Executive Attention and Metacognitive Regulation

Abstract

Metacognition refers to any knowledge or cognitive process that monitors or controls cognition. We highlight similarities between metacognitive and executive control functions, and ask how these processes might be implemented in the human brain. A review of brain imaging studies reveals a circuitry of attentional networks involved in these control processes, with its source located in midfrontal areas. These areas are active during conflict resolution, error correction, and emotional regulation. A developmental approach to the organization of the anatomy involved in executive control provides an added perspective on how these mechanisms are influenced by maturation and learning, and how they relate to metacognitive activity. © 2000 Academic PressMetacognitively sophisticated children or adults are like busy executives, analyzing new problems, judging how far they are from the goal, allocating attention, selecting a strategy, attempting a solution, monitoring the success or failure of current performance, and deciding whether to change to a different strategy.-J. H. Flavell, P. H. Miller, and S. A. Miller, Cognitive Development

Remote Associates Test and Alpha Brain Waves

“…The finding of a positive correlation between working memory capacity and RAT performance attention (Ricks, Turley-Ames, & Wiley, 2007) is consistent with this possibility, since it may reflect a common contribution from the executive control of attention (Ricks, et al, 2007), which involves effortful processing, for instance, in order to resolve conflict (Fernandez-Duque, Baird, & Posner, 2000). The role of control of attention is also highlighted by the finding that high working memory capacity no longer benefits RAT performance when RAT problems are specifically constructed to activate and focus attention on strong misleading cues in memory based on a person's prior domain-specific knowledge (Ricks, et al, 2007).…”

Erroneous and correct actions have a different affective valence: Evidence from ERPs.

“…These predictions were confirmed in our earlier behavioral study (see , thus providing support for the idea that actions are quickly tagged by meta-cognitive systems (Fernandez-Duque, Baird, & Posner, 2000;Winkielman, Schwarz, Fazendeiro, & Reber, 2003), not only as being correct or not, but also as being positive or negative depending on their (mis)match with the goals set out by the task.…”

“…This effect might operate via specific meta cognitive control systems working on the byproduct of an internal representation of motor actions, given the extremely rapid time-course and unfolding of these ERN/Ne-CRN brain effects presumably taking place in ACC (Fernandez-Duque et al, 2000;Winkielman et al, 2003) and likely reflecting the backdoor of rapid changes in midbrain dopaminergic brain structures (Fiorillo, Tobler, & Schultz, 2003;Holroyd & Coles, 2002).…”

Evidence for the automatic evaluation of self-generated actions

“…We are the first to report evaluative priming effects that are triggered by the putative affective value which is rapidly and in an online manner assigned to self-generated actions (correct vs. incorrect) via an internal meta cognitive feedback mechanism (Fernandez-Duque, Baird, & Posner, 2000;Winkielman, Schwarz, Fazendeiro, & Reber, 2003). These evaluative priming effects suggest that FAs were evaluated as more negative compared to Hits (either Fast or Slow, see results of Experiments 1-3) while Fast Hits were evaluated as more positive compared to FAs (see results of Experiments 2-3).…”