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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Apr 5, 2026

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Self-Knowledge Dim-Out: Stress Impairs Metacognitive Accuracy.

Gabriel Reyes1, Jaime R Silva2, Karina Jaramillo2

  • 1Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique (ENS, CNRS, EHESS), PSL Research University, Paris, France; Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France; Escuela de Psicología, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile.

Plos One
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Summary

Stress impairs metacognition, the ability to assess one's own cognitive performance. High biological reactivity to stress, indicated by cortisol levels, correlated with reduced accuracy in judging one's own performance on a visual task.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Psychophysiology

Background:

  • The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis stress response influences cognitive and emotional functions.
  • Frontal lobe activity is a key mediator of the HPA axis's impact on cognition.
  • Metacognition, the awareness and control of one's own cognitive processes, relies heavily on frontal lobe functions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the impact of acute stress on metacognitive accuracy.
  • To determine if HPA axis activation, measured by cortisol levels, affects self-assessment of performance.
  • To examine the relationship between stress reactivity and metacognitive sensitivity.

Main Methods:

  • Participants were categorized into high, medium, and low stress response groups based on salivary cortisol levels after the Trier Social Stress Test.
  • A visual discrimination task was employed to assess first-order perceptual performance.
  • The accuracy of participants' confidence judgments regarding their task performance was measured to evaluate metacognition.

Main Results:

  • Higher biological reactivity to stress was significantly correlated with reduced metacognitive sensitivity.
  • Participants with higher cortisol responses showed a diminished ability to accurately assess their performance.
  • Stress did not affect the accuracy of the primary perceptual decision itself, only the metacognitive evaluation of it.

Conclusions:

  • Acute stress, particularly high biological reactivity, impairs metacognition.
  • Individuals under stress exhibit reduced awareness of their own knowledge states.
  • These findings highlight the detrimental effect of stress on self-monitoring cognitive functions mediated by the HPA axis and frontal lobes.