CB_Metacognition_2024_Lecture10 PDF - University of Dundee

University of the Year for Student Experience (The Times/Sunday Times Good University Guide 2020) Metacognition Dr Chris Benwell 2024 dundee.ac.uk...

University of the Year for Student Experience (The Times/Sunday Times Good University Guide 2020) Metacognition Dr Chris Benwell 2024 dundee.ac.uk Page 1 Metacognition - Lecture Series 1. Introduction to metacognition 2. Measuring metacognition 3. Metacognition and psychopathology 4. Metacognition and belief structures 5. Neural correlates of metacognition 6. Evolution and metacognition in other species 7. Presentations/discussions 8. Metacognition and consciousness 9. Improving metacognition 10. The limits of self-knowledge dundee.ac.uk Page 2 Metacognition – Assessment Level 5 Coursework: 2 x 2500-word assignments, each worth 50% of the module grade. 2nd assignment due: Friday 29th November Does metacognition depend on mechanisms and information that are separable from those underlying cognitive performance itself (i.e., is metacognition a 2 nd- order process)? Consider evidence from behavioural, neuroimaging and/or lesion studies dundee.ac.uk Page 3 Metacognition – Assessment Level 4 Exam: 2 hour, on-campus exam at end of semester. Worth 60% of module grade. Friday 6th December 2024: 09:15 – 11.15 (Dalhousie 2S15) Answer TWO questions from a choice of five. The word count for each essay is a maximum of 1000 words. dundee.ac.uk Page 4 What to study? (1) Lecture notes (2) I will upload relevant papers for each lecture to the module page on MyDundee. (3) Any questions/concerns: [email protected] dundee.ac.uk Page 5 Limits of Metacognition Metacognition involves reflecting on and controlling our cognitive processes. How much of our mental lives are available to us when we do so? dundee.ac.uk Page 6 Limits of Metacognition Metacognition involves reflecting on and controlling our cognitive processes. How much of our mental lives are available to us when we do so? → According to Descartes we have infallible and complete knowledge of what goes on inside our minds dundee.ac.uk Page 7 Limits of Metacognition Metacognition involves reflecting on and controlling our cognitive processes. How much of our mental lives are available to us when we do so? → According to Descartes we have infallible and complete knowledge of what goes on inside our minds “I see clearly that there is nothing easier for me to know than my own mind” dundee.ac.uk Page 8 Limits of Metacognition David Hume, Rene Descartes, John Locke and George Berkely all proposed versions of a thesis that there is something inherently special about the authority with which we should hold knowledge of our own minds (compared to our knowledge of the external world for example). dundee.ac.uk Page 9 Limits of Metacognition Discuss: Can you think of any examples which are not in line with the notion that we have access to all aspects of our minds? dundee.ac.uk Page 10 The Unconscious Mind However, with the development of psychological science and clinical psychology, there has been a growing appreciation that unconscious processes (not available to introspection) not only exist, but that they heavily shape our thoughts, emotions and behaviours. dundee.ac.uk Page 11 The Unconscious Mind → The notion of the ‘unconscious mind’ was first proposed by German philosopher Friedrich Schelling dundee.ac.uk Page 12 The Unconscious Mind → The notion of the ‘unconscious mind’ was first proposed by German philosopher Friedrich Schelling → In the 1800’s Arthur Schopenhauer & Friedrich Nietzsche developed the idea and argued that much of our mental lives might be unavailable to introspection Arthur Schopenhauer Friedrich Nietzsche dundee.ac.uk Page 13 The Unconscious Mind The concept heavily influenced Sigmund Freud and plays a central role in Psychoanalytic Theory dundee.ac.uk Page 14 The Unconscious Mind The concept heavily influenced Sigmund Freud and plays a central role in Psychoanalytic Theory → Freud proposed the mind had a hierarchical structure: The conscious, preconscious and unconscious. dundee.ac.uk Page 15 The Unconscious Mind The concept heavily influenced Sigmund Freud and plays a central role in Psychoanalytic Theory → Freud proposed the mind had a hierarchical structure: The conscious, preconscious and unconscious. → Significant psychic events take place in the unconscious mind and Freud linked these to the development of psychopathology. dundee.ac.uk Page 16 The Unconscious Mind dundee.ac.uk Page 17 The Unconscious Mind The concept heavily influenced Sigmund Freud and plays a central role in Psychoanalytic Theory → Anxiety and pain provoking thoughts and feelings are often blocked from conscious awareness by defence mechanisms such as denial, repression, projection, displacement and sublimation. dundee.ac.uk Page 18 The Unconscious Mind The concept heavily influenced Sigmund Freud and plays a central role in Psychoanalytic Theory → Anxiety and pain provoking thoughts and feelings are often blocked from conscious awareness by defence mechanisms such as denial, repression, projection, displacement and sublimation. → The unconscious is a ‘cauldron’ of primitive drives, wishes and unacceptable/upsetting memories. dundee.ac.uk Page 19 The Unconscious Mind dundee.ac.uk Page 20 The Unconscious Mind The concept heavily influenced Sigmund Freud and plays a central role in Psychoanalytic Theory → The dilemma of the human condition is that each element of the psychic apparatus (ego, superego and id) make demands that are incompatible with one another. Inner conflict is inevitable. dundee.ac.uk Page 21 The Unconscious Mind The concept heavily influenced Sigmund Freud and plays a central role in Psychoanalytic Theory → Freud did not believe the conflict could be solved, but that we could mitigate some of the negative consequences (‘symptoms’) by tapping into the unconscious to understand ourselves better. dundee.ac.uk Page 22 The Unconscious Mind The concept heavily influenced Sigmund Freud and plays a central role in his Psychoanalytic Theory → Freud did not believe the conflict could be solved, but that we could mitigate some of the negative consequences (‘symptoms’) by tapping into the unconscious to understand ourselves better. → Some of the tools to do so he developed in psychoanalysis include free association, dream analysis and interpretation of verbal slips. dundee.ac.uk Page 23 The Unconscious Mind The concept of the unconscious was extended by psychoanalytic theorists including Carl Jung dundee.ac.uk Page 24 The Unconscious Mind The concept of the unconscious was extended by psychoanalytic theorists including Carl Jung → Jung agreed with Freud about the influence of of the unconscious on our feelings and behaviours. However, he did not agree with Freud that most unconscious conflicts were driven by repressed sexual urges. dundee.ac.uk Page 25 The Unconscious Mind The concept of the unconscious was extended by psychoanalytic theorists including Carl Jung → Jung agreed with Freud about the influence of of the unconscious on our feelings and behaviours. However, he did not agree with Freud that most unconscious conflicts were driven by repressed sexual urges. → For both Schopenhauer and Freud, sexual desire (often unconsciously) influenced almost everything we do. dundee.ac.uk Page 26 The Unconscious Mind According to Jung, the unconscious can be split into two parts: dundee.ac.uk Page 27 The Unconscious Mind According to Jung, the unconscious can be split into two parts: → The personal unconscious: Essentially the same as Freud’s version. The personal unconscious contains forgotten information as well as repressed memories and primitive drives. dundee.ac.uk Page 28 The Unconscious Mind According to Jung, the unconscious can be split into two parts: → The personal unconscious: Essentially the same as Freud’s version. The personal unconscious contains forgotten information as well as repressed memories and primitive drives. → The collective unconscious: a universal version of the personal unconscious, holding mental patterns or memory traces, known as archetypes, which are shared with other humans. dundee.ac.uk Page 29 The Unconscious Mind According to Jung, the unconscious can be split into two parts: → The personal unconscious: Essentially the same as Freud’s version. The personal unconscious contains forgotten information as well as repressed memories and primitive drives. → The collective unconscious: a universal version of the personal unconscious, holding mental patterns or memory traces, known as archetypes, which are shared with other humans. “The form of the world into which [a person] is born is already inborn in him, as a virtual image” (Jung, 1953) dundee.ac.uk Page 30 The Collective Unconscious According to Jung, evolution has “imprinted” innate characteristics on the human mind. These universal predispositions stem from our ancestral past. This idea has parallels in other influential theories across different domains of Psychology: dundee.ac.uk Page 31 The Collective Unconscious According to Jung, evolution has “imprinted” innate characteristics on the human mind. These universal predispositions stem from our ancestral past. This idea has parallels in other influential theories across different domains of Psychology: → Prepared Conditioning (Seligman, 1971). → We are predisposed to finding certain stimuli aversive (such as heights, snakes, tastes) which have historically presented a mortal threat to humans. dundee.ac.uk Page 32 The Collective Unconscious According to Jung, evolution has “imprinted” innate characteristics on the human mind. These universal predispositions stem from our ancestral past. This idea has parallels in other influential theories across different domains of Psychology: → Prepared Conditioning (Seligman, 1971). → We are predisposed to finding certain stimuli aversive (such as heights, snakes, tastes) which have historically presented a mortal threat to humans. → Unconscious Inference (von Helmholtz, 1867) → An involuntary, pre-rational and reflex-like mechanism which underlies the formation of perceptual impressions. dundee.ac.uk Page 33 The Collective Unconscious According to Jung, evolution has “imprinted” innate characteristics on the human mind. These universal predispositions stem from our ancestral past. This idea has parallels in other influential theories across different domains of Psychology: → Prepared Conditioning (Seligman, 1971). → We are predisposed to finding certain stimuli aversive (such as heights, snakes, tastes) which have historically presented a mortal threat to humans. → Unconscious Inference (von Helmholtz, 1867) → An involuntary, pre-rational and reflex-like mechanism which underlies the formation of perceptual impressions. → Universal Grammar (Chomsky, 1965) → a set of unconscious constraints that let us decide whether sentences are correctly formed dundee.ac.uk Page 34 The Unconscious Mind dundee.ac.uk Page 35 The Unconscious in Modern Cognitive Science It is now considered non-controversial that many mental processes are not available to introspection. Different terminology is sometimes used but essentially the idea of the unconscious is well accepted. dundee.ac.uk Page 36 The Unconscious in Modern Cognitive Science It is now considered non-controversial that many mental processes are not available to introspection. Different terminology is sometimes used but essentially the idea of the unconscious is well accepted. → Procedural memory (Tulving, 1972) dundee.ac.uk Page 37 The Unconscious in Modern Cognitive Science It is now considered non-controversial that many mental processes are not available to introspection. Different terminology is sometimes used but essentially the idea of the unconscious is well accepted. → Procedural memory (Tulving, 1972) → Automatic processing (Stroop, 1935; Bargh & Chartrand, 1999) → Processes in the mind that are relatively fast and require few cognitive resources, generally occurring outside of conscious awareness (i.e., reading) dundee.ac.uk Page 38 The Unconscious in Modern Cognitive Science It is now considered non-controversial that many mental processes are not available to introspection. Different terminology is sometimes used but essentially the idea of the unconscious is well accepted. → Procedural memory (Tulving, 1972) → Automatic processing (Stroop, 1935; Bargh & Chartrand, 1999) → Processes in the mind that are relatively fast and require few cognitive resources, generally occurring outside of conscious awareness (i.e., reading) → Implicit processing/biases (Greenwald & Banaji, 1995) → Unconscious associations and judgments influencing social behaviour dundee.ac.uk Page 39 The Unconscious in Modern Cognitive Science In visual perception for example, it has been shown experimentally that some information used by the visual system is not available to introspection dundee.ac.uk Page 40 The Unconscious in Modern Cognitive Science In visual perception for example, it has been shown experimentally that some information used by the visual system is not available to introspection → A large fraction of neurons in visual area V1 are not only sensitive to the presence of stimuli in different locations of visual space, but also to the eye of origin of the visual input (Hubel & Wiesel, 1977). This information is completely lost at the level of awareness dundee.ac.uk Page 41 The Unconscious in Modern Cognitive Science In visual perception for example, it has been shown experimentally that some information used by the visual system is not available to introspection → A large fraction of neurons in visual area V1 are not only sensitive to the presence of stimuli in different locations of visual space, but also to the eye of origin of the visual input (Hubel & Wiesel, 1977). This information is completely lost at the level of awareness → Visual stimuli that do not enter awareness nevertheless have a neural signature that is indistinguishable from perceptually rich representations that occur for objects that do enter into conscious awareness (Fahrenfort et al., 2017) dundee.ac.uk Page 42 The Unconscious in Modern Cognitive Science What there remains debate about is the degree to which unconscious processes influence our thoughts, feelings and behaviours, and whether unconscious processes are at least in principle accessible. dundee.ac.uk Page 43 The Unconscious in Modern Cognitive Science What there remains debate about is the degree to which unconscious processes influence our thoughts, feelings and behaviours, and whether unconscious processes are at least in principle accessible. In contrast to psychoanalytic explanations, the fact that many mental processes are unconscious may not necessarily be primarily about avoiding anxiety, but rather for efficiency of information processing. dundee.ac.uk Page 44 Limits of Metacognition Is it always desirable for us to know ourselves better? dundee.ac.uk Page 45 Limits of Metacognition Is it always desirable for us to know ourselves better? Discuss: Can you think of situations where self-knowledge and/or awareness might not be desirable? dundee.ac.uk Page 46 Limits of Metacognition Is it always desirable for us to know ourselves better? → Positivity/optimism bias may be good for mental (and physical) health and may make difficult situations less painful to endure (Wilson & Dunn, 2004). dundee.ac.uk Page 47 Limits of Metacognition Is it always desirable for us to know ourselves better? → Positivity/optimism bias may be good for mental (and physical) health and may make difficult situations less painful to endure (Wilson & Dunn, 2004). → Conveying a sense of confidence (even if not justified) may be helpful in many situations (i.e., aggression, first impressions, marketing, politics). dundee.ac.uk Page 48 Limits of Metacognition Is it always desirable for us to know ourselves better? → Positivity/optimism bias may be good for mental (and physical) health and may make difficult situations less painful to endure (Wilson & Dunn, 2004). → Conveying a sense of confidence (even if not justified) may be helpful in many situations (i.e., aggression, first impressions, marketing, politics). → Self-deception makes it easier to deceive others (Trivers, 2014). dundee.ac.uk Page 49 Limits of Metacognition Is it always desirable for us to know ourselves better? → Positivity/optimism bias may be good for mental (and physical) health and may make difficult situations less painful to endure (Wilson & Dunn, 2004). → Conveying a sense of confidence (even if not justified) may be helpful in many situations (i.e., aggression, first impressions, marketing, politics). → Self-deception makes it easier to deceive others (Trivers, 2014). → In evolutionary terms, increased self-knowledge might not necessarily confer any advantages in terms of surviving or mating. dundee.ac.uk Page 50  Any questions? dundee.ac.uk Page 51 What to study? References Ekstrom, S. R. (2004). The mind beyond our immediate awareness: Freudian, Jungian, and cognitive models of the unconscious. Journal of Analytical Psychology, 49(5), 657-682. Fahrenfort, J. J., Van Leeuwen, J., Olivers, C. N., & Hogendoorn, H. (2017). Perceptual integration without conscious access. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(14), 3744-3749. Hauser, M. D., Chomsky, N., & Fitch, W. T. (2002). The faculty of language: what is it, who has it, and how did it evolve? Science, 298(5598), 1569-1579. Wilson, T. D., & Dunn, E. W. (2004). Self-knowledge: Its limits, value, and potential for improvement. Annual review of psychology, 55(1), 493-518. dundee.ac.uk Page 52