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Updated: Jul 14, 2026
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Multimodal Protocol for Assessing Metacognition and Self-Regulation in Adults with Learning Difficulties
Published on: September 27, 2020
Individual Differences in Metacognitive Responsiveness: Cognitive and Personality Correlates
David A Washburn1, J David Smith, Lauren A Taglialatela
1Department of Psychology, Georgia State University.
The Journal of General Psychology
|July 4, 2007
Summary
Individuals vary in decision-making and adapting to uncertainty. This study found women were more adaptive than men to decision uncertainty, suggesting response competition may explain uncertainty
Area of Science:
- Cognitive psychology
- Neuroscience
- Decision-making research
Background:
- Individuals exhibit variability in decision-making capabilities.
- Adaptability to uncertainty in decisions varies significantly among individuals.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how optimally participants utilized uncertain responses in a psychophysical task.
- To explore individual differences in adaptive responses to decision uncertainty.
Main Methods:
- 124 participants completed a psychophysical task with near-threshold trials.
- Analysis focused on the optimal use of uncertain responses.
- Assessment of cognitive failures, ADHD symptoms, need for closure, attention, and Stroop task performance.
Main Results:
- All participants demonstrated overconfidence.
- Women showed more adaptive responses to uncertainty compared to men.
- Optimal uncertainty responders had more cognitive failures, fewer ADHD symptoms, higher need for closure, better attention, but greater Stroop incongruity effects.
Conclusions:
- Responsiveness to uncertainty is a key individual difference.
- Cognitive factors like attention and cognitive control are linked to uncertainty adaptation.
- Response competition may underlie the subjective experience of uncertainty.
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