CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 160Neural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesAnxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive ProcessesMemory Processes and Influences

How Local and Global Metacognition Shape Mental Health

Open access
Seow, Tricia X.F., Rouault, Marion, Gillan, Claire M., Fleming, Stephen M.·2021·Biological Psychiatry
DOI 10.1016/j.biopsych.2021.05.013
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

Metacognition is the ability to reflect on our own cognition and mental states. It is a critical aspect of human subjective experience and operates across many hierarchical levels of abstraction-encompassing local confidence in isolated decisions and global self-beliefs about our abilities and skills. Alterations in metacognition are considered foundational to neurologic and psychiatric disorders, but research has mostly focused on local metacognitive computations, missing out on the role of global aspects of metacognition. Here, we first review current behavioral and neural metrics of local metacognition that lay the foundation for this research. We then address the neurocognitive underpinnings of global metacognition uncovered by recent studies. Finally, we outline a theoretical framework in which higher hierarchical levels of metacognition may help identify the role of maladaptive metacognitive evaluation in mental health conditions, particularly when combined with transdiagnostic methods.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.biopsych.2021.05.013

Cites

150 of 150 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • A number of studies have linked local and global metacognitive biases to individual differences in transdiagnostic mental health symptoms, including anxiety, depression, self-esteem, and compulsivity.

    “A number of studies have linked local and global metacognitive biases to individual differences in transdiagnostic mental health symptoms, including anxiety, depression, self-esteem, and compulsivity (Hoven et al. 2019, Seow et al. 2021).”

    From Metacognition and Confidence: A Review and Synthesis (2024) · cites this paper as Seow et al. 2021

    The ‘Transdiagnostic studies of local metacognition’ section reports links between local confidence and anxious-depression and compulsivity symptoms. The ‘Many forms of metacognition co-exist’ section relates global self-beliefs to self-esteem, anxiety, and depression, but the paper presents the proposed connection between global beliefs and the transdiagnostic local-confidence findings as an explanation to investigate, not an established finding from those studies. No page numbers are available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • In many psychiatric disorders, only global metacognitive abilities are impaired.

    “При многих психиатрических расстройствах нарушаются только глобальные метакогнитивные способности”

    From Когнитивные механизмы дисфункционального принятия решений при психических расстройствах (2025) · cites this paper as Seow et al., 2021

    In “Relating global self-beliefs to functional symptoms” (page unavailable), the paper describes a specific deficit in global awareness alongside relatively intact local metacognition in people with Alzheimer’s disease, limited to the memory domain. It does not establish that only global abilities are impaired in many psychiatric disorders. “Transdiagnostic studies of local metacognition” instead reports altered local confidence associated with anxious-depression and compulsivity. (LLM, conf=0.87)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • In yet other psychiatric disorders, both global and local metacognitive abilities are impaired.

    “при третьих -то и другое вместе.”

    From Когнитивные механизмы дисфункционального принятия решений при психических расстройствах (2025) · cites this paper as Seow et al., 2021

    In “Intersecting hierarchies of metacognition with transdiagnostic approaches” (page unavailable), the review describes reported local overconfidence in schizophrenia and possible low global expectations in some forms, but calls for future studies to assess multiple levels together. It does not establish that both abilities are impaired in the same psychiatric disorder. “Relating global self-beliefs to functional symptoms” instead gives examples in which local and global metacognition diverge. (LLM, conf=0.78)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • In other psychiatric disorders, only local metacognitive abilities are impaired.

    “при других -только локальные”

    From Когнитивные механизмы дисфункционального принятия решений при психических расстройствах (2025) · cites this paper as Seow et al., 2021

    The ‘Transdiagnostic studies of local metacognition’ section reports altered local confidence associated with anxious-depression and compulsivity. But the paper says that local confidence is what experimental studies routinely measure and describes the interplay with global self-beliefs as largely unexplored. It does not establish that global metacognition is unimpaired in those conditions, so ‘only local’ overstates the evidence. The supplied passages give no page numbers. (LLM, conf=0.83)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Part of this paper’s reference list could not be split into single entries.

Flagged first, then by citations

6 of the 156 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Guggenmos M. Validity and reliability of metacognitive performance measures. PsyArXiv March. 2021;23.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Seow, T. X. F., Rouault, M., Gillan, C. M., & Fleming, S. M.
Affiliations
  • Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging (GB)
  • Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (FR)
  • Trinity College Dublin (IE)
Corresponding author
  • Seow, Tricia X.F.
  • Rouault, Marion
ORCID
Venue
Biological Psychiatry
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2021-10
Volume
90
Issue
7
Pages
436-446
ISSN
0006-3223 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.biopsych.2021.05.013
OpenAlex
W3164959546
Cited by
159
References
156
Citations by year
2026: 37 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 27 · 2023: 48 · 2022: 21 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 1
FWCI
3.66
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Biological Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • HAL (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-10-IDEX-0001-02 PSL, MQ16IP13)
  • Wellcome Trust (203147/Z/16/Z, 206648/Z/17/Z)
  • AXA Research Fund
  • MQ Transforming Mental Health
  • Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
  • Royal Society
  • Science Foundation Ireland (19/FFP/6418)
  • University College London
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
Keywords
metacognition, mental health, metacognitive confidence, self-belief, transdiagnostic approach, mental illness, neurocognitive mechanisms
MeSH terms
Metacognition, Mental Disorders, Cognition, Humans, Mental Health

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review