On the assumptions behind metacognitive measurements: Implications for theory and practice

Theory of visual confidence has largely been grounded in the gaussian signal detection framework. This framework is so dominant that people could be rather ignorant of idiosyncratic consequences from this distributional assumption. By contrasting gaussian and logistic signal detection models, this paper systematically evaluates the consequences of auxiliary distributional assumptions in the measurement of metacognitive accuracy and its theoretical implications. We found that these models can lead to opposing conclusions regarding the efficiency of confidence rating relative to objective decision (whether meta-d’ is larger or smaller than d’) as well as the metacognitive efficiency along the internal evidence continuum (whether meta-d’ is larger or smaller for higher levels of confidence). These demonstrations may call for reconsideration of hitherto established theories of metacognition that are critically dependent on auxiliary modeling assumptions. We deem there is no instant solution for this matter as our quantitative model comparisons on a large dataset did not decide on a clear victor between gaussian and logistic metacognitive models. Yet, being aware of the hidden modeling assumptions and their systematic consequences would facilitate cumulative development of the science of metacognition.

Assessing prospective and retrospective metacognitive accuracy following traumatic brain injury remotely across cognitive domains

The ability to monitor one's behaviour is frequently impaired following TBI, impacting on patients' rehabilitation. Inaccuracies in judgement or self-reflection of one’s performance provides a useful marker of metacognition. However, metacognition is rarely measured during routine neuropsychology assessments and how it varies across cognitive domains is unclear. A cohort of participants consisting of 142 TBI patients [mean age = 45.44(15.12), female = 33] and 99 controls [mean age = 33.69(13.88), female = 56] were studied. Participants completed cognitive assessments via a bespoke digital platform on their smartphones. Included in the assessment were a prospective evaluation of memory and attention, and retrospective confidence judgements of task performance. Metacognitive accuracy was calculated from the difference between confidence judgement of task performance and actual performance. Prospective judgment of attention and memory is correlated with task performance in these domains for controls but not patients. TBI patients had lower task performance in processing speed, executive functioning and working memory compared to controls, maintaining high confidence, resulting in overestimation of cognitive performance compared to controls.Additional judgments of task performance complements neuropsychological assessments with little additional time-cost. These results have important theoretical and practical implications for evaluation of metacognitive impairment in TBI patients and neurorehabilitation.

123 Detrimental effects of acute sleep deprivation on perceptual metacognition

Introduction Sleep deprivation (SD) impairs cognitive performance but its impact on metacognition – i.e. the ability to introspect about cognitive performance – is less clear. A few studies have assessed metacognitive accuracy after acute sleep deprivation in tasks of executive functions and found no impairments. However, whether SD has no influence on metacognition of other cognitive domains such as perception has not been investigated. In this study, we examined how metacognitive accuracy in perceptual decision tasks is affected by 32 hours of sustained wakefulness. Methods 14 participants (3 males, aged 20-32) repeated four visual psychophysical tasks (orientation discrimination, two-flicker fusion, vernier acuity and a novel face/house discrimination in noise) at regular intervals during 32 hours of sustained wakefulness and once after 8 hours recovery sleep. In each task, we concurrently measured quantitative indices of perceptual threshold, confidence rating and metacognitive accuracy (i.e. how well confidence ratings discriminate correct vs incorrect perceptual judgements). Results We observed a gradual increase of perceptual threshold in all tasks with increased time awake. Furthermore, metacognitive accuracy gradually decreased during sustained wakefulness in all tasks. Specifically, the decrease in metacognitive accuracy was driven by over-estimated confidence in trials when participants made incorrect perceptual judgements. After recovery sleep, perceptual thresholds were reset to baseline for all tasks, while metacognitive accuracy was reset to baseline for the orientation discrimination and two-flicker fusion tasks only. Conclusion We showed that sustained wakefulness up to 32 hours increasingly impairs metacognitive accuracy in perceptual decision tasks. These results are consistent across different perceptual tasks, but are in contrast to previous studies showing preserved metacognition of executive functions after SD. Overall, this suggests that the fundamental mechanisms of perceptual metacognition may be similarly affected by sleep deprivation, but that SD selectively impacts different domains of metacognition, such as perceptual metacognition and metacognition of executive functions. Support (if any) MB - Cardiff University PhD Funding CS - Wellcome Trust 209192/Z/17/Z

Neural correlates of metacognition across the adult lifespan

Metacognitive accuracy describes the degree of overlap between the subjective perception of one's decision accuracy (i.e., confidence) and objectively observed performance. With older age, the need for accurate metacognitive evaluation increases; however, error detection rates typically decrease. We investigated the effect of ageing on metacognitive accuracy using event-related potentials (ERPs) reflecting error detection and confidence: the error/correct negativity (Ne/c) and the error/correct positivity (Pe/c). Sixty-five healthy adults (20 to 76 years) completed a complex perceptual task and provided confidence ratings. We found that metacognitive accuracy declined with age beyond the expected decline in task performance, while the adaptive adjustment of behaviour was well preserved. Pe/c amplitudes varied by confidence rating, but they did not mirror the reduction in metacognitive accuracy. Ne/c amplitudes decreased with age except for high confidence correct responses. The results suggest that age-related difficulties in metacognitive evaluation could be related to an impaired integration of decision accuracy and confidence information processing. Ultimately, training the metacognitive evaluation of fundamental decisions in older adults might constitute a promising endeavour.

The cognition/metacognition tradeoff

Integration-to-boundary is an optimal decision algorithm that takes samples of evidence until the posterior reaches a decision boundary, resulting in the fastest decisions for a target accuracy. For example, integration-to-boundary achieves faster mean-RT compared with taking a fixed number of samples that result in the same choice-accuracy. Here we show that this advantage comes at a cost in metacognitive accuracy. We show that integration-to-boundary results in less variability in evidence-integration, and is less predictive of choice accuracy. We test this in two experiments, in which all participants carried out two sessions that manipulated the response-mode protocol: free-response (evidence terminated by the subject response) vs interrogation (fixed number of evidence samples, which is the same as in the free-response session). In both sessions the participants observe a sequence of evidence frames (2/sec) and they first enter a choice and then a confidence response. As predicted, the latter protocol enhances metacognitive accuracy.

Effects of Fatigue on Cognitive Performance in Long-Duration Simulated Flight Missions

Fighter pilots may be exposed to extended flight missions. Consequently, there is increasing concern about fatigue. We investigated the effects of fatigue and cognitive performance in a simulated 11-hr mission in the 39 Gripen fighter aircraft. Five cognitive tasks were used to assess cognitive performance. Fatigue was measured with the Samn–Perelli Fatigue Index. Results showed that performance in the non-executive task degraded after approximately 7 hr. Fatigue ratings showed a matching trend to the performance in this task. Performance in tasks taxing executive functions did not decline. We interpreted that fatigue can be overridden by increased attentional effort for executive tasks but not for non-executive components of cognition. Participants underestimated their performance and metacognitive accuracy was not influenced by fatigue.