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The neural basis of metacognitive ability
Open accessAbstract
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 (Fleming and Dolan, 2012).”
From How to measure metacognition (2014) · cites this paper as Fleming and Dolan, 2012
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Mohanty, M., & Kumar, P. (2022) · Geriatrics · doi:10.3390/geriatrics8010004 · Cited by 19
“The sway towards metacognition, which basically borders on how people perceive their cognitive performance (Fleming & Dolan) [55], was informed by the underestimation [of cognitive performance] that often prevails in most cases of SCD (Metternich, Schmidtke, and Hull cited in Bhome et al.)”
BackgroundInfluentialNg, I. K., Goh, W. G. W., & Lim, T. K. (2024) · Diagnosis · doi:10.1515/dx-2024-0169 · Cited by 18
FitzGerald, T. H. B., Hämmerer, D., Friston, K. J., Li, S., & Dolan, R. J. (2017) · PLoS Computational Biology · doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005418 · Cited by 20
“It is also implicated in metacognition [18,36].”
BackgroundSelf-citationLumma, A., Valk, S. L., Böckler, A., Vrtička, P., & Singer, T. (2018) · Brain and Behavior · doi:10.1002/brb3.940 · Cited by 19
“…Mitchell, Macrae, & Banaji, 2006; Yaoi, Osaka, & Osaka, 2009) and structurally (Valk, Bernhardt, Böckler, Trautwein, et al., 2016) involved in socio- cognitive abilities, as well as meta- cognition on perceptual information (Fleming & Dolan, 2012; Valk, Bernhardt, Böckler, Kanske, et al., 2016).”
BackgroundExplaining distortions in metacognition with an attractor network model of decision uncertainty
Atiya, N. A. A., Huys, Q. J. M., Dolan, R. J., & Fleming, S. M. (2021) · PLoS Computational Biology · doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009201 · Cited by 17
“For instance, lesions in prefrontal brain regions are associated with deficits in metacognitive ability, but not task performance [28,29,31], highlighting the contribution of higher-order brain regions to metacognition [26,27].”
BackgroundSelf-citationCai, Y., Jin, Z., Zhai, C., Wang, H., Wang, J., Tang, Y., & Kwok, S. C. (2022) · Communications Biology · doi:10.1038/s42003-022-03762-6 · Cited by 23
Confidence tracks sensory- and decision-related ERP dynamics during auditory detection
Zakrzewski, A. C., Wisniewski, M. G., Iyer, N., & Simpson, B. D. (2018) · Brain and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2018.10.007 · Cited by 19
“, Hillyard, Hink, Schwent, & Picton, 1973; Makeig, 1993; Strauß, Wöstmann, & Obleser, 2014; Wisniewski, 2017). The classic work of Hillyard et al. (1973) revealed how attention affects sensory responses in the ERP.”
The Limits of Neuroscience in Counseling: A Humanistic Perspective and Proposed Model
Wilkinson, B. D. (2018) · The Journal of Humanistic Counseling · doi:10.1002/johc.12067 · Cited by 17
The influence of sad mood induction on task performance and metacognition
Culot, C., Fantini‐Hauwel, C., & Gevers, W. (2021) · Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1177/17470218211004205 · Cited by 21
“Furthermore, the mapping between objective performance and subjective confidence in this performance enables to calculate the metacognitive efficiency (Fleming & Dolan, 2012).”
BackgroundA quantitative confidence signal detection model: 1. Fitting psychometric functions
Yi, Y., & Merfeld, D. M. (2016) · Journal of Neurophysiology · doi:10.1152/jn.00318.2015 · Cited by 17
Filevich, E., Forlim, C. G., Fehrmann, C., Forster, C., Paulus, M., Shing, Y. L., & Kühn, S. (2019) · Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2019.100738 · Cited by 20
“Partially different regions within the prefrontal cortex (PFC) have been found to support different aspects of metacognitive monitoring (Dehaene et al., 2017; Fleming and Dolan, 2012).”
BackgroundConfounding in Studies on Metacognition: A Preliminary Causal Analysis Framework
Paulewicz, B., Siedlecka, M., & Koculak, M. (2020) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01933 · Cited by 20
“Many authors even omit the regulatory role when defining the term ”metacognition”, stating, for example, that it refers to the ability to monitor one’s cognitive processes or to knowledge about ongoing task performance (Fleming and Daw, 2017; Fleming and Dolan, 2012; Metcalfe and Shimamura, 1994; Siedlecka et al., 201…”
BackgroundTowards a computational psychiatry of juvenile obsessive-compulsive disorder
Loosen, A. M., & Hauser, T. U. (2020) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.07.021 · Cited by 19
Cue awareness in avoiding effortful control
Dunn, T. L., Gaspar, C., & Risko, E. F. (2018) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.05.011 · Cited by 21
“, task demand) which are associated with areas of the posterior cortex (Fleming and Dolan, 2012; Nelson and Narens, 1990; Shimamura, 2000, 2008).”
Distinct signatures of subjective confidence and objective accuracy in speech prosody
Goupil, L., & Aucouturier, J. (2021) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104661 · Cited by 17
Alilović, J., Lampers, E., Slagter, H. A., & van Gaal, S. (2023) · PLoS Biology · doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.3002009 · Cited by 16
“Participants discriminated which of the 2 object categories was presented and indicated how confident they were in this decision (high/low confidence) [15,16].”
BackgroundFinding the neural correlates of consciousness will not solve all our problems
Overgaard, M. S., & Kirkeby-Hinrup, A. (2021) · Philosophy and the Mind Sciences · doi:10.33735/phimisci.2021.37 · Cited by 16
“…posits of HOT theory are conceptually or functionally similar to metacognitive abilities that are thought to be located in the PFC, such as self-monitoring and judgements of (own) performance (Fleming & Dolan, 2012), cognitive control and planning Overgaard, M. S., & Kirkeby-Hinrup, A. (2021).”
BackgroundThe Evolution of Primate Communication and Metacommunication
Proust, J. (2016) · Mind & Language · doi:10.1111/mila.12100 · Cited by 16
Fox, K. C. R., & Christoff, K. (2015) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1504686112 · Cited by 17
Meditation and the Brain in Health and Disease
Fox, K. C. R., & Cahn, B. R. (2020) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198808640.013.23 · Cited by 16
“A related study by Lazar and colleagues (2005) similarly found that grey matter density in the rostrolateral prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain linked to higher cognitive abilities like introspection (Fleming & Dolan, 2012), differed significantly between long-term prac titioners and controls.”
BackgroundLi, Q., Pan, F., Huang, Q., Lo, C. Z., Xie, F., & Guo, Q. (2022) · Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnagi.2022.1046445 · Cited by 16
“, 2021), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) regions (Fleming and Dolan, 2012; Steward et al., 2019b; D’Oleire Uquillas et al., 2020; Hallam et al., 2020; Huntley et al., 2021), which correlated with the functional connection between self-related (i.”
BackgroundThe impact of feedback on metacognition: Enhancing in easy tasks, impeding in difficult ones
Luo, T., & Liu, C. (2023) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2023.103601 · Cited by 15
Formalizing the Function of Anterior Insula in Rapid Adaptation
Bossaerts, P. L. (2018) · Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnint.2018.00061 · Cited by 14
“That is, PE is not central to metacognition (Fleming and Dolan, 2012); surprise is – relative to the RM.”
BackgroundResultRobust valence-induced biases on motor response and confidence in human reinforcement learning
Ting, C.-C., Palminteri, S., Engelmann, J. B., & Lebreton, M. P. (2020) · Cognitive Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.3758/s13415-020-00826-0 · Cited by 19
Self‐awareness in multiple sclerosis: Relationships with executive functions and affect
Chen, M. H., & Goverover, Y. (2021) · European Journal of Neurology · doi:10.1111/ene.14762 · Cited by 15
“The prefrontal cortex, which subserves executive functions, is implicated in metacognition among healthy individuals [14].”
BackgroundMotivational signals disrupt metacognitive signals in the human ventromedial prefrontal cortex
Hoven, M., Brunner, G., de Boer, N. S., Goudriaan, A. E., Denys, D. A. J. P., van Holst, R. J., Luigjes, J., & Lebreton, M. P. (2022) · Communications Biology · doi:10.1038/s42003-022-03197-z · Cited by 15
Metacognition in Early Phase Psychosis: Toward Understanding Neural Substrates
Vohs, J. L., Hummer, T. A., Yung, M. G., Francis, M., Lysaker, P. H., & Breier, A. F. (2015) · International Journal of Molecular Sciences · doi:10.3390/ijms160714640 · Cited by 15
“may subserve a number of domains of metacognition [33,34].”
BackgroundResultLanièpce, A., Segobin, S. H., Lannuzel, C., Boudehent, C., Ritz, L., Urso, L., Vabret, F., Eustache, F., Beaunieux, H., Rauchs, G., et al. (2019) · Alcoholism Clinical and Experimental Research · doi:10.1111/acer.13997 · Cited by 15
“…result in self-awareness deficits (Goldstein et al., 2009) related to damage within the frontal cortex, especially the dorsolateral (Schmitz, Kawahara-Baccus, & Johnson, 2004; Shany-Ur et al., 2014) and medial parts of the prefrontal cortex (Fleming & Dolan, 2012; Schmitz & Johnson, 2007).”
BackgroundHydrocortisone decreases metacognitive efficiency independent of perceived stress
Gabriel Reyes, M., Vivanco-Carlevari, A., Medina, F., Manosalva, C., de Gardelle, V., Sackur, J., & Silva, J. R. (2020) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-020-71061-3 · Cited by 15
Metadata
- Authors
- Fleming, S. M., & Dolan, R. J.
- Affiliations
- New York University (US)
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Fleming, Stephen M.
- 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
- 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
- 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
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 ›
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