Our brain is a predictive machine that helps us reduce the uncertainty in our environment. Thanks to the brain and nervous system, we are able to understand the world around us. Among many mental abilities, we can highlight those related to our mental processing, such as learning, memory, language, thinking and metacognition.
Know what is metacognition? Have you heard about Theory of Mind? Keep reading the Psychology-online article and you will get the answers to all these questions. Next, we tell you what is metacognition, examples and strategies metacognitive.
What is metacognition?
The definition of metacognition, also known as Theory of mind, is the innate ability of people to understand and predict our own behavior and that of the people around us. It refers to all the , such as the fact of thinking about one’s own thinking and learning to regulate it. We develop it around 4 years of age and human beings are the only ones who have this capacity.
There is functions of theory of mind that are born in us and others that develop. He represents that when a person develops metacognition, he is able to understand his own mind and that of others. When metacognition is not developed, pathologies such as autism may appear. However, there are techniques to develop.
Types of metacognition
There are different types of metacognition linked to different cognitive abilities. Each of the metacognitive modalities helps plan, organize and optimize thinking. The types of metacognition are the following:
- Memory metacognition: knowledge of memory’s ability to relate and contrast already stored knowledge with new knowledge.
- Metacognition of attention: knowing the ability to focus attention on a specific task or situation. Being aware of the factors that make it difficult to maintain attention helps optimize this capacity.
- Metacognition of understanding: being aware of the ability to understand one or more concepts and use them. Understanding allows us to learn how to learn.
- Thinking metacognition: the knowledge we have of our own thinking. This ability allows us to reflect on how and what we think.
Examples of metacognition
The concept of metacognition or theory of mind is present in areas such as education and psychology, since it is related to the way of think about our thinking and our way of learning.
There are many types of metacognition. Next, we are going to see examples of metacognition:
- Reflect on whether a task is going to be complicated.
- Control the use of in each situation.
- Assess our strengths and weaknesses at the level of cognition.
- Be aware of mental processes that we use in each situation.
- Realize if we use a learning strategy that is not effective.
Predictive capacity of metacognition
Our brain has the ability to predict thanks to metacognition, a fact that helps us reduce the uncertainty of what may happen in different situations and contexts. Let’s present some situations to better understand the concept:
Situation 1
“You’re alone at home, it’s 4 in the morning and you’re sleeping in your room. The sound of someone trying to open the door of your house wakes you up. What do you think will happen next?”
In this case you would surely think something negative, like that someone is trying to break into your house to rob you. This means that your mind has predicted what may happen to help you act correctly at that moment and find the best solution.
Situation 2
“You’re in a bar talking to your friends and suddenly one of them gets up and leaves. What do you think?”
We automatically try to understand why he got up and we are able to think that perhaps a comment has bothered him or that he has to go to the bathroom, for example.
We understand, thus, that the mind helps us develop mental states that explain behavior and understand and predict the consequences that our actions can lead to. And you can not only predict your behavior, but that of the person who is trying to enter your house or the person who has suddenly gotten up from the table. That is, the people around you.
Metacognitive strategies
Can learn to learn and develop metacognitive strategies that do not help make better decisions in each situation. David Paul Ausubel, psychologist and pedagogue, talks about the significant learning versus the rote learning.
Meaningful learning involves the person giving meaning to the information received, relating concepts and constructing new information based on what was previously learned. On the other hand, when we use rote learning, the person makes associations, memorizes concepts and facts without the need to understand the information. It is passive learning since new content accumulates in memory without being associated with what is already known. So this information is more likely to be forgotten.
Metacognition in learning
What is metacognition in learning? The objective in education is for students to develop meaningful learning that takes into account each person’s abilities to generate cognitive skills. When we learn we develop different strategies that allow us to learn, for example: we classify information, make diagrams or associate knowledge to remember it better.
Related to the above, the metacognition ladder is the thinking-based learning process. Next, we are going to see the four phases of this process:
- Be aware of what has been learned.
- Remember the procedure of how it was learned.
- Reflect on the use of what you have learned.
- Be able to use what has been learned in other situations.
Metacognitive strategies
Metacognitive strategies influence how we process information and they help us regulate our learning. However, one strategy is not always good for everyone, so it is important to teach students to be aware of their thoughts and be able to plan, control and evaluate learning.
Some examples of are doing self-assessment exercises after having studied something specific, trying different ways of carrying out the same activity to assess which strategy works best for us or creating conceptual maps to relate different concepts, among many other examples. In short, metacognitive strategies allow us to understand and efficiently develop the acquisition of our knowledge.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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Bibliography
- J. Tirapu-Ustárroz et al. (2007). What is the theory of mind? REV NEUROL, 44 (8): 479-489