Metacognition: Enhancing Self-Awareness and Problem-Solving - Essay Sample

Introduction

Metacognition refers to an individual fostering high-order thinking skills that enhance their capability of self-awareness. It can take various forms that might include knowledge about how and when to utilize specific strategies for problem-solving or learning. There are two vital elements of metacognition: regulation of cognition and knowledge about cognition. According to Gilbert (2015), metacognitive processing research illustrates that there is no evidence that additional initiatives can deliver exceptional results in cross-cultural learning between students and teachers. However, evolutionary psychologists assume that humans exploit metacognition for their survival purposes. As a result, metamemory is a significant form of metacognition. Metacognition comprises self-awareness, consciousness, self-regulation, and memory-monitoring. It regulates one's cognition to maximize their ability to learn, think, and evaluate proper moral rules.

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Action intention is one of the fundamental features of the human brain. Neuroscientists claim that action intention is influenced by particular brain processes and not a transcendental human nature feature. Research reveals that the parietal cortex, anterior prefrontal cortex, and pre-supplementary motor area that trigger action intention (Haggard, 2008). The three areas provide feedback for forthcoming actions and they stimulate distinctive action intention that control one's actions. Action intention stipulates the decisions on whether to act, when and what action to execute.

A critical review on the correlation between action intention and metacognition aims to establish three major findings. Firstly, participants have moderate but substantial metacognitive understanding on their action intention performance. Secondly, participants are doubtful about their potential memory performance (Gilbert, 2015). Research will enable one to determine whether the current and previous studies have consistent findings. Thirdly, participants' metacognitive opinions affect prospective memory tactics such as the partition of attention toward action intention against an ongoing job that it is entrenched. A comprehensive assessment on action intention and metacognition judgements that influence tendency to use schemes that involve external reminders.

The experimental analysis will determine the consistency in illustrating the outcome of metacognitive poise on intention offloading. If participants' confidence is lowered, it obliges them to increase the usage of their offloading approach, even without enhancing independent ability. The analysis of individuals with traumatic brain injuries provided presumptuous assessments of their potential memory capability while the control persons were under-confident (Gilbert, 2015). The prediction shows that in the perspective of rehabilitation or aging, it could be feasible to focus on overconfidence rather than independently ability to promote the attainment of delayed intentions. The effect of overconfidence on intention action indicates that a specific strategy has an impact of lowering confidence that can influence premeditated behaviors across various domains.

Voluntary action connotes exploratory behavior. An individual's success relies on the equilibrium between discovering new resources and exploiting specific resources through repetitive actions. The stimulus-independent and generative aspect of intention action favor exploration compared to exploitation. Furthermore, recent neuro-imaging evidence ratifies a disconnection in ventromedial frontal regions that code anticipated and respective frontopolar areas that decode exploratory decision (Haggard, 2008). Additionally, metamemory has a crucial role in defining action choices. For instance, in ambiguous or uncertain situations, one executes an action that was effective before when addressing a similar situation. Hence, memories for reward values and previous stimuli linked to associated actions effectually reduces voluntary deeds to stimulus-driven actions that one responds to after a delay. Neural signals affect the voluntary action experience to guarantee an advanced preparation of an undertaking. For that reason, cognitive processes trigger the occurrence of voluntary action.

Voluntary actions are goal-directedness. Several studies on voluntary action suggest a teleological pull. Haggard stressed a strong correlation between cognitive illustrations of the ultimate objective of the internal motor signals that trigger the response (Haggard, 2008). Moreover, teleological theories blend commendably with associative operant actions. A conditioned stimulus produces behaviors that are comparable to the unconditioned stimulus. Contemporary computational models exhibit teleological pull that integrates motor planning and motor prediction. The models trigger an action by invoking an external objective, and the execution of the action relies on the stimulation of external effects. According to Haggard (2008), studies might indicate that frontal motor regions are involved in motor imagery and action planning, analyzing external results and events rather than the prefrontal cortex regions. Technological advancement has supported one's ability to attain delayed intentions that are increased by external artifacts. However, an individual's decision to utilize external artifacts is based on various metacognitive processes that influence objected independent ability. Understanding the impact of external artifacts ensures that the objects are developed effectively and used efficiently to promote behavioral independence.

Discussion

Analyzing the data obtained from perceptual tasks revealed that some of the participants' performance was close to chances that suggest random responses or frequent guessing. As a result, the 71% accuracy obtained in perceptual tasks illustrated that the staircase experiment was efficient at avoiding ceiling and floor effects (Gilbert, 2015). The Number task's results were comparatively accurate than the Contrast task. Nonetheless, the mean confidence and accuracy postdiction assessments were higher in the Contrast experiment compared to the Number task. The negligible mean accuracy difference between the two experiments was not apparent in the confidence ratings. Hence, metacognitive sensitivity does not differ in the Number and Contrast tasks.

The mean accuracy on confidence rating had plateaued in the difficulty level in the Number and Contrast tasks during the experiments due to the staircase procedure. However, there is a correlation between the postdiction, confidence, sensitivity, and accuracy measures for each task. According to Gilbert (2015), each measure interrelated considerably with a comparable measure in the two tasks. For instance, the mean confidence obtained from single postdiction and trial-by-trial ratings from each experiment were significantly correlated. Nevertheless, none of the connections across various types of assessments was substantial. The results obtained from initial studies that showed that metacognitive sensitivity and confidence measures were considerably correlated across tasks, while measures of confidence and sensitivity were varied for each other. However, the accuracy measures obtained in the experiment were correlated significantly in the Number and Contrast tasks.

Relationships between intention offloading and perceptual tasks were qualitatively comparable. However, the metacognitive sensitivity measure did not correlate with other action other assessments even though that measure was considerably linked to the two perceptual experiments, indicating reliability. The perceptual accuracy assessment was disconnected from other actions. Nevertheless, the postdiction and perceptual confidence results were positively associated with the intention-offloading predictions and negatively linked to externalizing proportions. The participants who had high confidence in their perceptual judgment attained better performance in the intention of offloading tasks (Gilbert, 2015). The results were obtained even if perceptual confidence was not related to any performance despite setting a few reminders. The results indicated an influence of domain-general confidence to delayed intentions and perceptual tasks that were linked to a predisposition to specific reminders. For that reason, high perceptual confidence was not correlated to actual performance; however, it was related to strategic reminders usage in a varied task.

References

Gilbert, S. (2015). Strategic use of reminders: Influence of both domain-general and task-specific metacognitive confidence, independent of objective memory ability. Consciousness and Cognition, 33, 245-260. doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2015.01.006

Haggard, P. (2008). Human volition: Towards a neuroscience of will. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 9(12), 934-946. doi: 10.1038/nrn2497