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Metacognition01:26

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Metacognition is a conscious process where individuals are aware of their cognitive and executive processes, such as planning before solving a problem or self-monitoring during reading. For instance, a writer may need help with composing a piece. The situation involves a writer who is working on a piece of writing, but while doing so, they realize that something is missing. They notice that their characters lack depth or details. This realization occurs because the writer is reflecting on their...
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 22, 2026

Testing for Metacognitive Responding Using an Odor-based Delayed Match-to-Sample Test in Rats
08:06

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

Published on: June 18, 2018

Comparative metacognition.

Herbert S Terrace1, Lisa K Son

  • 1Columbia University, NY, USA. terrace@columbia.edu

Current Opinion in Neurobiology
|June 26, 2009
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Investigating animal cognition, new nonverbal methods reveal metacognition (knowledge about knowledge) in animals. These techniques help explore language

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Last Updated: Jun 22, 2026

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Science
  • Animal Behavior
  • Neuroscience

Background:

  • Metacognition, or knowledge about knowledge, is typically studied in humans via verbal reports.
  • Animal cognition research is developing nonverbal methods to assess metacognition in non-human subjects.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explore nonverbal methods for investigating metacognition in animal cognition.
  • To address potential noncognitive interpretations of animal metacognition evidence.
  • To open new research avenues into the role of language and neural substrates in metacognition.

Main Methods:

  • Subjects are given the option to escape difficult trials.
  • Subjects are trained to place bets on the accuracy of their responses.
  • Control conditions ensure escape responses do not increase reinforcement density or occur with trained stimuli.

Main Results:

  • Nonverbal methods provide a viable approach to studying animal metacognition.
  • Careful experimental design is crucial to rule out alternative explanations.

Conclusions:

  • Nonverbal techniques enable the study of metacognition in animals, moving beyond human verbal reports.
  • Future research can investigate the influence of language and the neural underpinnings of metacognition.