global metacognition change across the lifespan and provide a benchmark against which disease-related changes in metacognition can be compared.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew McWilliams
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, 12 Queen Square, London WC1N 3AR, UK; Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, 26 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AP, UK; Mental Health, Ethics and Law Research Group, Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, Room 3.21, 16 De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK.
| | - Hannah Bibby
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, Alexandra House, 17-19 Queen Square, London WC1N 3AZ, UK
| | - Nikolaus Steinbeis
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, 26 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AP, UK
| | - Anthony S David
- Institute of Mental Health, University College London, Wing A, 6th floor, Maple House, 149 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 7NF, UK
| | - Stephen M Fleming
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, 12 Queen Square, London WC1N 3AR, UK; Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, 26 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AP, UK; Max Planck Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, University College London, London, UK
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Klever L, Beyvers MC, Fiehler K, Mamassian P, Billino J. Cross-modal metacognition: Visual and tactile confidence share a common scale. J Vis 2023; 23:3. [PMID: 37140913 PMCID: PMC10166118 DOI: 10.1167/jov.23.5.3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Humans can judge the quality of their perceptual decisions-an ability known as perceptual confidence. Previous work suggested that confidence can be evaluated on an abstract scale that can be sensory modality-independent or even domain-general. However, evidence is still scarce on whether confidence judgments can be directly made across visual and tactile decisions. Here, we investigated in a sample of 56 adults whether visual and tactile confidence share a common scale by measuring visual contrast and vibrotactile discrimination thresholds in a confidence-forced choice paradigm. Confidence judgments were made about the correctness of the perceptual decision between two trials involving either the same or different modalities. To estimate confidence efficiency, we compared discrimination thresholds obtained from all trials to those from trials judged to be relatively more confident. We found evidence for metaperception because higher confidence was associated with better perceptual performance in both modalities. Importantly, participants were able to judge their confidence across modalities without any costs in metaperceptual sensitivity and only minor changes in response times compared to unimodal confidence judgments. In addition, we were able to predict cross-modal confidence well from unimodal judgments. In conclusion, our findings show that perceptual confidence is computed on an abstract scale and that it can assess the quality of our decisions across sensory modalities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lena Klever
- Experimental Psychology, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany
- Center for Mind, Brain, and Behavior (CMBB), University of Marburg and Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany
| | | | - Katja Fiehler
- Experimental Psychology, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany
- Center for Mind, Brain, and Behavior (CMBB), University of Marburg and Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany
| | - Pascal Mamassian
- Laboratoire des Systèmes Perceptifs, Département d'études Cognitives, École Normale Supérieure, PSL University, Paris, France
| | - Jutta Billino
- Experimental Psychology, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany
- Center for Mind, Brain, and Behavior (CMBB), University of Marburg and Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany
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Henry JD, Coundouris SP, Craik FIM, von Hippel C, Grainger SA. The cognitive tenacity of self-directed ageism. Trends Cogn Sci 2023:S1364-6613(23)00072-4. [PMID: 37147237 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2023.03.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2022] [Revised: 03/21/2023] [Accepted: 03/26/2023] [Indexed: 05/07/2023]
Abstract
Ageism refers to prejudice or discrimination based on a person's age. When ageism is directed at older people, it is unique in two ways: it is socially condoned in a manner that other types of prejudice are not, and the animus is eventually self-directed. Of central interest here is why ageism becomes self-directed in late adulthood, despite its potentially harmful personal costs. We present a cognitive model in which negative ageist beliefs become increasingly accessible and difficult to eliminate owing to broader developmental shifts in mentation. Given that these effects are contingent on our social environment, systemic changes in societal conceptions of age and aging are needed if we are to reduce vulnerability to self-directed ageism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julie D Henry
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
| | - Sarah P Coundouris
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | | | - Courtney von Hippel
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Sarah A Grainger
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
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Qin M, Xiao D, Yuan L, Karabulatova I. Emotive Tonality of the "Youth-Old Age" Dichotomy in Russian and Chinese Media Discourses: The Stage of Psychosemantic Expertise. JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLINGUISTIC RESEARCH 2023; 52:525-553. [PMID: 35788864 DOI: 10.1007/s10936-022-09899-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/09/2022] [Indexed: 05/07/2023]
Abstract
The issue of attitude to age has the character of social stigma at different stages of human civilization, therefore, the identification of the general and particular in the assessments of the "youth-old age" dichotomy in different structural languages seems relevant. The results are based on the materials of an in-depth interview among 510 respondents belonging to different age groups: young, middle, and elderly; and 1257 respondents' responses. The in-depth interview covered 128 characteristics of interpersonal interaction. This made it possible to compile descriptor tables. The 54 characteristics identified were 27 bipolar scales. The objects of evaluation are characterized by 8 pole positions. A comparison was also made with data extracted from 368 articles in Russian and Chinese media. This work contributes to the understanding of the psycholinguistic processes of emotional perception of age in Russian and Chinese linguistic cultures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meng Qin
- Department of Foreign Languages, Faculty of Philology, Peoples' Friendship, University of Russia, Moscow, Russian Federation
| | - Dongxia Xiao
- Department of Foreign Languages, Faculty of Philology, Peoples' Friendship, University of Russia, Moscow, Russian Federation
| | - Lin Yuan
- Department of Foreign Languages, Faculty of Philology, Peoples' Friendship, University of Russia, Moscow, Russian Federation
| | - Irina Karabulatova
- Laboratory of Machine Learning and Semantic Analysis, Institute of Artificial Intelligence, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian Federation.
- Department of Machine Learning and Digital Humanities, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (National University), Moscow, Russian Federation.
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