The neural basis of metacognitive ability

Fleming, Stephen M.; Dolan, Raymond J.

doi:10.1098/rstb.2011.0417

Cited by 747Neural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesMemory Processes and InfluencesCognitive Functions and Memory

The neural basis of metacognitive ability

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Fleming, Stephen M., Dolan, Raymond J.·2012·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

DOI 10.1098/rstb.2011.0417PMC PMC3318765

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Abstract

Ability in various cognitive domains is often assessed by measuring task performance, such as the accuracy of a perceptual categorization. A similar analysis can be applied to metacognitive reports about a task to quantify the degree to which an individual is aware of his or her success or failure. Here, we review the psychological and neural underpinnings of metacognitive accuracy, drawing on research in memory and decision-making. These data show that metacognitive accuracy is dissociable from task performance and varies across individuals. Convergent evidence indicates that the function of the rostral and dorsal aspect of the lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) is important for the accuracy of retrospective judgements of performance. In contrast, prospective judgements of performance may depend upon medial PFC. We close with a discussion of how metacognitive processes relate to concepts of cognitive control, and propose a neural synthesis in which dorsolateral and anterior prefrontal cortical subregions interact with interoceptive cortices (cingulate and insula) to promote accurate judgements of performance.

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Weil et al. (2013) showed that metacognitive efficiency increases during adolescence, consistent with the maturation of prefrontal regions thought to underpin metacognition.
“Weil et al. (2013) showed that metacognitive efficiency increases during adolescence, consistent with the maturation of prefrontal regions thought to underpin metacognition (Fleming and Dolan, 2012).”
From How to measure metacognition (2014) · cites this paper as Fleming and Dolan, 2012

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Effortless control: Executive attention and conscious feeling of mental effort are dissociable
Naccache, L., Dehaene, S., Cohen, L., Habert, M.-O., Guichart-Gomez, E., Galanaud, D., & Willer, J.-C. (2005) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2004.11.024 · Cited by 211 · see citing works
Spatial Organization of Neurons in the Frontal Pole Sets Humans Apart from Great Apes
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Resolution of Uncertainty in Prefrontal Cortex
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Spatial attention increases performance but not subjective confidence in a discrimination task
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Subliminal priming of actions influences sense of control over effects of action
Wenke, D., Fleming, S. M., & Haggard, P. (2009) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2009.10.016 · Cited by 194 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Interestingly, subjective effects of heightened decision conflict may themselves be reportable in the absence of awareness of antecedents of this conflict [129], and thus it is not always simple to decide whether performance monitoring involves meta-representation.”
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Magic at the marketplace: Choice blindness for the taste of jam and the smell of tea
Hall, L., Johansson, P., Tärning, B., Sikström, S., & Deutgen, T. (2010) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2010.06.010 · Cited by 189 · cited 1× · see citing works
“they had in fact just rejected [4, 5].”
Subjective measures of unconscious knowledge
Dienes, Z. P. (2007) · Progress in brain research · doi:10.1016/s0079-6123(07)68005-4 · Cited by 186 · cited 2× · see citing works
“[23, 31]).”
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Two Types of ROC Curves and Definitions of Parameters
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A role for right medial prefrontal cortex in accurate feeling-of-knowing judgments: evidence from patients with lesions to frontal cortex
Schnyer, D. M., Verfaellie, M., Alexander, M. P., LaFleche, G., Nicholls, L., & Kaszniak, A. W. (2004) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2003.11.020 · Cited by 175 · see citing works
Understanding metamemory: neural correlates of the cognitive process and subjective level of confidence in recognition memory
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Discrimination of item strength at time of presentation.
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Trusting our memories: dissociating the neural correlates of confidence in veridical versus illusory memories
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“Complementary functional brain imaging studies have shown that regions in the medial and lateral prefrontal cortex are active during metamemorial judgements, with activity in PFC modulated by both prospective and retrospective confidence judgements [90–94].”
Background
Neural Correlates for Feeling-of-Knowing
Kikyo, H., Ohki, K., & Miyashita, Y. (2002) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/s0896-6273(02)00939-x · Cited by 161 · see citing works
Relating inter-individual differences in metacognitive performance on different perceptual tasks
Song, C., Kanai, R., Fleming, S. M., Weil, R. S., Schwarzkopf, D. S., & Rees, G. (2011) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2010.12.011 · Cited by 158 · see citing works
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The amnesic syndrome: Descriptions and explanations.
Hirst, W. C. (1982) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.91.3.435 · Cited by 157 · see citing works
Cognitive Illusions of Authorship Reveal Hierarchical Error Detection in Skilled Typists
Logan, G. D., & Crump, M. J. C. (2010) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1190483 · Cited by 150 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Such reports can be empirically dissociated from monitoring and control, for example, skilled typists show subtle post-error adjustments in the absence of awareness, and yet accept blame for errors that are surreptitiously inserted by the experimenters on the screen [128].”
Background
Choice, difficulty, and confidence in the brain
Rolls, E. T., Grabenhorst, F., & Deco, G. (2010) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.06.073 · Cited by 148 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Confidence, therefore, is directly equated with the difficulty of the decision in these approaches [63, 64].”
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A proposed common neural mechanism for categorization and perceptual decisions
Freedman, D. J., & Assad, J. A. (2011) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn.2740 · Cited by 146 · see citing works
Probing the locus of confidence judgments: Experiments on the time to determine confidence.
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“for retrospective confidence judgements, the speed of a previous decision [16, 61].”
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Metacognition and metarepresentation: is a self-directed theory of mind a precondition for metacognition?
Proust, J. (2007) · Synthese · doi:10.1007/s11229-007-9208-3 · Cited by 138 · see citing works
Neural correlates of self-evaluative accuracy after traumatic brain injury
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Neural correlates of actual and predicted memory formation
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Separable Forms of Reality Monitoring Supported by Anterior Prefrontal Cortex
Simons, J. S., Henson, R. N., Gilbert, S. J., & Fletcher, P. C. (2007) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/jocn.2008.20036 · Cited by 126 · see citing works
Localizing the rostrolateral prefrontal cortex at the individual level
Smith, R. M., Keramatian, K., & Kalina Christoff, A. (2007) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2007.04.032 · Cited by 124 · see citing works
The Role of VMPC in Metamemorial Judgments of Content Retrievability
Schnyer, D. M., Nicholls, L., & Verfaellie, M. H. (2005) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/0898929053747694 · Cited by 123 · cited 1× · see citing works
“ments, and increased connectivity with medial temporal lobe memory structures in the FOK condition compared to a low-level control task [95].”
Implicit knowledge of visual uncertainty guides decisions with asymmetric outcomes
Whiteley, L., & Sahani, M. (2008) · Journal of Vision · doi:10.1167/8.3.2 · Cited by 114 · see citing works
Differential Functions of Lateral and Medial Rostral Prefrontal Cortex (Area 10) Revealed by Brain-Behavior Associations
Gilbert, S. J., Spengler, S., Simons, J. S., Frith, C., & Burgess, P. W. (2005) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bhj113 · Cited by 111 · see citing works
Probing the locus of confidence judgments: Experiments on the time to determine confidence.
Baranski, J. V., & Petrusic, W. M. (1998) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance · doi:10.1037/0096-1523.24.3.929 · Cited by 111 · see citing works
A Specific Brain Structural Basis for Individual Differences in Reality Monitoring
Buda, M., Fornito, A., Bergström, Z. M., & Simons, J. S. (2011) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.3595-11.2011 · Cited by 109 · see citing works
Right frontopolar cortex activity correlates with reliability of retrospective rating of confidence in short-term recognition memory performance
Yokoyama, O., Miura, N., Watanabe, J., Takemoto, A., Uchida, S., Sugiura, M., Horie, K., Sato, S., Kawashima, R., & Nakamura, K. (2010) · Neuroscience Research · doi:10.1016/j.neures.2010.07.2041 · Cited by 105 · cited 4× · see citing works
“Metacognitive accuracy correlated with the level of activity in right posteriorlateral BA10 [98] (peak: 16, 56, 28), despite being uncorrelated with task performance (Fig.”
BackgroundInfluential
Neural correlates of memory confidence
Moritz, S., Gläscher, J. P., Sommer, T., Büchel, C., & Braus, D. F. (2006) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2006.08.003 · Cited by 103 · see citing works
Anterior Cingulate Synapses in Prefrontal Areas 10 and 46 Suggest Differential Influence in Cognitive Control
Medalla, M., & Barbas, H. (2010) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.1773-10.2010 · Cited by 102 · see citing works
Bistability for audiovisual stimuli: Perceptual decision is modality specific.
Hupé, J., Joffo, L., & Pressnitzer, D. (2008) · Journal of Vision · doi:10.1167/8.7.1 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Confidence-Related Decision Making
Insabato, A., Pannunzi, M., Rolls, E. T., & Deco, G. (2010) · Journal of Neurophysiology · doi:10.1152/jn.01068.2009 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Methodological Problems and Pitfalls in the Study of Human Metacognition
Schwartz, B. L., & Metcalfe, J. (1994) · The MIT Press eBooks · doi:10.7551/mitpress/4561.003.0007 · Cited by 94 · cited 1× · see citing works
“In healthy individuals, metacognitive judgements are usually predictive of subsequent or past task performance [55].”
Background
Subjective aspects of cognitive control at different stages of processing
Morsella, E., Wilson, L. E., Berger, C. C., Honhongva, M., Gazzaley, A. H., & Bargh, J. A. (2009) · Attention Perception & Psychophysics · doi:10.3758/app.71.8.1807 · Cited by 93 · cited 1× · see citing works
“This two-level framework has also been extended to study monitoring of perception [18, 19], decision-making [20, 21], sense of agency [22] and learning [23].”
Background
Evaluation of Objective Uncertainty in the Visual System
Barthelmé, S., & Mamassian, P. (2009) · PLoS Computational Biology · doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000504 · Cited by 90 · cited 1× · see citing works
“To highlight one example, Barthelme and Mamassian [47] showed that when human observers are allowed to choose between pairs of visual stimuli upon which to carry out a task, they systematically chose the less uncertain, thus improving their performance.”
Background
Mapping introspection’s blind spot: Reconstruction of dual-task phenomenology using quantified introspection
Marti, S., Sackur, J., Sigman, M., & Dehaene, S. (2010) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2010.01.003 · Cited by 86 · cited 1× · see citing works
“This two-level framework has also been extended to study monitoring of perception [18, 19], decision-making [20, 21], sense of agency [22] and learning [23].”
Background
The highs and lows of theoretical interpretation in animal-metacognition research
Smith, J. D., Couchman, J. J., & Beran, M. J. (2012) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2011.0366 · Cited by 85 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Related work has demonstrated that subjects use knowledge of uncertainty to optimally bias decisionmaking in perceptual [48, 49] and motor [50] tasks, and that species as diverse as dolphins, pigeons and monkeys can use an ‘opt-out’ response to improve their reward rate when decisions are uncertain [51].”
Background
Medial prefrontal cortex plays a critical and selective role in ‘feeling of knowing’ meta-memory judgments
Modirrousta, M., & Fellows, L. K. (2008) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2008.06.011 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
Blindsight in normal subjects?
Morgan, M. J., Mason, A. J. S., & Solomon, J. A. (1997) · Nature · doi:10.1038/385401b0 · Cited by 82 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Despite being dissociable, it turns out that metacognitive accuracy generally scales with task performance [33, 77–80].”
Background
Effects of loss aversion on post-decision wagering: Implications for measures of awareness
Fleming, S. M., & Dolan, R. J. (2009) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2009.11.002 · Cited by 77 · cited 2× · see citing works
“2b; although see [42, 43]).”
Self-citation
A Neurocognitive Approach to Metacognitive Monitoring and Control
Shimamura, A. P. (2015) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9780203805503.ch19 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
Two Levels of Metacognition
Arango‐Muñoz, S. (2010) · Philosophia · doi:10.1007/s11406-010-9279-0 · Cited by 73 · cited 1× · see citing works
“nition [123]: one involving declarative (conscious) meta-representation [124]; the”
Background
Investigating strength and frequency effects in recognition memory using type-2 signal detection theory
Higham, P. A., Perfect, T. J., & Bruno, D. (2009) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition · doi:10.1037/a0013865 · Cited by 70 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Two corollaries arise from this ‘direct translation hypothesis’ [65].”
Background
Flow visualization of coaxial jet excited with varying phase differences
Kiwata, T., & Okajimai, A. (2004) · Journal of Visualization · doi:10.1007/bf03181475 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
Evaluation of a 'bias-free' measure of awareness
Azzopardi, P., & Evans, S. (2007) · Spatial Vision · doi:10.1163/156856807779369742 · Cited by 68 · cited 1× · see citing works
“2b; although see [42, 43]).”
Getting technical about awareness.
Clifford, C., Arabzadeh, E., & Harris, J. A. (2008) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2007.11.009 · Cited by 66 · cited 1× · see citing works
“[43, 62]).”
Judgements of agency in schizophrenia: an impairment in autonoetic metacognition
Metcalfe, J., Snellenberg, J. X. V., DeRosse, P., Balsam, P. D., & Malhotra, A. K. (2012) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2012.0006 · Cited by 64 · see citing works
Neural correlates of metamemory
Chua, E. F., Schacter, D., & Sperling, R. (2009) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/jocn.2009.21123 · Cited by 53 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Complementary functional brain imaging studies have shown that regions in the medial and lateral prefrontal cortex are active during metamemorial judgements, with activity in PFC modulated by both prospective and retrospective confidence judgements [90–94].”
Background
Metamemory for faces following frontal lobe damage
Pannu, J. K., Kaszniak, A. W., & Rapcsak, S. Z. (2005) · Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society · doi:10.1017/s1355617705050873 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Metacognition in monkeys during an oculomotor task
Middlebrooks, P. G., & Sommer, M. A. (2011) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition · doi:10.1037/a0021611 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Audiovisual short-term influences and aftereffects in motion: Examination across three sets of directional pairings
Jain, A., Sally, S. L., & Papathomas, T. V. (2008) · Journal of Vision · doi:10.1167/8.15.7 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Visual estimation under risk
Landy, M. S., Goutcher, R., Trommershäuser, J., & Mamassian, P. (2007) · Journal of Vision · doi:10.1167/7.6.4 · Cited by 38 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Related work has demonstrated that subjects use knowledge of uncertainty to optimally bias decisionmaking in perceptual [48, 49] and motor [50] tasks, and that species as diverse as dolphins, pigeons and monkeys can use an ‘opt-out’ response to improve their reward rate when decisions are uncertain [51].”
Background
Instability of individual differences in the association between confidence judgments and memory performance
Thompson, W. B., & Mason, S. E. (1996) · Memory & Cognition · doi:10.3758/bf03200883 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Metamemory as evidence of animal consciousness: the type that does the trick
Shea, N. J., & Heyes, C. M. (2009) · Biology & Philosophy · doi:10.1007/s10539-009-9171-0 · Cited by 30 · cited 1× · see citing works
“For present purposes, we focus on monitoring processes that are consciously reportable, and thus available for deployment outside of a ‘closed-loop’ optimisation of the task at hand (see also [127]).”
Background
Specific Effects of an Amnesic Drug: Effect of Lorazepam on Study Time Allocation and on Judgment of Learning
Izaute, M., & Bacon, É. (2004) · Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1038/sj.npp.1300564 · Cited by 29 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Importantly, both these hypotheses have been empirically falsified: for the same level of task performance, judgement confidence may differ considerably between conditions [66–68], and, when performance is held constant using a staircase procedure, metacognitive accuracy varies across individuals [20], and can be diss…”
Background
Frontiers of ConsciousnessChichele Lectures
Weiskrantz, L., & Davies, M. (2008) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199233151.001.0001 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
A proposal for MRI-based parcellation of the frontal pole
John, J. P., Yashavantha, B. S., Gado, M., Veena, R., Jain, S., Ravishankar, S., & Csernansky, J. G. (2007) · Brain Structure and Function · doi:10.1007/s00429-007-0157-x · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Comparing signal detection models of perceptual decision confidence
Maniscalco, B., & Lau, H. (2010) · Journal of Vision · doi:10.1167/10.7.213 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
On the role of individual items in recognition memory and metacognition: Challenges for signal detection theory.
Busey, T. A., & Arici, A. (2009) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition · doi:10.1037/a0016646 · Cited by 11 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Importantly, both these hypotheses have been empirically falsified: for the same level of task performance, judgement confidence may differ considerably between conditions [66–68], and, when performance is held constant using a staircase procedure, metacognitive accuracy varies across individuals [20], and can be diss…”
Background
Subjective beliefs formation and elicitation rules : experimental evidencePreprint
Hollard, G., Massoni, S., & Vergnaud, J. (2010) · RePEc: Research Papers in Economics · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Studying Metacognitive Processes at the Single Neuron Level
Middlebrooks, P. G., Abzug, Z. M., & Sommer, M. A. (2014) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-642-45190-4_10 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Evaluating signal detection models of perceptual decision confidence
Lau, H. C. (2009) · Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/conf.neuro.06.2009.03.335 · Cited by 1 · see citing works

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Research works printed but not linked: 3

Shimamura A. P., 2008, Handbook of memory and metamemory: essays in honor of Thomas O. Nelson, 373
Schwartz B., 2008, Handbook of memory and metamemory: essays in honor of Thomas O. Nelson, 355
Lau H., 2010, Frontiers of consciousness: Chichele lectures

Sorted by citations

Neural correlates of consciousness: progress and problems
Koch, C., Massimini, M., Boly, M., & Tononi, G. (2016) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn.2016.22 · Cited by 1,600 · see citing works
How to measure metacognition
Fleming, S. M., & Lau, H. C. (2014) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2014.00443 · Cited by 1,386 · see citing works
Self-citation
Is meditation associated with altered brain structure? A systematic review and meta-analysis of morphometric neuroimaging in meditation practitioners
Fox, K. C. R., Nijeboer, S., Dixon, M. L., Floman, J. L., Ellamil, M., Rumak, S. P., Sedlmeier, P., & Christoff, K. (2014) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.03.016 · Cited by 804 · see citing works
The neural correlates of dreaming
Siclari, F., Baird, B., Perogamvros, L., Bernardi, G., LaRocque, J. J., Riedner, B., Boly, M., Postle, B. R., & Tononi, G. (2017) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn.4545 · Cited by 712 · see citing works
Investigating the phenomenological matrix of mindfulness-related practices from a neurocognitive perspective.
Lutz, A., Jha, A. P., Dunne, J. D., & Saron, C. D. (2015) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/a0039585 · Cited by 697 · see citing works
“As noted above, this capacity to detect the “background” or lived subjective context of one’s object-focused experience contrasts with an “inward turn” of attention, often characterized as “introspection,” or retrospective second-order judgment (Fleming & Dolan, 2012; Overgaard & Sandberg, 2012).”
Background
Functional neuroanatomy of meditation: a review and meta-analysis of 78 functional neuroimaging investigations.
Fox, K. C. R., Dixon, M. L., Nijeboer, S., Girn, M., Floman, J. L., Lifshitz, M., Ellamil, M., Sedlmeier, P., & Christoff, K. (2016) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.03.021 · Cited by 656 · see citing works
Confidence and certainty: Distinct probabilistic quantities for different goals
Pouget, A., Drugowitsch, J., & Kepecs, A. (2016) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn.4240 · Cited by 528 · see citing works
Self-Evaluation of Decision-Making: A General Bayesian Framework for Metacognitive Computation
Fleming, S. M., & Daw, N. D. (2017) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/rev0000045 · Cited by 489 · see citing works
“…framework, these findings may be consistent with prefrontal involvement in representing a confidence variable and/or hyperparameters about sources of decision uncertainty (Lau, 2008), and/or in representing the output of a confidence computation for subsequent report (Fleming & Dolan, 2012).”
BackgroundResultInfluentialSelf-citation
Executive function and metacognition: Towards a unifying framework of cognitive self-regulation
Roebers, C. M. (2017) · Developmental Review · doi:10.1016/j.dr.2017.04.001 · Cited by 447 · see citing works
“The anterior and dorsolateral PFC, by contrast, seem aligned to retrospective monitoring judgments, that is, to confidence judgments (Fleming & Dolan, 2012).”
Background
Allostatic Self-efficacy: A Metacognitive Theory of Dyshomeostasis-Induced Fatigue and Depression
Stephan, K. E., Manjaly, Z. M., Mathys, C. D., Weber, L. A. E., Paliwal, S., Gard, T., Tittgemeyer, M., Fleming, S. M., Haker, H., Seth, A. K., et al. (2016) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2016.00550 · Cited by 437 · see citing works
“For other domains of cognition, such as exteroception or memory, the anterior prefrontal cortex (roughly corresponding to Brodmann’s area 10) has been identified as a key area for metacognition by several neuroimaging and lesion studies (for review, see Fleming and Dolan, 2012).”
BackgroundSelf-citation
Development of the social brain in adolescence
Blakemore, S. (2012) · Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine · doi:10.1258/jrsm.2011.110221 · Cited by 468 · see citing works
The development of metacognitive ability in adolescence
Weil, L. G., Fleming, S. M., Dumontheil, I., Kilford, E. J., Weil, R. S., Rees, G., Dolan, R. J., & Blakemore, S.-J. (2013) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2013.01.004 · Cited by 429 · see citing works
“…implicit system of conflict and error monitoring supported by the posterior medial prefrontal cortex (PFC) (e.g. Ridderinkhof, van den Wildenberg, Segalowitz, & Carter, 2004), rather than the explicit monitoring and control associated with metacognition (see Fleming and Dolan (2012) for a review).”
BackgroundSelf-citation
A neurocognitive approach to understanding the neurobiology of addiction
Noël, X., Brevers, D., & Bechara, A. (2013) · Current Opinion in Neurobiology · doi:10.1016/j.conb.2013.01.018 · Cited by 436 · see citing works
“agency in healthy participants [66] and in addicts [26 ].”
Background
Prefrontal Contributions to Metacognition in Perceptual Decision Making
Fleming, S. M., Huijgen, J., & Dolan, R. J. (2012) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.6489-11.2012 · Cited by 391 · see citing works
“Neuropsychological cases reveal dissociations between these levels (for review, see Fleming and Dolan, 2012), raising the question as to the neural mechanisms underlying metacognition in healthy individuals.”
BackgroundSelf-citation
The role of metacognition in human social interactions
Frith, C. D. (2012) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2012.0123 · Cited by 407 · see citing works
Confidence as Bayesian probability: From neural origins to behavior
Meyniel, F., Sigman, M., & Mainen, Z. F. (2015) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2015.09.039 · Cited by 349 · see citing works
“Our view could therefore seem closer to ''hierarchical models'' (Fleming and Dolan, 2012; Fleming et al., 2012; Timmermans et al., 2012).”
Metacognition: computation, biology and function
Fleming, S. M., Dolan, R. J., & Frith, C. D. (2012) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2012.0021 · Cited by 344 · see citing works
“Often, researchers restrict the deﬁnition of metacognition to the kind of second-order behaviour available for subjective report [6].”
BackgroundResultInfluentialSelf-citation
Medial and lateral networks in anterior prefrontal cortex support metacognitive ability for memory and perception
Baird, B., Smallwood, J., Gorgolewski, K. J., & Margulies, D. S. (2013) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.0786-13.2013 · Cited by 315 · see citing works
“Metacog- nitive evaluations of perceptual discriminations may be best conceived of as an online monitor that integrates information over short time scales (Fleming and Dolan, 2012).”
BackgroundResultInfluential
Domain-specific impairment in metacognitive accuracy following anterior prefrontal lesions
Fleming, S., Ryu, J., Golfinos, J., & Blackmon, K. E. (2014) · Brain : a journal of neurology · doi:10.1093/brain/awu221 · Cited by 318 · see citing works
“In addition, most studies of meta-memory have focused on prospective judgements of suc- cess which may draw on neural substrates distinct to those sup- porting retrospective confidence judgements (Fleming and Dolan, 2012).”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citation
Development of abstract thinking during childhood and adolescence: the role of rostrolateral prefrontal cortex
Dumontheil, I. (2014) · Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2014.07.009 · Cited by 293 · see citing works
Anatomical coupling between distinct metacognitive systems for memory and visual perception
McCurdy, L. Y., Maniscalco, B., Metcalfe, J., Liu, K. Y., de Lange, F. P., & Lau, H. (2013) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.1890-12.2013 · Cited by 299 · see citing works
“The aPFC is often associated with metacognition (Christoff et al., 2003; Ramnani and Owen, 2004; Fleming and Dolan, 2012; Fleming et al., 2012), and there is indirect evidence that the metacognitive mechanisms in the aPFC may be general for different visual tasks (Song et al., 2011).”
Background
Brain correlates of hypnosis: A systematic review and meta-analytic exploration
Landry, M., Lifshitz, M., & Raz, A. (2017) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.02.020 · Cited by 295 · see citing works
Neural Coding of Uncertainty and Probability
Ma, W. J., & Jazayeri, M. (2014) · Annual Review of Neuroscience · doi:10.1146/annurev-neuro-071013-014017 · Cited by 290 · see citing works
“Confidence generally correlates with task performance, and the strength of this correlation—measuring the accuracy of one's knowledge of the quality of one's decisions—is itself typically correlated with, although sometimes dissociable from, performance (Fleming & Dolan 2012).”
Result
Automatic integration of confidence in the brain valuation signal
Lebreton, M., Abitbol, R., Daunizeau, J., & Pessiglione, M. (2015) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn.4064 · Cited by 265 · see citing works
Structural plasticity of the social brain: Differential change after socio-affective and cognitive mental training
Valk, S. L., Bernhardt, B. C., Trautwein, F.-M., Böckler, A., Kanske, P., Guizard, N., Collins, D. L., & Singer, T. (2017) · Science Advances · doi:10.1126/sciadv.1700489 · Cited by 264 · see citing works
A common mechanism underlies changes of mind about decisions and confidence
van den Berg, R., Anandalingam, K., Zylberberg, A., Kiani, R., Shadlen, M. N., & Wolpert, D. M. (2016) · eLife · doi:10.7554/elife.12192 · Cited by 270 · see citing works
“DOI: 10.7554/eLife.12192.001”
Influential
Metacognition and Confidence: A Review and Synthesis
Fleming, S. M. (2024) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-022423-032425 · Cited by 256 · see citing works
“…tasks (Baird et al., 2013, McCurdy et al., 2013, Fleming et al., 2014, Ye et al., 2018), and that connectivity between prefrontal cortex and other brain areas is important for metacognitive capacity (Baird et al., 2013, 2015, De Martino et al., 2013, Fleming et al., 2012, Zheng et al., 2021).”
Self-citation
Perceptual confidence neglects decision-incongruent evidence in the brain
Peters, M. A. K., Thesen, T., Ko, Y., Maniscalco, B., Carlson, C., Davidson, M., Doyle, W., Kuzniecky, R., Devinsky, O., Halgren, E., et al. (2017) · Nature Human Behaviour · doi:10.1038/s41562-017-0139 · Cited by 250 · see citing works
Classifying individual differences in interoception: Implications for the measurement of interoceptive awareness
Murphy, J., Catmur, C., & Bird, G. (2019) · Psychonomic Bulletin & Review · doi:10.3758/s13423-019-01632-7 · Cited by 250 · see citing works
Learning to modulate one’s own brain activity: The effect of spontaneous mental strategies
Kober, S. E., Witte, M., Ninaus, M., Neuper, C., & Wood, G. (2013) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2013.00695 · Cited by 225 · see citing works
Motivational fatigue: A neurocognitive framework for the impact of effortful exertion on subsequent motivation
Müller, T., & Apps, M. A. J. (2018) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.04.030 · Cited by 231 · see citing works
“in the DLPFC during the performance of perceptual decision-making tasks requiring cognitive control (Fleming et al., 2010; Fleming and Dolan, 2012).”
Background
Feeling, learning from and being aware of inner states: interoceptive dimensions in neurodegeneration and stroke
García-Cordero, I., Sedeño, L., de la Fuente, L., Slachevsky, A., Forno, G., Klein, F., Lillo, P., Ferrari, J., Rodriguez, C., Bustin, J., et al. (2016) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2016.0006 · Cited by 199 · see citing works
A Triadic Neurocognitive Approach to Addiction for Clinical Interventions
Noël, X., Brevers, D., & Bechara, A. (2013) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2013.00179 · Cited by 193 · see citing works
“control on decision-making, memory as well as on the sense of agency in healthy participants (115) and in addicts (17).”
Background
The Sense of Confidence during Probabilistic Learning: A Normative Account
Meyniel, F., Schlunegger, D., & Dehaene, S. (2015) · PLOS Computational Biology · doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004305 · Cited by 163 · see citing works
“It is in fact an open issue whether the primary response and the confidence in this response arise in parallel or serially, and from a single brain circuit or not [11,40].”
Background
Meditation experience predicts introspective accuracy.
Fox, K. C. R., Zakarauskas, P., Dixon, M., Ellamil, M., Thompson, E., & Christoff, K. (2012) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0045370 · Cited by 190 · see citing works
“Finally, VM meditators show significantly thicker cortex [18] (and in Tibetan Buddhist practitioners, increased grey matter density [22]) in RLPFC/BA10, suggesting enhancement of a region strongly implicated in introspection [5,7,8,45].”
Background
Metacognition: ideas and insights from neuro- and educational sciences
Fleur, D. S., Bert Bredeweg, A., & van den Bos, W. (2021) · npj Science of Learning · doi:10.1038/s41539-021-00089-5 · Cited by 221 · see citing works
Human Metacognition Across Domains: Insights from Individual Differences and Neuroimaging
Rouault, M., McWilliams, A., Allen, M. G., & Fleming, S. M. (2018) · Personality Neuroscience · doi:10.1017/pen.2018.16 · Cited by 176 · see citing works
“…et al., 2013; Cortese, Amano, Koizumi, Kawato, & Lau, 2016; De Martino, Fleming, Garrett, & Dolan, 2013; Fleck, Daselaar, Dobbins, & Cabeza, 2006; Fleming et al., 2012; Hil-genstock, Weiss, & Witte, 2014; Yokoyama et al., 2010) neuroimaging data indicate that a frontoparietal network contributes…”
BackgroundSelf-citation
Domain-general enhancements of metacognitive ability through adaptive training.
Carpenter, J., Sherman, M. T., Kievit, R. A., Seth, A. K., Lau, H., & Fleming, S. M. (2019) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: General · doi:10.1037/xge0000505 · Cited by 174 · see citing works
“…monitoring across a range of tasks (Fleming et al., 2010; McCurdy et al., 2013; Baird et al., 2013; Allen et al., 2016; Cortese et al., 2017; see Fleming & Dolan, 2012, for a review), suggesting the potential for targeted modulation of metacognition independently of changes in first-order…”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citation
Strategic offloading of delayed intentions into the external environment
Gilbert, S. J. (2015) · Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1080/17470218.2014.972963 · Cited by 164 · see citing works
“However, this region has also been implicated in generating metacognitive awareness of our own mental states (Baird, Smallwood, Gorgolewski, & Margulies, 2013; Fleming & Dolan, 2012; Fleming, Huijgen, & Dolan, 2012; Fleming, Weil, Nagy, Dolan, & Rees, 2010; McCurdy et al., 2013).”
Background
Neurophysiological and neurocognitive mechanisms underlying the effects of yoga-based practices: towards a comprehensive theoretical framework
Schmalzl, L., Powers, C., & Henje Blom, E. (2015) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2015.00235 · Cited by 170 · see citing works
Action-Specific Disruption of Perceptual Confidence
Fleming, S. M., Maniscalco, B., Ko, Y., Amendi, N., Ro, T., & Lau, H. C. (2014) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797614557697 · Cited by 169 · see citing works
Self-citation
The Role of Eye Gaze During Natural Social Interactions in Typical and Autistic People
Cañigueral, R., & Hamilton, A. F. D. C. (2019) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00560 · Cited by 170 · see citing works
Knowing Ourselves Together: The Cultural Origins of Metacognition
Heyes, C., Bang, D., Shea, N., Frith, C. D., & Fleming, S. M. (2020) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2020.02.007 · Cited by 232 · see citing works
“The medial prefrontal cortex, a focal area for metacognition [100], is more strongly activated during self-assessment tasks in westerners than in people from less-individualistic cultures [101,102], and self-referential thoughts differentially activate hubs of the resting-state network in relation to individualistic v…”
BackgroundSelf-citation
Effects of age on metacognitive efficiency
Palmer-Cooper, E. C., David, A. S., & Fleming, S. M. (2014) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2014.06.007 · Cited by 163 · see citing works
“Previous research has established that metacognitive efficiency in different domains can be isolated and studied independently of primary cognitive capacity (see Fleming & Dolan, 2012, for a review).”
BackgroundSelf-citation
The Role of Metacognitive Components in Creative Thinking
Jia, X., Li, W., & Cao, L. (2019) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02404 · Cited by 180 · see citing works
Auditory feedback differentially modulates behavioral and neural markers of objective and subjective performance when tapping to your heartbeat
Canales-Johnson, A., Silva, C., Huepe, D., Rivera-Rei, Á., Noreika, V., Garcia, M. D. C., Silva, W., Ciraolo, C., Vaucheret, E., Sedeño, L., et al. (2015) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bhv076 · Cited by 146 · see citing works
“For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com Key words: heartbeat-evoked potential, interoception, learning, metacognitive awareness, phase synchrony”
The Relationship between Perceptual Decision Variables and Confidence in the Human Brain
Hebart, M. N., Schriever, Y., Donner, T. H., & Haynes, J. (2014) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bhu181 · Cited by 145 · see citing works
Measures of metacognition on signal-detection theoretic models
Barrett, A. B., Dienes, Z., & Seth, A. K. (2013) · Psychological Methods · doi:10.1037/a0033268 · Cited by 155 · see citing works
“One useful avenue to integrating consciousness theories with SDT will be to identify the extent to which separable brain networks subserve type I and type II discriminations (Fleming, Weil, Nagy, Dolan, & Rees, 2010; Fleming & Dolan, 2012).”
Background
Metacognitive Failure as a Feature of Those Holding Radical Beliefs
Rollwage, M., Dolan, R. J., & Fleming, S. M. (2018) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2018.10.053 · Cited by 193 · see citing works
“This ability relies on specific neural circuitry in the prefrontal cortex [12] that promotes reflection on one’s performance and, even in the absence of explicit feedback, a realization that mistakes have been made [13, 14].”
BackgroundSelf-citation
Comparing Bayesian and non-Bayesian accounts of human confidence reports
Adler, W. T., & Ma, W. J. (2018) · PLoS Computational Biology · doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006572 · Cited by 118 · see citing works
The neuroscience of meditation: classification, phenomenology, correlates, and mechanisms
Brandmeyer, T., Arnaud Delorme, A., & Wahbeh, H. (2019) · Progress in brain research · doi:10.1016/bs.pbr.2018.10.020 · Cited by 149 · see citing works
Inferring affect from fMRI data
Knutson, B. D., Katovich, K., & Suri, G. (2014) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2014.04.006 · Cited by 135 · see citing works
How to Interpret Resting-State fMRI: Ask Your Participants
González-Castillo, J., Kam, J. W. Y., Hoy, C. W., & Bandettini, P. A. (2021) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.1786-20.2020 · Cited by 143 · see citing works
“Combining measurements of subjective experience and neural activity has also driven advances in research on meta-cognition (Fleming and Dolan, 2012), placebo effects (Vase et al.”
Background
Distinguishing the Roles of Dorsolateral and Anterior PFC in Visual Metacognition
Shekhar, M., & Rahnev, D. (2018) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.3484-17.2018 · Cited by 154 · see citing works
“Indeed, assessing the confidence in one′s own perceptual decisions requires the integration of both perceptual and non-perceptual factors (Fleming & Dolan, 2012).”
BackgroundResultInfluential
Confidence controls perceptual evidence accumulation
Balsdon, T., Wyart, V., & Mamassian, P. (2020) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-020-15561-w · Cited by 137 · see citing works
Domain-specific enhancement of metacognitive ability following meditation training.
Baird, B., Mrazek, M. D., Phillips, D. T., & Schooler, J. W. (2014) · Journal of Experimental Psychology General · doi:10.1037/a0036882 · Cited by 132 · see citing works
“Metacognitive ability in the perceptual domain is linked to activation and connectivity of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC; Baird et al., 2013; Fleming & Dolan, 2012; Fleming et al., 2012), and the ACC is active during meditation practice (Hölzel et al., 2007); in addition, meditation experience…”
Background
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
Grimaldi, P., Lau, H. C., & Basso, M. A. (2015) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2015.04.006 · Cited by 122 · see citing works
“In this context, metacognition is often described as either prospective or retrospective (Fleming and Dolan, 2012).”
Background
Consciousness: The last 50 years (and the next)
Seth, A. K. (2018) · Brain and Neuroscience Advances · doi:10.1177/2398212818816019 · Cited by 125 · see citing works
“At the same time, advances in analysis methods like signal detection theory (Green and Swets, 1966) are enabling researchers to draw more rigorous distinctions between objective and subjective aspects of perception, as well as to quantify individual differences in metacognition (cognition about cognition) that may be…”
Background
The neural system of metacognition accompanying decision-making in the prefrontal cortex
Qiu, L., Su, J., Ni, Y., Bai, Y., Zhang, X., Li, X., & Wan, X. (2018) · PLOS Biology · doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.2004037 · Cited by 125 · see citing works
“These observations indicate that there should exist a 55 separate neural system (meta-level) to monitor the decision process (object-level) (Flavell, 1979; 56 Nelson and Narens, 1990; Dunlosky and Metcalfe, 2009; Fleming and Dolan, 2012).”
BackgroundInfluential
A boost of confidence: The role of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex in memory, decision-making, and schemas
Hebscher, M., & Gilboa, A. (2016) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.05.003 · Cited by 123 · see citing works
Interventions for subjective cognitive decline: systematic review and meta-analysis
Bhome, R., Berry, A. J., Huntley, J. D., & Howard, R. J. (2018) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2018-021610 · Cited by 123 · see citing works
“Metacognition, an individual’s insight into their own cognitive functioning, 20 may be of relevance as a therapeutic target because, by definition, SCD involves an individual’s underestimation of their cognitive ability relative to objective testing.”
Background
Confidence modulates exploration and exploitation in value-based learning
Boldt, A., Blundell, C., & Martino, B. D. (2019) · Neuroscience of Consciousness · doi:10.1093/nc/niz004 · Cited by 121 · see citing works
Behavioral and Neural Indices of Metacognitive Sensitivity in Preverbal Infants
Goupil, L., & Kouider, S. (2016) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2016.09.004 · Cited by 116 · see citing works
“Indeed, the neural computations underlying this second metacognitive process are well documented in adults [1, 18].”
Background
Neural correlates of metacognitive ability and of feeling confident: a large-scale fMRI study
Molenberghs, P., Trautwein, F., Böckler, A., Singer, T., & Kanske, P. (2016) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsw093 · Cited by 111 · see citing works
“Previous studies have found that metacognitive accuracy can be distinguished from task performance and varies widely across individuals (for a review see Fleming and Dolan, 2012).”
Background
In the body's eye: the computational anatomy of interoceptive inference
Allen, M., Levy, A., Parr, T., & Friston, K. J. (2022) · PLOS Computational Biology · doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010490 · Cited by 185 · see citing works
“…lower-level visceral-motor brainstem nuclei and higher-order regions implicated in decision-making, metacognition, and self-awareness, such as the ventromedial and dorsomedial prefrontal cortices (Allen et al., 2017, 2016a; Fleming and Dolan, 2012; Menon and Uddin, 2010; Ullsperger et al., 2010).”
Background
The geometry of domain-general performance monitoring in the human medial frontal cortex
Fu, Z., Beam, D. E., Chung, J. M., Reed, C. M., Mamelak, A. N., Adolphs, R., & Rutishauser, U. (2022) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.abm9922 · Cited by 102 · see citing works
“Both conflict signals arise independent of external feedback, thus qualifying as correlates 561 of metacognitive self-monitoring (63, 64).”
Background
Behavior- and Modality-General Representation of Confidence in Orbitofrontal Cortex
Masset, P., Ott, T., Lak, A., Hirokawa, J., & Kepecs, A. (2020) · Cell · doi:10.1016/j.cell.2020.05.022 · Cited by 109 · see citing works
“Previous studies in human and non-human animals have identified representations of confidence that fulfill a subset of these criteria (Fleming and Dolan, 2014; Hanks and Summerfield, 2017; Ott et al., 2019; Shadlen and Kiani, 2013).”
Background
But I Was So Sure! Metacognitive Judgments Are Less Accurate Given Prospectively than Retrospectively
Siedlecka, M., Paulewicz, B., & Wierzchoń, M. (2016) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00218 · Cited by 109 · see citing works
“Metacognitive Judgments Are Less Accurate Given Prospectively than Retrospectively Marta Siedlecka 1, Borysław Paulewicz 2 and Michał Wierzchoń 1* 1Consciousness Lab, Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland, 2University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Katowice, Poland Prospective and retro…”
BackgroundInfluential
Perceptual reality monitoring: Neural mechanisms dissociating imagination from reality
Dijkstra, N., Kok, P., & Fleming, S. M. (2022) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104557 · Cited by 107 · see citing works
Self-citation
Identifying Transdiagnostic Mechanisms in Mental Health Using Computational Factor Modeling
Wise, T., Robinson, O. J., & Gillan, C. M. (2023) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2022.09.034 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
“Metacognition involves the lateral prefrontal cortex and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (141,142), suggesting that these areas may be relevant for anxious-depression and compulsivity (36).”
Human VMPFC encodes early signatures of confidence in perceptual decisions
Gherman, S., & Philiastides, M. G. (2018) · eLife · doi:10.7554/elife.38293 · Cited by 107 · see citing works
“…scale positively with decision accuracy and negatively with response time (Vickers and Packer, 1982; Baranski and Petrusic, 1998) (though this relationship is not perfect, and is subject to individual differences, e.g., (Baranski and Petrusic, 1994; Fleming et al., 2010; Fleming and Dolan, 2012).”
Background
Young Children Bet on Their Numerical Skills
Vo, V. A., Li, R., Kornell, N., Pouget, A., & Cantlon, J. F. (2014) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797614538458 · Cited by 106 · see citing works
Metacognition about the past and future: quantifying common and distinct influences on prospective and retrospective judgments of self-performance
Fleming, S. M., Massoni, S., Gajdos, T., & Vergnaud, J. (2016) · Neuroscience of Consciousness · doi:10.1093/nc/niw018 · Cited by 102 · see citing works
“Metacognitive capacity – the extent to which judgments track performance – is dissociable from first-order task performance and associated with distinct neural substrates (see Fleming and Dolan 2012; Pannu and Kaszniak 2005, for reviews).”
BackgroundSelf-citation
Subjective confidence reflects representation of Bayesian probability in cortex
Geurts, L. S., Cooke, J. R. H., van Bergen, R. S., & Jehee, J. F. M. (2022) · Nature Human Behaviour · doi:10.1038/s41562-021-01247-w · Cited by 104 · see citing works
Integrating the Constructs of Anosognosia and Metacognition: a Review of Recent Findings in Dementia
Sunderaraman, P., & Cosentino, S. (2017) · Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports · doi:10.1007/s11910-017-0734-1 · Cited by 100 · see citing works
Dissociating Perceptual Confidence from Discrimination Accuracy Reveals No Influence of Metacognitive Awareness on Working Memory
Samaha, J., Barrett, J. J., Sheldon, A. D., LaRocque, J. J., & Postle, B. (2016) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00851 · Cited by 88 · see citing works
“This is perhaps surprising given that similar frontal structures are associated with cognitive control, WM, and metacognitive awareness (Naghavi and Nyberg, 2005; Cul et al., 2009; Persaud et al., 2011; Bor and Seth, 2012; Fleming and Dolan, 2012; Miller and Buschman, 2013; Ester et al., 2015).”
Background
Does perceptual confidence facilitate cognitive control?
Koizumi, A., Maniscalco, B., & Lau, H. C. (2015) · Attention Perception & Psychophysics · doi:10.3758/s13414-015-0843-3 · Cited by 97 · see citing works
“Incidentally, when perceptual capacity (d') is controlled for, both subjective confidence and awareness seem to depend on prefrontal activity (Fleming & Dolan, 2012; Lau & Passingham, 2006).”
Background
Relating Pupil Dilation and Metacognitive Confidence during Auditory Decision-Making
Lempert, K. M., Chen, Y. L., & Fleming, S. M. (2015) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0126588 · Cited by 94 · see citing works
“People vary in their ability to construct these metacognitive estimates [4].”
BackgroundSelf-citation
Introduction to Motivational Neuroscience
Kim, S., Reeve, J., & Bong, M. (2016) · Advances in motivation and achievement · doi:10.1108/s0749-742320160000019022 · Cited by 94 · see citing works
Developing a Reflective Mind: From Core Metacognition to Explicit Self-Reflection
Goupil, L., & Kouider, S. (2019) · Current Directions in Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0963721419848672 · Cited by 93 · see citing works
Prefrontal oscillatory stimulation modulates access to cognitive control references in retrospective metacognitive commentary
Meiron, O., & Michal Lavidor, B. (2013) · Clinical Neurophysiology · doi:10.1016/j.clinph.2013.06.013 · Cited by 90 · see citing works
Piercing of Consciousness as a Threshold-Crossing Operation
Kang, Y. H., Petzschner, F. H., Wolpert, D. M., & Shadlen, M. N. (2017) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2017.06.047 · Cited by 87 · see citing works
“, appearance of some pattern in the dots) or working memory of the experience of deliberating [53], what is sometimes referred to as metacognition [54].”
Higher order thoughts in action: consciousness as an unconscious re-description process
Timmermans, B., Schilbach, L., Pasquali, A., & Cleeremans, A. (2012) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2011.0421 · Cited by 87 · see citing works
Confidence in consciousness research
Michel, M. (2022) · Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Cognitive Science · doi:10.1002/wcs.1628 · Cited by 86 · see citing works
Changes in ventromedial prefrontal and insular cortex support the development of metamemory from childhood into adolescence
Fandakova, Y., Selmeczy, D., Leckey, S., Grimm, K. J., Wendelken, C., Bunge, S. A., & Ghetti, S. (2017) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1703079114 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
“The anterior insula and cingulate are engaged in performance and error monitoring processes, and provide inputs for the monitoring and control of cognitive processing by frontal and parietal regions (13, 29).”
Background
The right insula contributes to memory awareness in cognitively diverse older adults
Cosentino, S., Brickman, A., Griffith, E. Y., Habeck, C., Cines, S., Farrell, M. T., Shaked, D., Huey, E., Briner, T. J., & Stern, Y. (2015) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.05.032 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
Meta-analytic evidence that mindfulness training alters resting state default mode network connectivity
Rahrig, H., Vago, D. R., Passarelli, M., Auten, A., Lynn, N. A., & Brown, K. W. (2022) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-022-15195-6 · Cited by 88 · see citing works
Metacognitive ability correlates with hippocampal and prefrontal microstructure
Allen, M., Glen, J. C., Müllensiefen, D., Schwarzkopf, D. S., Fardo, F., Frank, D., Callaghan, M. F., & Rees, G. (2017) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.02.008 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
“Metacognition requires an accurate mapping between the accumulation of evidence determining perceptual accuracy and subjective confidence (Fetsch et al., 2015; Fleming and Dolan, 2012; Kiani and Shadlen, 2009), which is typically reported retrospectively (and thus depends on accurate and efficient memory).”
Background
Fechner’s law in metacognition: A quantitative model of visual working memory confidence.
van den Berg, R., Yoo, A. H., & Ma, W. J. (2017) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/rev0000060 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
“Finally, metacognitive accuracy—defined as the correlation coefficient between the absolute estimation error and confidence rating (Fleming & Dolan, 2012) —produced by the fitted model is 0.453 0.018, which closely matches the empirical value of 0.464 0.020.”
BackgroundInfluential
Disease awareness in myotonic dystrophy type 1: an observational cross-sectional study
Baldanzi, S., Bevilacqua, F., Lorio, R., et al. (2016) · Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases · doi:10.1186/s13023-016-0417-z · Cited by 84 · see citing works
“Based on literature evidences, we can hypothesize that anosognosia in DM1 patients is related to brain dysfunction [42].”
How peer influence shapes value computation in moral decision-making
Yu, H., Siegel, J. Z., Clithero, J. A., & Crockett, M. J. (2021) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104641 · Cited by 91 · see citing works
The Social Context Network Model in Psychiatric and Neurological Diseases
Báez, S., García, A. M., & Ibáñez, A. M. (2016) · Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · doi:10.1007/7854_2016_443 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
Noradrenaline blockade specifically enhances metacognitive performance
Hauser, T. U., Allen, M., Purg, N., Moutoussis, M., Rees, G., & Dolan, R. J. (2017) · eLife · doi:10.7554/elife.24901 · Cited by 87 · see citing works
Self-citation
Two sides of the same coin: Monetary incentives concurrently improve and bias confidence judgments
Lebreton, M. P., Langdon, S., Slieker, M. J., Nooitgedacht, J. S., Goudriaan, A. E., Denys, D. A. J. P., van Holst, R. J., & Luigjes, J. (2018) · Science Advances · doi:10.1126/sciadv.aaq0668 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
“Just like in this example, most decisions in everyday life are accompanied by a subjective feeling of confidence emerging from the constant monitoring of our own thoughts and actions by metacognitive processes (Fleming and Dolan, 2012; Yeung and Summerfield, 2012).”
BackgroundInfluential
Ventromedial prefrontal damage reduces mind-wandering and biases its temporal focus
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“Indeed, anterior and medial regions of prefrontal cortex, damaged in our vmPFC patients, have previously been implicated in meta-awareness of one’s own mental contents (Gilbert et al., 2006; Fleming and Dolan, 2012).”
Background
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Authors: Fleming, S. M., & Dolan, R. J.
Affiliations: New York University (US)
Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging (GB)
Corresponding author: Fleming, Stephen M.
ORCID: Fleming, Stephen M.
Dolan, Raymond J.
Venue: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Publisher: The Royal Society
Published: 2012-05-19
Volume: 367
Issue: 1594
Pages: 1338-1349
ISSN: 0962-8436 (ISSN-L)
1471-2970
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2011.0417
PMC: PMC3318765
OpenAlex: W2155610381
Semantic Scholar: 6067b80d698ec3f84bd5329f7154f302e0cde788
Cited by: 747
References: 153
Citations by year: 2026: 71 · 2025: 69 · 2024: 65 · 2023: 52 · 2022: 49 · 2021: 64 · 2020: 66 · 2019: 57 · 2018: 49 · 2017: 55 · 2016: 46 · 2015: 30 · 2014: 39 · 2013: 22 · 2012: 9
FWCI: 2.53
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: hybrid
doi.org
Licence: cc-by
royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ (tdm)
Locations: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion, cc-by)
Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
Max Planck Digital Library (submittedVersion, other-oa)
MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders: Wellcome Trust (091593, 078865/Z/05/Z)
Topics: Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
Keywords: metacognition, metacognitive accuracy, lateral prefrontal cortex, medial prefrontal cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, insula, interoception, cognitive control, memory, decision-making, individual differences
MeSH terms: Animals, Cognition, Decision Making, Humans, Memory, Neural Pathways, Prefrontal Cortex

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The neural basis of metacognitive ability

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