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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 7, 2026

Testing for Metacognitive Responding Using an Odor-based Delayed Match-to-Sample Test in Rats

Testing for Metacognitive Responding Using an Odor-based Delayed Match-to-Sample Test in Rats

Published on: June 18, 2018

Does metacognition necessarily involve metarepresentation?

Joëlle Proust¹

¹Institut Jean-Nicod CNRS (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Ecole Normale Supérieure), 75007 Paris, France; and Max-Planck Institut Für Psychologische Forschung, Münich, Germany jproust@ehess.fr http://joelle.proust.free.fr.

The Behavioral and Brain Sciences

|February 5, 2008

Summary

Metacognition relies on process-reflexivity, not metarepresentation, to monitor internal feedback using quantitative cues. Higher species may describe these metacognitive processes using mentalistic terms.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Science
Neuroscience
Philosophy of Mind

Background:

The relationship between metacognition and theory of mind is debated.
Previous views suggest metacognition parallels theory of mind, implying shared mechanisms.

Purpose of the Study:

To challenge the view that metacognition requires metarepresentation.
To propose an alternative model of metacognition based on process-reflexivity.

Main Methods:

Conceptual analysis of metacognition and theory of mind.
Distinction between metarepresentation, semantic reflexivity, and process-reflexivity.

Main Results:

Metacognition does not inherently require metarepresentation or semantic reflexivity.
Metacognition can be explained through process-reflexivity: monitoring internal feedback via quantitative cues.
Metacognitive activities can be interpreted in mentalistic terms by species with theory of mind.

Conclusions:

Metacognition is fundamentally a process-monitoring function.
The capacity for metarepresentation is not essential for metacognition itself.
Theory of mind may enable a mentalistic redescription of metacognitive processes.