1
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van Loon M, Orth U, Roebers C. The structure of metacognition in middle childhood: Evidence for a unitary metacognition-for-memory factor. J Exp Child Psychol 2024; 241:105857. [PMID: 38241971 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2023.105857] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2023] [Revised: 12/05/2023] [Accepted: 12/24/2023] [Indexed: 01/21/2024]
Abstract
It has been debated whether children's metacognitive monitoring and control processes rely on a general resource or whether metacognitive processes are task specific. Moreover, findings about the extent to which metacognitive processes are related to first-order task performance are mixed. The current study aimed to uncover the relationships among children's monitoring (discrimination between correct and incorrect responses), control (accurate withdrawal of wrong answers), and performance across three memory-based learning tasks: Kanji learning, text comprehension, and secret code learning. All tasks consisted of a study phase, a test phase, monitoring (confidence judgments), and control (maintaining/withdrawing responses). Participants were 325 children (151 second graders [Mage = 8.12 years] and 174 fourth graders [Mage = 10.20 years]). Confirmatory factor analyses showed that a model in which monitoring and control loaded on a joint factor and performance on a separate factor provided the best fit to the data. Fourth graders had better monitoring and control accuracy than second graders. However, the factor structure of metacognition was similar for both age groups, contradictory to the assumption that metacognition generalizes across tasks as children grow older. After accounting for task-specific processes, monitoring and control skills for language-based memory tasks appear to be generalizable in middle childhood. In sum, children's monitoring and control for three separate memory tasks appear to reflect a unitary metacognition-for-memory factor related to, but distinguishable from, performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mariëtte van Loon
- Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, 8050 Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Ulrich Orth
- Department of Psychology, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
| | - Claudia Roebers
- Department of Psychology, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
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2
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Dijkstra N, Mazor M, Fleming SM. Confidence ratings do not distinguish imagination from reality. J Vis 2024; 24:13. [PMID: 38814936 PMCID: PMC11146086 DOI: 10.1167/jov.24.5.13] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2023] [Accepted: 05/03/2024] [Indexed: 06/01/2024] Open
Abstract
Perceptual reality monitoring refers to the ability to distinguish internally triggered imagination from externally triggered reality. Such monitoring can take place at perceptual or cognitive levels-for example, in lucid dreaming, perceptual experience feels real but is accompanied by a cognitive insight that it is not real. We recently developed a paradigm to reveal perceptual reality monitoring errors during wakefulness in the general population, showing that imagined signals can be erroneously attributed to perception during a perceptual detection task. In the current study, we set out to investigate whether people have insight into perceptual reality monitoring errors by additionally measuring perceptual confidence. We used hierarchical Bayesian modeling of confidence criteria to characterize metacognitive insight into the effects of imagery on detection. Over two experiments, we found that confidence criteria moved in tandem with the decision criterion shift, indicating a failure of reality monitoring not only at a perceptual but also at a metacognitive level. These results further show that such failures have a perceptual rather than a decisional origin. Interestingly, offline queries at the end of the experiment revealed global, task-level insight, which was uncorrelated with local, trial-level insight as measured with confidence ratings. Taken together, our results demonstrate that confidence ratings do not distinguish imagination from reality during perceptual detection. Future research should further explore the different cognitive dimensions of insight into reality judgments and how they are related.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nadine Dijkstra
- Department of Imaging Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK
- https://sites.google.com/view/nadinedijkstra
| | - Matan Mazor
- All Souls College and Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- matanmazor.github.io
| | - Stephen M Fleming
- Department of Imaging Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK
- Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, University College London, London, UK
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, London, UK
- https://metacoglab.org/
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3
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Mikhailova A, Lightfoot S, Santos-Victor J, Coco MI. Differential effects of intrinsic properties of natural scenes and interference mechanisms on recognition processes in long-term visual memory. Cogn Process 2024; 25:173-187. [PMID: 37831320 DOI: 10.1007/s10339-023-01164-y] [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: 12/04/2022] [Accepted: 09/20/2023] [Indexed: 10/14/2023]
Abstract
Humans display remarkable long-term visual memory (LTVM) processes. Even though images may be intrinsically memorable, the fidelity of their visual representations, and consequently the likelihood of successfully retrieving them, hinges on their similarity when concurrently held in LTVM. In this debate, it is still unclear whether intrinsic features of images (perceptual and semantic) may be mediated by mechanisms of interference generated at encoding, or during retrieval, and how these factors impinge on recognition processes. In the current study, participants (32) studied a stream of 120 natural scenes from 8 semantic categories, which varied in frequencies (4, 8, 16 or 32 exemplars per category) to generate different levels of category interference, in preparation for a recognition test. Then they were asked to indicate which of two images, presented side by side (i.e. two-alternative forced-choice), they remembered. The two images belonged to the same semantic category but varied in their perceptual similarity (similar or dissimilar). Participants also expressed their confidence (sure/not sure) about their recognition response, enabling us to tap into their metacognitive efficacy (meta-d'). Additionally, we extracted the activation of perceptual and semantic features in images (i.e. their informational richness) through deep neural network modelling and examined their impact on recognition processes. Corroborating previous literature, we found that category interference and perceptual similarity negatively impact recognition processes, as well as response times and metacognitive efficacy. Moreover, images semantically rich were less likely remembered, an effect that trumped a positive memorability boost coming from perceptual information. Critically, we did not observe any significant interaction between intrinsic features of images and interference generated either at encoding or during retrieval. All in all, our study calls for a more integrative understanding of the representational dynamics during encoding and recognition enabling us to form, maintain and access visual information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anastasiia Mikhailova
- Institute for Systems and Robotics, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
| | | | - José Santos-Victor
- Institute for Systems and Robotics, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Moreno I Coco
- Sapienza, University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
- I.R.C.C.S. Santa Lucia, Fondazione Santa Lucia, Roma, Italy.
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4
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Peters MA. Towards characterizing the canonical computations generating phenomenal experience. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2022; 142:104903. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104903] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2022] [Revised: 09/27/2022] [Accepted: 10/01/2022] [Indexed: 10/31/2022]
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5
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Rahnev D, Balsdon T, Charles L, de Gardelle V, Denison R, Desender K, Faivre N, Filevich E, Fleming SM, Jehee J, Lau H, Lee ALF, Locke SM, Mamassian P, Odegaard B, Peters M, Reyes G, Rouault M, Sackur J, Samaha J, Sergent C, Sherman MT, Siedlecka M, Soto D, Vlassova A, Zylberberg A. Consensus Goals in the Field of Visual Metacognition. PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2022; 17:1746-1765. [PMID: 35839099 PMCID: PMC9633335 DOI: 10.1177/17456916221075615] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Despite the tangible progress in psychological and cognitive sciences over the last several years, these disciplines still trail other more mature sciences in identifying the most important questions that need to be solved. Reaching such consensus could lead to greater synergy across different laboratories, faster progress, and increased focus on solving important problems rather than pursuing isolated, niche efforts. Here, 26 researchers from the field of visual metacognition reached consensus on four long-term and two medium-term common goals. We describe the process that we followed, the goals themselves, and our plans for accomplishing these goals. If this effort proves successful within the next few years, such consensus building around common goals could be adopted more widely in psychological science.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Tarryn Balsdon
- Laboratoire des systèmes perceptifs, Département d’études cognitives, École normale supérieure, PSL University, CNRS, Paris, France
| | - Lucie Charles
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, UK
| | | | - Rachel Denison
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, USA
| | | | - Nathan Faivre
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LPNC, 38000 Grenoble, France
| | - Elisa Filevich
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin, Philippstraβe 13 Haus 6, 10115 Berlin, Germany
| | - Stephen M. Fleming
- Department of Experimental Psychology and Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, UK
| | | | | | - Alan L. F. Lee
- Department of Applied Psychology and Wofoo Joseph Lee Consulting and Counselling Psychology Research Centre, Lingnan University, Hong Kong
| | - Shannon M. Locke
- Laboratoire des systèmes perceptifs, Département d’études cognitives, École normale supérieure, PSL University, CNRS, Paris, France
| | - Pascal Mamassian
- Laboratoire des systèmes perceptifs, Département d’études cognitives, École normale supérieure, PSL University, CNRS, Paris, France
| | - Brian Odegaard
- Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL USA
| | - Megan Peters
- Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA USA
| | - Gabriel Reyes
- Facultad de Psicología, Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile
| | - Marion Rouault
- Département d’Études Cognitives, École Normale Supérieure, Université Paris Sciences & Lettres (PSL University), Paris, France
| | - Jerome Sackur
- Département d’Études Cognitives, École Normale Supérieure, Université Paris Sciences & Lettres (PSL University), Paris, France
| | - Jason Samaha
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Cruz
| | - Claire Sergent
- Université de Paris, INCC UMR 8002, 75006, Paris, France
| | - Maxine T. Sherman
- Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
| | - Marta Siedlecka
- Consciousness Lab, Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
| | - David Soto
- Basque Center on Cognition Brain and Language, San Sebastián, Spain. Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain
| | - Alexandra Vlassova
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Ariel Zylberberg
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, USA
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6
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Barnas AJ, Ward EJ. Metacognitive judgements of change detection predict change blindness. Cognition 2022; 227:105208. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105208] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2021] [Revised: 06/11/2022] [Accepted: 06/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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7
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Martinez-Saito M. Probing doors to visual awareness: Choice set, visibility, and confidence. VISUAL COGNITION 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2022.2086333] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Mario Martinez-Saito
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Moscow, Russian Federation
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Japan
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8
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A single oral dose of citalopram increases interoceptive insight in healthy volunteers. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2022; 239:2289-2298. [PMID: 35325257 PMCID: PMC9205807 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-022-06115-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2021] [Accepted: 03/06/2022] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
RATIONALE Interoception is the signalling, perception, and interpretation of internal physiological states. Many mental disorders associated with changes of interoception, including depressive and anxiety disorders, are treated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). However, the causative link between SSRIs and interoception is not yet clear. OBJECTIVES To ascertain the causal effect of acute changes of serotonin levels on cardiac interoception. METHODS Using a within-participant placebo-controlled design, forty-seven healthy human volunteers (31 female, 16 male) were tested on and off a 20 mg oral dose of the commonly prescribed SSRI, citalopram. Participants made judgements on the synchrony between their heartbeat and auditory tones and then expressed confidence in each judgement. We measured three types of interoceptive cognition. RESULTS Citalopram increased cardiac interoceptive insight, measured as correspondence of self-reported confidence to the likelihood that interoceptive judgements were actually correct. This effect was driven by enhanced confidence for correct interoceptive judgements and was independent of measured cardiac and reported subjective effects of the drug. CONCLUSIONS An acute change of serotonin levels can increase insight into the reliability of inferences made from cardiac interoceptive sensations.
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9
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Zheng Y, Wang L, Gerlofs DJ, Duan W, Wang X, Yin J, Yan C, Allé MC, Berna F, Wang J, Tang Y, Kwok SC. Atypical meta-memory evaluation strategy in schizophrenia patients. SCHIZOPHRENIA RESEARCH-COGNITION 2021; 27:100220. [PMID: 34646754 PMCID: PMC8501761 DOI: 10.1016/j.scog.2021.100220] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2021] [Revised: 09/28/2021] [Accepted: 09/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Background Previous research has reported that patients with schizophrenia would regard false memories with higher confidence, and this meta-memory deficit was suggested as a neurocognitive marker of schizophrenia. However, how schizophrenia patients determine their memory decision confidence has received scant consideration. This study, therefore, aimed to characterize the extent to which meta-memory evaluation strategy differs between schizophrenia patients and healthy individuals, and how such difference contributes to the patients' meta-memory performance. Methods 27 schizophrenia patients and 28 matched healthy controls performed a temporal-order judgement (TOJ) task, in which they judged which movie frame occurred earlier in an encoded video, and then made retrospective confidence rating. Mixed effect regression models were performed to assess the between-group metacognitive evaluation strategy difference and its relationship to clinical symptoms. Results Compared to the control group, the patients' confidence ratings were correlated more with the recent confidence history and less with the TOJ-related evidence. The degree of dependence on recent history of confidence was negatively correlated with the severity of positive symptoms. Furthermore, by controlling for the first-order TOJ performance, we observed that the patients discriminated correct memory decisions from the incorrect ones as accurately as the controls. Conclusion The present investigation revealed that schizophrenia patients tend to use more heuristics in making meta-memory evaluations, and such atypical strategy is related to their clinical symptoms. This study provides new insights into how schizophrenia patients perform meta-memory processes. Future research could consider examining such metacognitive deficits in light of other cognitive domains in psychosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yunxuan Zheng
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.,Division of Natural and Applied Sciences, Duke Kunshan University, Kunshan, Jiangsu, China.,School of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Lei Wang
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - D Jacob Gerlofs
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Wei Duan
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Xinyi Wang
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Jia Yin
- Department of Neurosurgery, Tenth People's Hospital of Tongji University, Shanghai, China
| | - Chao Yan
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Mélissa C Allé
- Univ. Lille, CNRS, UMR 9193 - SCALab - Sciences Cognitives et Sciences Affectives, F-59000 Lille, France
| | - Fabrice Berna
- University Hospital of Strasbourg - Department of Psychiatry, University of Strasbourg, INSERM U1114, FMTS, France
| | - Jijun Wang
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.,CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology (CEBSIT), Chinese Academy of Science, China.,Institute of Psychology and Behavioral Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
| | - Yingying Tang
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Sze Chai Kwok
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.,Division of Natural and Applied Sciences, Duke Kunshan University, Kunshan, Jiangsu, China.,Shanghai Changning Mental Health Center, Shanghai, China
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10
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Abstract
Despite theoretical debate on the extent to which statistical learning is incidental or modulated by explicit instructions and conscious awareness of the content of statistical learning, no study has ever investigated the metacognition of statistical learning. We used an artificial language-learning paradigm and a segmentation task that required splitting a continuous stream of syllables into discrete recurrent constituents. During this task, statistical learning potentially produces knowledge of discrete constituents as well as about statistical regularities that are embodied in familiarization input. We measured metacognitive sensitivity and efficiency (using hierarchical Bayesian modelling to estimate metacognitive sensitivity and efficiency) to probe the role of conscious awareness in recognition of constituents extracted from the familiarization input and recognition of novel constituents embodying the same statistical regularities as these extracted constituents. Novel constituents are conceptualized to represent recognition of statistical structure rather than recognition of items retrieved from memory as whole constituents. We found that participants are equally sensitive to both types of learning products, yet subject them to varying degrees of conscious processing during the postfamiliarization recognition test. The data point to the contribution of conscious awareness to at least some types of statistical learning content.
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11
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Filippi R, Ceccolini A, Periche-Tomas E, Bright P. Developmental trajectories of metacognitive processing and executive function from childhood to older age. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2020; 73:1757-1773. [PMID: 32419614 PMCID: PMC7715991 DOI: 10.1177/1747021820931096] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
The modern understanding of the term metacognition encompasses two levels of processing: a lower level awareness or knowledge of one’s own thoughts and a higher level regulation or control of our thinking. Metacognition, therefore, bears conceptual similarity with executive function: both are concerned with top-down monitoring and control of cognition in the service of ongoing goal-directed behaviour. Previous studies have shown a possible executive function advantage in multilingual speakers but also a possible disadvantage in metacognitive processing. To progress theory on metacognitive processing and the relationship with executive function and linguistic experience across the lifespan, we conducted a study testing 330 healthy individuals in four age groups from 7 to 80 years old. All participants performed a metacognition task and two measures of executive function, which included the Simon task and the Tower of London task. Half the participants were multilingual speakers since birth. We built developmental trajectories of metacognitive and executive function across the lifespan. The best metacognitive efficiency was observed in mid-adulthood, whereas the best executive function processing reached its peak in young adulthood. A steep cognitive decline was observed in older age, while metacognitive efficiency was preserved. Exploratory factor analysis indicated that metacognition and executive function are served by different factors across all ages. Contrary to previous findings in the bilingual literature, a multilinguistic experience conferred neither any significant advantage nor disadvantage in both executive function and metacognitive processing across the lifespan.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roberto Filippi
- Institute of Education, University College London (UCL), London, UK.,Multilanguage and Cognition Lab, Department of Psychology and Human Development, Institute of Education, University College London (UCL), London, UK
| | - Andrea Ceccolini
- Multilanguage and Cognition Lab, Department of Psychology and Human Development, Institute of Education, University College London (UCL), London, UK
| | - Eva Periche-Tomas
- Institute of Education, University College London (UCL), London, UK.,Multilanguage and Cognition Lab, Department of Psychology and Human Development, Institute of Education, University College London (UCL), London, UK.,Brain Research Imaging Centre, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
| | - Peter Bright
- Multilanguage and Cognition Lab, Department of Psychology and Human Development, Institute of Education, University College London (UCL), London, UK.,Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK
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12
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Spanoudis G, Demetriou A. Mapping Mind-Brain Development: Towards a Comprehensive Theory. J Intell 2020; 8:E19. [PMID: 32357452 PMCID: PMC7713015 DOI: 10.3390/jintelligence8020019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2020] [Revised: 04/13/2020] [Accepted: 04/20/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The relations between the developing mind and developing brain are explored. We outline a theory of intellectual development postulating that the mind comprises four systems of processes (domain-specific, attention and working memory, reasoning, and cognizance) developing in four cycles (episodic, realistic, rule-based, and principle-based representations, emerging at birth, 2, 6, and 11 years, respectively), with two phases in each. Changes in reasoning relate to processing efficiency in the first phase and working memory in the second phase. Awareness of mental processes is recycled with the changes in each cycle and drives their integration into the representational unit of the next cycle. Brain research shows that each type of processes is served by specialized brain networks. Domain-specific processes are rooted in sensory cortices; working memory processes are mainly rooted in hippocampal, parietal, and prefrontal cortices; abstraction and alignment processes are rooted in parietal, frontal, and prefrontal and medial cortices. Information entering these networks is available to awareness processes. Brain networks change along the four cycles, in precision, connectivity, and brain rhythms. Principles of mind-brain interaction are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- George Spanoudis
- Psychology Department, University of Cyprus, 1678 Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Andreas Demetriou
- Department of Psychology, University of Nicosia, 1700 Nicosia, Cyprus;
- Cyprus Academy of Science, Letters, and Arts, 1700 Nicosia, Cyprus
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13
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Wu Q, Mao J, Li J. Oxytocin alters the effect of payoff but not base rate in emotion perception. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2020; 114:104608. [PMID: 32070797 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2020.104608] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2019] [Revised: 11/02/2019] [Accepted: 02/03/2020] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Emotion perception, inferring the emotional state of another person, can be formalized as decision under uncertainty: another person's scowling face may indicate anger or concentration and the optimal inference is contingent on the decision consequences (payoff) and how likely real anger is encountered (base rate). Although emerging evidence suggests that the neuropeptide oxytocin influences human perception of emotional facial expressions, whether such effect relates to the alternated process of payoff or base rate still remains unclear. In addition, little is known about oxytocin's effect on metacognitive process involved in emotion perception. One hundred and twenty-two healthy male adults (sixty-two in Experiment 1 and sixty in Experiment 2, respectively) received 24 international units (IU) of intranasal oxytocin or placebo (between-subjects) in a randomized and double-blind study. We independently and systematically manipulated the payoff and base rate levels in an emotion categorization task and measured participants' response bias via categorization choice and metacognitive sensitivity via confidence report. Compared to the placebo group, oxytocin specifically induced a categorization bias under the payoff, but not base rate manipulation. In contrast, oxytocin had no effect on subjects' confidence rating, indicating that the metacognitive sensitivity can be dissociated from emotion perception. Our results pinpoint the specific role of oxytocin in payoff evaluation, but not target likelihood estimation and provide a potential theoretical framework to bridge oxytocin research in emotion perception, social cognition and value-based decisions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiong Wu
- School of Psychology and Beijing, Key Lab of Learning and Cognition, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China.
| | - Jiang Mao
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing, Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Jian Li
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing, Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China.
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14
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Rahnev D, Desender K, Lee ALF, Adler WT, Aguilar-Lleyda D, Akdoğan B, Arbuzova P, Atlas LY, Balcı F, Bang JW, Bègue I, Birney DP, Brady TF, Calder-Travis J, Chetverikov A, Clark TK, Davranche K, Denison RN, Dildine TC, Double KS, Duyan YA, Faivre N, Fallow K, Filevich E, Gajdos T, Gallagher RM, de Gardelle V, Gherman S, Haddara N, Hainguerlot M, Hsu TY, Hu X, Iturrate I, Jaquiery M, Kantner J, Koculak M, Konishi M, Koß C, Kvam PD, Kwok SC, Lebreton M, Lempert KM, Ming Lo C, Luo L, Maniscalco B, Martin A, Massoni S, Matthews J, Mazancieux A, Merfeld DM, O'Hora D, Palser ER, Paulewicz B, Pereira M, Peters C, Philiastides MG, Pfuhl G, Prieto F, Rausch M, Recht S, Reyes G, Rouault M, Sackur J, Sadeghi S, Samaha J, Seow TXF, Shekhar M, Sherman MT, Siedlecka M, Skóra Z, Song C, Soto D, Sun S, van Boxtel JJA, Wang S, Weidemann CT, Weindel G, Wierzchoń M, Xu X, Ye Q, Yeon J, Zou F, Zylberberg A. The Confidence Database. Nat Hum Behav 2020; 4:317-325. [PMID: 32015487 PMCID: PMC7565481 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-019-0813-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2019] [Accepted: 12/11/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Understanding how people rate their confidence is critical for the characterization of a wide range of perceptual, memory, motor and cognitive processes. To enable the continued exploration of these processes, we created a large database of confidence studies spanning a broad set of paradigms, participant populations and fields of study. The data from each study are structured in a common, easy-to-use format that can be easily imported and analysed using multiple software packages. Each dataset is accompanied by an explanation regarding the nature of the collected data. At the time of publication, the Confidence Database (which is available at https://osf.io/s46pr/) contained 145 datasets with data from more than 8,700 participants and almost 4 million trials. The database will remain open for new submissions indefinitely and is expected to continue to grow. Here we show the usefulness of this large collection of datasets in four different analyses that provide precise estimations of several foundational confidence-related effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dobromir Rahnev
- School of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA.
| | - Kobe Desender
- Department of Neurophysiology and Pathophysiology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Alan L F Lee
- Department of Applied Psychology and Wofoo Joseph Lee Consulting and Counselling Psychology Research Centre, Lingnan University, Tuen Mun, Hong Kong
| | - William T Adler
- Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY, USA
| | - David Aguilar-Lleyda
- Centre d'Économie de la Sorbonne, CNRS & Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris, France
| | - Başak Akdoğan
- Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Polina Arbuzova
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Institute of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Lauren Y Atlas
- National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
- National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
- National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Fuat Balcı
- Department of Psychology, Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Ji Won Bang
- Department of Ophthalmology, New York University (NYU) School of Medicine, NYU Langone Health, New York, NY, USA
| | - Indrit Bègue
- Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University Hospitals of Geneva and University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Damian P Birney
- School of Psychology, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Timothy F Brady
- Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | | | - Andrey Chetverikov
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Torin K Clark
- Smead Aerospace Engineering Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA
| | | | - Rachel N Denison
- Department of Psychology and Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Troy C Dildine
- National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Sweden
| | - Kit S Double
- Department of Education, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Yalçın A Duyan
- Department of Psychology, Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Nathan Faivre
- Laboratoire de Psychologie et Neurocognition, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
| | - Kaitlyn Fallow
- Department of Psychology, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Elisa Filevich
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Institute of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | | | - Regan M Gallagher
- School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
- Department of Experimental & Applied Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | | | - Sabina Gherman
- Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
- Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset, NY, USA
| | - Nadia Haddara
- School of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Marine Hainguerlot
- Erasmus School of Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Tzu-Yu Hsu
- Graduate Institute of Mind, Brain, and Consciousness, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Xiao Hu
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment toward Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Iñaki Iturrate
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Matt Jaquiery
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Justin Kantner
- Department of Psycholgoy, California State University, Northridge, CA, USA
| | - Marcin Koculak
- Consciousness Lab, Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
| | - Mahiko Konishi
- Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et de Psycholinguistique, Department d'Etudes Cognitives, ENS, PSL University, EHESS, CNRS, Paris, France
| | - Christina Koß
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Berlin, Germany
- Institute of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Peter D Kvam
- Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
| | - Sze Chai Kwok
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics Ministry of Education, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
- NYU-ECNU Institute of Brain and Cognitive Science, NYU Shanghai, Shanghai, China
| | - Maël Lebreton
- Swiss Center for Affective Science and LaBNIC, Department of Basic Neuroscience, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Karolina M Lempert
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Chien Ming Lo
- Graduate Institute of Mind, Brain, and Consciousness, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan
- Brain and Consciousness Research Centre, TMU Shuang-Ho Hospital, New Taipei City, Taiwan
| | - Liang Luo
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment toward Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Brian Maniscalco
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA
| | - Antonio Martin
- Graduate Institute of Mind, Brain, and Consciousness, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Sébastien Massoni
- Université de Lorraine, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, BETA, Nancy, France
| | - Julian Matthews
- School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Philosophy Department, Monash University, Monash, Victoria, Australia
| | - Audrey Mazancieux
- Laboratoire de Psychologie et Neurocognition, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
| | - Daniel M Merfeld
- Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Denis O'Hora
- School of Psychology, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland
| | - Eleanor R Palser
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Psychology and Language Sciences, University College Londo, London, UK
- Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Borysław Paulewicz
- SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Katowice Faculty of Psychology, Katowice, Poland
| | - Michael Pereira
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Caroline Peters
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Institute of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | | | - Gerit Pfuhl
- Department of Psychology, UiT the Arctic University of Norway, Tromso, Norway
| | - Fernanda Prieto
- Faculty of Psychology, Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile
| | - Manuel Rausch
- Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Eichstätt, Germany
| | - Samuel Recht
- Laboratoire des Systèmes Perceptifs, Département d'Études Cognitives, École normale supérieure-PSL University, CNRS, Paris, France
| | - Gabriel Reyes
- Faculty of Psychology, Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile
| | - Marion Rouault
- Département d'Études Cognitives, École Normale Supérieure-PSL University, CNRS, EHESS, INSERM, Paris, France
| | - Jérôme Sackur
- Département d'Études Cognitives, École Normale Supérieure-PSL University, CNRS, EHESS, INSERM, Paris, France
- École Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France
| | - Saeedeh Sadeghi
- Department of Human Development, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Jason Samaha
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - Tricia X F Seow
- School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Medha Shekhar
- School of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Maxine T Sherman
- Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, Brighton, UK
- Brighton and Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
| | - Marta Siedlecka
- Consciousness Lab, Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
| | - Zuzanna Skóra
- Consciousness Lab, Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
| | - Chen Song
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre, School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
| | - David Soto
- Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, San Sebastian, Spain
- Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain
| | - Sai Sun
- Divisions of Biology and Biological Engineering and Computation and Neural Systems, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - Jeroen J A van Boxtel
- School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Discipline of Psychology, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
| | - Shuo Wang
- Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering and Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA
| | | | | | - Michał Wierzchoń
- Consciousness Lab, Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
| | - Xinming Xu
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics Ministry of Education, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Qun Ye
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics Ministry of Education, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Jiwon Yeon
- School of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Futing Zou
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics Ministry of Education, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Ariel Zylberberg
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA
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15
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Chen B, Mundy M, Tsuchiya N. Metacognitive Accuracy Improves With the Perceptual Learning of a Low- but Not High-Level Face Property. Front Psychol 2019; 10:1712. [PMID: 31396138 PMCID: PMC6667671 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01712] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2018] [Accepted: 07/09/2019] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Experience with visual stimuli can improve their perceptual performance, a phenomenon termed visual perceptual learning (VPL). VPL has been found to improve metacognitive measures, suggesting increased conscious accessibility to the knowledge supporting perceptual decision-making. However, such studies have largely failed to control objective task accuracy, which typically correlates with metacognition. Here, using a staircase method to control this confound, we investigated whether VPL improves the metacognitive accuracy of perceptual decision-making. Across 3 days, subjects were trained to discriminate faces based on their high-level identity or low-level contrast. Holding objective accuracy constant across training days, perceptual thresholds decreased in both tasks, demonstrating VPL in our protocol. However, whilemetacognitive accuracy was not affected by face contrast VPL, it was decreased by face identity VPL. Our findings couldbe parsimoniously explained by a dual-stage signal detection theory-based model involving an initial perceptual decision-making stage and a second confidence judgment stage. Within this model, internal noise reductions for both stages accounts for our face contrast VPL result, while only first stage noise reductions accounts for our face identity VPL result. In summary, we found evidence suggesting that conscious knowledge accessibility was improved by the VPL of face contrast but not face identity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Chen
- School of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Biomedical and Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Matthew Mundy
- School of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Biomedical and Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.,Monash Institute of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Naotsugu Tsuchiya
- School of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Biomedical and Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.,Monash Institute of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
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16
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Phillips I. The methodological puzzle of phenomenal consciousness. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2019; 373:rstb.2017.0347. [PMID: 30061461 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2017.0347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/02/2018] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Is phenomenal consciousness constitutively related to cognitive access? Despite being a fundamental issue for any science of consciousness, its empirical study faces a severe methodological puzzle. Recent years have seen numerous attempts to address this puzzle, either in practice, by offering evidence for a positive or negative answer, or in principle, by proposing a framework for eventual resolution. The present paper critically considers these endeavours, including partial-report, metacognitive and no-report paradigms, as well as the theoretical proposal that we can make progress by studying phenomenal consciousness as a natural kind. It is argued that the methodological puzzle remains obdurately with us and that, for now, we must adopt an attitude of humility towards the phenomenal.This article is part of the theme issue 'Perceptual consciousness and cognitive access'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ian Phillips
- Department of Philosophy, Birmingham University, Birmingham, West Midlands, UK .,Cognitive Science, University of Princeton, Princeton, NJ, USA
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17
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Baird B, Riedner BA, Boly M, Davidson RJ, Tononi G. Increased lucid dream frequency in long-term meditators but not following MBSR training. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2018; 6:40-54. [PMID: 31058200 DOI: 10.1037/cns0000176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Strong conceptual and theoretical connections have been made between meditation practice, mindfulness and lucid dreaming. However, only a handful of empirical studies have evaluated the relationship between lucid dreaming and meditation, and conclusions remain tempered by methodological limitations. Here we evaluate the relationship between meditation, mindfulness and lucid dream frequency using several complementary methods. First, using a cross-sectional design, we evaluate differences in lucid dream frequency between long-term meditators and meditation naïve individuals. Second, we evaluate the relationship between lucid dream frequency and specific facets of trait mindfulness in both meditators and non-meditators. Third, using a blinded randomized-controlled design, we evaluate the impact of an 8-week mindfulness course on lucid dreaming frequency. Our results show that lucid dreaming is more frequent in long-term meditators compared to meditation naïve individuals. Additionally, lucid dream frequency in meditation-naïve individuals was associated with a capacity to verbalize experience, while lucid dream frequency in long-term meditators was associated with observational and decentering facets of trait mindfulness. However, an 8-week mindfulness course did not increase the frequency of lucid dreams. Together these results support a continuity between increased awareness of waking and sleeping states, provide a novel form of evidence linking meditation training to meta-awareness, and support an association between meditation practice and lucid dreaming, but leave open the specific nature of this connection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Baird
- Wisconsin Institute for Sleep and Consciousness, Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin - Madison
| | - Brady A Riedner
- Wisconsin Institute for Sleep and Consciousness, Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin - Madison
| | - Melanie Boly
- Wisconsin Institute for Sleep and Consciousness, Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin - Madison.,Department of Neurology, University of Wisconsin - Madison
| | - Richard J Davidson
- Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin - Madison.,Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior
| | - Giulio Tononi
- Wisconsin Institute for Sleep and Consciousness, Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin - Madison
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18
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Demetriou A, Makris N, Spanoudis G, Kazi S, Shayer M, Kazali E. Mapping the Dimensions of General Intelligence: An Integrated Differential-Developmental Theory. Hum Dev 2018. [DOI: 10.1159/000484450] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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19
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Persuh M, LaRock E, Berger J. Working Memory and Consciousness: The Current State of Play. Front Hum Neurosci 2018; 12:78. [PMID: 29551967 PMCID: PMC5840147 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2018.00078] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2017] [Accepted: 02/12/2018] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Working memory (WM), an important posit in cognitive science, allows one to temporarily store and manipulate information in the service of ongoing tasks. WM has been traditionally classified as an explicit memory system-that is, as operating on and maintaining only consciously perceived information. Recently, however, several studies have questioned this assumption, purporting to provide evidence for unconscious WM. In this article, we focus on visual working memory (VWM) and critically examine these studies as well as studies of unconscious perception that seem to provide indirect evidence for unconscious WM. Our analysis indicates that current evidence does not support an unconscious WM store, though we offer independent reasons to think that WM may operate on unconsciously perceived information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marjan Persuh
- Department of Social Sciences, Human Services and Criminal Justice, Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York, New York, NY, United States
| | - Eric LaRock
- Department of Philosophy, 751 Mathematics and Science Center, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, United States
| | - Jacob Berger
- Department of English and Philosophy, Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID, United States
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20
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Abstract
It is natural to see conscious perceptions as typically bringing with them a degree of confidence about what is perceived. So one might also expect such confidence not to occur if a perception is not conscious. This has resulted in the use of confidence as a test or measure of consciousness, one that may be more reliable and fine-grained than the traditional appeal to subjective report as a test for a perception's being conscious. The following describes theoretical difficulties for the use of confidence as a reliable test for consciousness, which show that confidence is less reliable than subjective report. Difficulties are also presented for the use of confidence ratings in assessing degrees of consciousness, which cast doubt on any advantage confidence might have from being more fine-grained than subjective report. And an explanation is proposed for the wide appeal of using confidence to assess subjective awareness, an explanation that also makes clear why confidence is less reliable than subjective report.
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21
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Fleming SM, Daw ND. Self-evaluation of decision-making: A general Bayesian framework for metacognitive computation. Psychol Rev 2017; 124:91-114. [PMID: 28004960 PMCID: PMC5178868 DOI: 10.1037/rev0000045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 216] [Impact Index Per Article: 30.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
People are often aware of their mistakes, and report levels of confidence in their choices that correlate with objective performance. These metacognitive assessments of decision quality are important for the guidance of behavior, particularly when external feedback is absent or sporadic. However, a computational framework that accounts for both confidence and error detection is lacking. In addition, accounts of dissociations between performance and metacognition have often relied on ad hoc assumptions, precluding a unified account of intact and impaired self-evaluation. Here we present a general Bayesian framework in which self-evaluation is cast as a "second-order" inference on a coupled but distinct decision system, computationally equivalent to inferring the performance of another actor. Second-order computation may ensue whenever there is a separation between internal states supporting decisions and confidence estimates over space and/or time. We contrast second-order computation against simpler first-order models in which the same internal state supports both decisions and confidence estimates. Through simulations we show that second-order computation provides a unified account of different types of self-evaluation often considered in separate literatures, such as confidence and error detection, and generates novel predictions about the contribution of one's own actions to metacognitive judgments. In addition, the model provides insight into why subjects' metacognition may sometimes be better or worse than task performance. We suggest that second-order computation may underpin self-evaluative judgments across a range of domains. (PsycINFO Database Record
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22
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Fleming SM. HMeta-d: hierarchical Bayesian estimation of metacognitive efficiency from confidence ratings. Neurosci Conscious 2017; 2017:nix007. [PMID: 29877507 PMCID: PMC5858026 DOI: 10.1093/nc/nix007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 89] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2016] [Revised: 03/14/2017] [Accepted: 03/20/2017] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Metacognition refers to the ability to reflect on and monitor one's cognitive processes, such as perception, memory and decision-making. Metacognition is often assessed in the lab by whether an observer's confidence ratings are predictive of objective success, but simple correlations between performance and confidence are susceptible to undesirable influences such as response biases. Recently, an alternative approach to measuring metacognition has been developed (Maniscalco and Lau 2012) that characterizes metacognitive sensitivity (meta-d') by assuming a generative model of confidence within the framework of signal detection theory. However, current estimation routines require an abundance of confidence rating data to recover robust parameters, and only provide point estimates of meta-d'. In contrast, hierarchical Bayesian estimation methods provide opportunities to enhance statistical power, incorporate uncertainty in group-level parameter estimates and avoid edge-correction confounds. Here I introduce such a method for estimating metacognitive efficiency (meta-d'/d') from confidence ratings and demonstrate its application for assessing group differences. A tutorial is provided on both the meta-d' model and the preparation of behavioural data for model fitting. Through numerical simulations I show that a hierarchical approach outperforms alternative fitting methods in situations where limited data are available, such as when quantifying metacognition in patient populations. In addition, the model may be flexibly expanded to estimate parameters encoding other influences on metacognitive efficiency. MATLAB software and documentation for implementing hierarchical meta-d' estimation (HMeta-d) can be downloaded at https://github.com/smfleming/HMeta-d.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen M Fleming
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, 12 Queen Square, WC1N 3BG London, UK
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23
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Rausch M, Zehetleitner M. Should metacognition be measured by logistic regression? Conscious Cogn 2017; 49:291-312. [PMID: 28236748 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2017.02.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2016] [Revised: 02/05/2017] [Accepted: 02/06/2017] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Are logistic regression slopes suitable to quantify metacognitive sensitivity, i.e. the efficiency with which subjective reports differentiate between correct and incorrect task responses? We analytically show that logistic regression slopes are independent from rating criteria in one specific model of metacognition, which assumes (i) that rating decisions are based on sensory evidence generated independently of the sensory evidence used for primary task responses and (ii) that the distributions of evidence are logistic. Given a hierarchical model of metacognition, logistic regression slopes depend on rating criteria. According to all considered models, regression slopes depend on the primary task criterion. A reanalysis of previous data revealed that massive numbers of trials are required to distinguish between hierarchical and independent models with tolerable accuracy. It is argued that researchers who wish to use logistic regression as measure of metacognitive sensitivity need to control the primary task criterion and rating criteria.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manuel Rausch
- Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Eichstätt, Germany; Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.
| | - Michael Zehetleitner
- Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Eichstätt, Germany; Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
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24
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Rosenthal CR, Andrews SK, Antoniades CA, Kennard C, Soto D. Learning and Recognition of a Non-conscious Sequence of Events in Human Primary Visual Cortex. Curr Biol 2016; 26:834-41. [PMID: 26948883 PMCID: PMC4819512 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.01.040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2015] [Revised: 11/16/2015] [Accepted: 01/20/2016] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Human primary visual cortex (V1) has long been associated with learning simple low-level visual discriminations [1] and is classically considered outside of neural systems that support high-level cognitive behavior in contexts that differ from the original conditions of learning, such as recognition memory [2, 3]. Here, we used a novel fMRI-based dichoptic masking protocol—designed to induce activity in V1, without modulation from visual awareness—to test whether human V1 is implicated in human observers rapidly learning and then later (15–20 min) recognizing a non-conscious and complex (second-order) visuospatial sequence. Learning was associated with a change in V1 activity, as part of a temporo-occipital and basal ganglia network, which is at variance with the cortico-cerebellar network identified in prior studies of “implicit” sequence learning that involved motor responses and visible stimuli (e.g., [4]). Recognition memory was associated with V1 activity, as part of a temporo-occipital network involving the hippocampus, under conditions that were not imputable to mechanisms associated with conscious retrieval. Notably, the V1 responses during learning and recognition separately predicted non-conscious recognition memory, and functional coupling between V1 and the hippocampus was enhanced for old retrieval cues. The results provide a basis for novel hypotheses about the signals that can drive recognition memory, because these data (1) identify human V1 with a memory network that can code complex associative serial visuospatial information and support later non-conscious recognition memory-guided behavior (cf. [5]) and (2) align with mouse models of experience-dependent V1 plasticity in learning and memory [6]. Sequence learning and recognition memory can operate without visual awareness V1, hippocampus, and basal ganglia support learning of a non-conscious sequence Old/new status of non-conscious recognition probes modulates V1-hippocampal coupling V1 activity predicts non-conscious recognition memory performance
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Affiliation(s)
- Clive R Rosenthal
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, England, UK.
| | - Samantha K Andrews
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3UD, England, UK
| | - Chrystalina A Antoniades
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, England, UK
| | - Christopher Kennard
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, England, UK
| | - David Soto
- Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, Paseo Mikeletegi, 20009 San Sebastian - Donostia, Spain; Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, 48013 Bilbao, Spain.
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25
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Siedlecka M, Paulewicz B, Wierzchoń M. But I Was So Sure! Metacognitive Judgments Are Less Accurate Given Prospectively than Retrospectively. Front Psychol 2016; 7:218. [PMID: 26925023 PMCID: PMC4759291 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00218] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2015] [Accepted: 02/03/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Prospective and retrospective metacognitive judgments have been studied extensively in the field of memory; however, their accuracy has not been systematically compared. Such a comparison is important for studying how metacognitive judgments are formed. Here, we present the results of an experiment aiming to investigate the relation between performance in an anagram task and the accuracy of prospective and retrospective confidence judgments. Participants worked on anagrams and were then asked to respond whether a presented word was the solution. They also rated their confidence, either before or after the response and either before or after seeing the suggested solution. The results showed that although response accuracy always correlated with confidence, this relationship was weaker when metacognitive judgements were given before the response. We discuss the theoretical and methodological implications of this finding for studies on metacognition and consciousness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marta Siedlecka
- Consciousness Lab, Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University Krakow, Poland
| | | | - Michał Wierzchoń
- Consciousness Lab, Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University Krakow, Poland
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26
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Andrillon T, Kouider S. Implicit memory for words heard during sleep. Neurosci Conscious 2016; 2016:niw014. [PMID: 30356955 PMCID: PMC6192377 DOI: 10.1093/nc/niw014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2016] [Revised: 07/15/2016] [Accepted: 07/31/2016] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
When we fall asleep, our awareness of the surrounding world fades. Yet, the sleeping brain is far from being dormant and recent research unraveled the preservation of complex sensory processing during sleep. In wakefulness, such processes usually lead to the formation of long-term memory traces, being it implicit or explicit. We examined here the consequences upon awakening of the processing of sensory information at a high level of representation during sleep. Participants were instructed to classify auditory stimuli as words or pseudo-words, through left and right hand responses, while transitioning toward sleep. An analysis of the electroencephalographic (EEG) signal revealed the preservation of lateralized motor activations in response to sounds, suggesting that stimuli were correctly categorized during sleep. Upon awakening, participants did not explicitly remember words processed during sleep and failed to distinguish them from new words (old/new recognition test). However, both behavioral and EEG data indicate the presence of an implicit memory trace for words presented during sleep. In addition, the underlying neural signature of such implicit memories markedly differed from the explicit memories formed during wakefulness, in line with dual-process accounts arguing for two independent systems for explicit and implicit memory. Thus, our results reveal that implicit learning mechanisms can be triggered during sleep and provide a novel approach to explore the neural implementation of memory without awareness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Andrillon
- Département d’Études Cognitives, École Normale Supérieure—PSL Research University,
Brain and Consciousness Group (ENS, EHESS, CNRS), Paris, France
- École Doctorale Cerveau Cognition Comportement, Université Pierre et Marie Curie,
Paris, France
| | - Sid Kouider
- Département d’Études Cognitives, École Normale Supérieure—PSL Research University,
Brain and Consciousness Group (ENS, EHESS, CNRS), Paris, France
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Maniscalco B, Lau H. The signal processing architecture underlying subjective reports of sensory awareness. Neurosci Conscious 2016; 2016:niw002. [PMID: 27499929 PMCID: PMC4972343 DOI: 10.1093/nc/niw002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2015] [Revised: 11/24/2015] [Accepted: 01/20/2016] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
What is the relationship between perceptual information processing and subjective perceptual experience? Empirical dissociations between stimulus identification performance and subjective reports of stimulus visibility are crucial for shedding light on this question. We replicated a finding that metacontrast masking can produce such a dissociation (Lau and Passingham, 2006), and report a novel finding that this paradigm can also dissociate stimulus identification performance from the efficacy with which visibility ratings predict task performance. We explored various hypotheses about the relationship between perceptual task performance and visibility rating by implementing them in computational models and using formal model comparison techniques to assess which ones best captured the unusual patterns in the data. The models fell into three broad categories: Single Channel models, which hold that task performance and visibility ratings are based on the same underlying source of information; Dual Channel models, which hold that there are two independent processing streams that differentially contribute to task performance and visibility rating; and Hierarchical models, which hold that a late processing stage generates visibility ratings by evaluating the quality of early perceptual processing. Taking into account the quality of data fitting and model complexity, we found that Hierarchical models perform best at capturing the observed behavioral dissociations. Because current theories of visual awareness map well onto these different model structures, a formal comparison between them is a powerful approach for arbitrating between the different theories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian Maniscalco
- Department of Psychology, Columbia University, 1190 Amsterdam Ave., MC 5501, New York, NY 10027, USA
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health
| | - Hakwan Lau
- UCLA Psychology Department 1285 Franz Hall, Box 951563 Los Angeles, CA 90095-1563
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Peters MAK, Lau H. Human observers have optimal introspective access to perceptual processes even for visually masked stimuli. eLife 2015; 4:e09651. [PMID: 26433023 PMCID: PMC4749556 DOI: 10.7554/elife.09651] [Citation(s) in RCA: 67] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2015] [Accepted: 10/02/2015] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Many believe that humans can 'perceive unconsciously' - that for weak stimuli, briefly presented and masked, above-chance discrimination is possible without awareness. Interestingly, an online survey reveals that most experts in the field recognize the lack of convincing evidence for this phenomenon, and yet they persist in this belief. Using a recently developed bias-free experimental procedure for measuring subjective introspection (confidence), we found no evidence for unconscious perception; participants' behavior matched that of a Bayesian ideal observer, even though the stimuli were visually masked. This surprising finding suggests that the thresholds for subjective awareness and objective discrimination are effectively the same: if objective task performance is above chance, there is likely conscious experience. These findings shed new light on decades-old methodological issues regarding what it takes to consider a neurobiological or behavioral effect to be 'unconscious,' and provide a platform for rigorously investigating unconscious perception in future studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Megan A K Peters
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States
| | - Hakwan Lau
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States.,Brain Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States
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29
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Reyes G, Silva JR, Jaramillo K, Rehbein L, Sackur J. Self-Knowledge Dim-Out: Stress Impairs Metacognitive Accuracy. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0132320. [PMID: 26252222 PMCID: PMC4529147 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0132320] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2015] [Accepted: 06/12/2015] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Modulation of frontal lobes activity is believed to be an important pathway trough which the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis stress response impacts cognitive and emotional functioning. Here, we investigate the effects of stress on metacognition, which is the ability to monitor and control one's own cognition. As the frontal lobes have been shown to play a critical role in metacognition, we predicted that under activation of the HPA axis, participants should be less accurate in the assessment of their own performances in a perceptual decision task, irrespective of the effect of stress on the first order perceptual decision itself. To test this prediction, we constituted three groups of high, medium and low stress responders based on cortisol concentration in saliva in response to a standardized psycho-social stress challenge (the Trier Social Stress Test). We then assessed the accuracy of participants' confidence judgments in a visual discrimination task. As predicted, we found that high biological reactivity to stress correlates with lower sensitivity in metacognition. In sum, participants under stress know less when they know and when they do not know.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabriel Reyes
- Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique (ENS, CNRS, EHESS), PSL Research University, Paris, France
- Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France
- Escuela de Psicología, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile
- * E-mail: (GR); (JS)
| | - Jaime R. Silva
- Centro de Apego y Regulación Emocional, Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile
| | - Karina Jaramillo
- Centro de Apego y Regulación Emocional, Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile
| | - Lucio Rehbein
- Departamento de Psicología, Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco, Chile
| | - Jérôme Sackur
- Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique (ENS, CNRS, EHESS), PSL Research University, Paris, France
- * E-mail: (GR); (JS)
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30
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Maniscalco B, Lau H. Manipulation of working memory contents selectively impairs metacognitive sensitivity in a concurrent visual discrimination task. Neurosci Conscious 2015; 2015:niv002. [PMID: 29877509 PMCID: PMC5989484 DOI: 10.1093/nc/niv002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2015] [Revised: 05/07/2015] [Accepted: 06/04/2015] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
What are the cognitive mechanisms underlying perceptual metacognition? Prior research indicates that prefrontal cortex (PFC) contributes to metacognitive performance, suggesting that metacognitive judgments are supported by high-level cognitive operations. We explored this hypothesis by investigating metacognitive performance for a visual discrimination task in the context of a concurrent working memory (WM) task. We found that, overall, high WM load caused a nonspecific decrease in visual discrimination performance as well as metacognitive performance. However, active manipulation of WM contents caused a selective decrease in metacognitive performance without impairing visual discrimination performance. These behavioral findings are consistent with previous neuroscience findings that high-level PFC is engaged by and necessary for (i) visual metacognition, and (ii) active manipulation of WM contents, but not mere maintenance. The selective interference of WM manipulation on metacognition suggests that these seemingly disparate cognitive functions in fact recruit common cognitive mechanisms. The common cognitive underpinning of these tasks may consist in (i) higher-order re-representation of lower-level sensory information, and/or (ii) application of decision rules in order to transform representations in PFC into definite cognitive/motor responses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian Maniscalco
- Department of Psychology, Columbia University.,National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health
| | - Hakwan Lau
- Department of Psychology, Columbia University.,Department of Psychology, UCLA
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31
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Jacobs C, Silvanto J. How is working memory content consciously experienced? The 'conscious copy' model of WM introspection. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2015; 55:510-9. [PMID: 26054793 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2015.06.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2014] [Revised: 04/14/2015] [Accepted: 06/03/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
We address the issue of how visual information stored in working memory (WM) is introspected. In other words, how do we become aware of WM content in order to consciously examine or manipulate it? Influential models of WM have suggested that WM representations are either conscious by definition, or directly accessible for conscious inspection. We propose that WM introspection does not operate on the actual memory trace but rather requires a new representation to be created for the conscious domain. This conscious representation exists in addition and in parallel to the actual memory representation. The existence of such a separate representation is revealed by and reflected in the qualitatively different functional characteristics between the actual memory trace and its conscious experience, and their distinct interactions within external visual input. Our model differs from state-based models in that WM introspection does not involve a change in the state of WM content, but rather involves the creation of a new, second representation existing in parallel to the original memory trace.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christianne Jacobs
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Westminster, 115 New Cavendish Street, W1W 6UW London, UK.
| | - Juha Silvanto
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Westminster, 115 New Cavendish Street, W1W 6UW London, UK.
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32
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There are things that we know that we know, and there are things that we do not know we do not know: Confidence in decision-making. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2015; 55:88-97. [PMID: 25929444 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2015.04.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 71] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2014] [Revised: 04/19/2015] [Accepted: 04/20/2015] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Metacognition, the ability to think about our own thoughts, is a fundamental component of our mental life and is involved in memory, learning, planning and decision-making. Here we focus on one aspect of metacognition, namely confidence in perceptual decisions. We review the literature in psychophysics, neuropsychology and neuroscience. Although still a very new field, several recent studies suggest there are specific brain circuits devoted to monitoring and reporting confidence, whereas others suggest that confidence information is encoded within decision-making circuits. We provide suggestions, based on interdisciplinary research, to disentangle these disparate results.
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33
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Massoni S, Gajdos T, Vergnaud JC. Confidence measurement in the light of signal detection theory. Front Psychol 2014; 5:1455. [PMID: 25566135 PMCID: PMC4263084 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01455] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2014] [Accepted: 11/27/2014] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
We compare three alternative methods for eliciting retrospective confidence in the context of a simple perceptual task: the Simple Confidence Rating (a direct report on a numerical scale), the Quadratic Scoring Rule (a post-wagering procedure), and the Matching Probability (MP; a generalization of the no-loss gambling method). We systematically compare the results obtained with these three rules to the theoretical confidence levels that can be inferred from performance in the perceptual task using Signal Detection Theory (SDT). We find that the MP provides better results in that respect. We conclude that MP is particularly well suited for studies of confidence that use SDT as a theoretical framework.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sébastien Massoni
- Queensland Behavioural Economics Group - School of Economics and Finance, Queensland University of Technology Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Thibault Gajdos
- Groupement de Recherche en Economie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Aix Marseille University Marseille, France ; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique France
| | - Jean-Christophe Vergnaud
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique France ; Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne, University of Paris 1 Paris, France
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