Metacognition

Metacognition refers to thinking about cognition (memory, perception, calculation, association, etc.) itself. Metacognition can be divided into two types of knowledge: explicit, conscious, factual knowledge; and implicit, unconscious, procedural knowledge. The ability to think about thinking is unique to sapient species and indeed is one of the definitions of sapience.

Metacognition is practiced to attempt to regulate one's own cognition, and maximize one's potential to think, learn and process stimuli from the surroundings.

Metacognitive strategies
The metacognitive-like processes are ubiquitous; specially, when it comes to the discussion of self-regulated learning. Being engaged in metacognition is a salient feature of good self-regulated learners. The activities of strategy selection and application include those concerned with an ongoing attempt to plan, check, monitor, select, revise, evaluate, etc. Metacognition is 'stable' in that learners' initial decisions derive from the pertinent fact about their cognition through years of learning experience. Simutaneously, it is also 'situated' in the sense that it depends on learners' familarity with the task, motivation, emotion, and so forth. Individuals need to regulate their thoughts about the strategy they are using and adjust it based on the situation the strategy is applied to.

Related links

 * Buffalo.edu - 'Metacognition: An Overview', Jennifer A. Livingston, (1997)
 * PHULE.net - 'Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments', Justin Kruger, David Dunning, Cornell University, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol 77, no 6, p 1121-1134, American Psychological Association (1999)
 * UIUC.edu - 'Metacognitive knowledge', WikEd

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