Editing Metacognition (section)

== Concepts and models ==
Metacognition has two interacting phenomena guided by a person's cognitive regulation:<ref name=":7">{{cite journal|last=Flavell|first=J.H.|title=Metacognition and cognitive monitoring. A new area of cognitive-development inquiry|journal=American Psychologist|year=1979|volume=34|pages=906–911|doi=10.1037/0003-066X.34.10.906|issue=10}}</ref>

# ''Metacognitive knowledge'' (also called metacognitive awareness) is what individuals know about themselves and others like beliefs about thinking and such, as cognitive processors.
# ''Metacognitive experiences'' are those experiences that have something to do with the current, on-going cognitive endeavor.

Metacognition refers to a level of thinking and metacognitive regulation, the regulation of cognition and subsequent learning experiences that help people enhance their learning through a set of activities. It involves active metacognitive control or attention over the process in learning situations. The skills that aid in regulation involve planning the way to approach a learning task, monitoring comprehension, and evaluating progress towards the completion of a task.

Metacognition includes at least three different types of metacognitive awareness when considering metacognitive knowledge:<ref>{{cite journal|last=Jacobs|first=J.E.|author2=Paris, S.G.|title=Children's metacognition about reading: Issues in definition, measurement, and instruction|journal=[[Educational Psychologist (journal)|Educational Psychologist]]|year=1987|volume=22|issue=3–4|pages=225–278|doi=10.1080/00461520.1987.9653052}}</ref> 
# ''Declarative knowledge'': refers to knowledge about oneself as a learner and about what factors can influence one's performance.<ref name="Schraw 1998 113–125"/> Declarative knowledge can also be referred to as "world knowledge".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Schneider|first=W|author2=Artelt, C.|title=Metacognition and mathematics education|journal=ZDM Mathematics Education|year=2010|volume=42|issue=2|pages=149–161|doi=10.1007/s11858-010-0240-2|s2cid=143860648}}</ref>
# [[Procedural knowledge|''Procedural knowledge'']]: refers to knowledge about doing things. This type of knowledge is displayed as heuristics and strategies.<ref name="Schraw 1998 113–125"/> A high degree of procedural knowledge can allow individuals to perform tasks more automatically. This is achieved through a large variety of strategies that can be accessed more efficiently.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Pressley|first=M |author2=Borkowski, J.G. |author3=Schneider, W.|title=Cognitive strategies: Good strategy users coordinate metacognition and knowledge|journal=Annals of Child Development|year=1987|volume=5}}</ref>
# ''Conditional knowledge'': refers to knowing when and why to use declarative and procedural knowledge.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Garner|first=R|title=When children and adults do not use learning strategies: Toward a theory of settings|journal=Review of Educational Research|year=1990|volume=60|pages=517–529|doi=10.3102/00346543060004517|issue=4|s2cid=145625791}}</ref> It allows students to allocate their resources when using strategies. This in turn allows the strategies to become more effective.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Reynolds|first=R.E.|title=Selective attention and prose learning: Theoretical and empirical research|journal=[[Educational Psychology Review]]|year=1992|volume=4|pages=345–391|doi=10.1007/BF01332144|issue=4|s2cid=144502687}}</ref>

These types of metacognitive knowledge also include:
* Content knowledge (declarative knowledge), which involves understanding of one's own capabilities, such as a student evaluating their own knowledge of a subject in a class. It is notable that not all metacognition is accurate. Studies have shown that students often mistake lack of effort with understanding in evaluating themselves and their overall knowledge of a concept.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://images.pearsonassessments.com/images/tmrs/metacognition_literature_review_final.pdf|title=Metacognition: A Literature Review|last=Lai|first=Emily|date=April 2011|website=Metacognition: A Literature Review PDF|access-date=23 April 2016}}</ref> Also, greater confidence in having performed well is associated with less accurate metacognitive judgment of the performance.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Molenberghs|first1=Pascal|last2=Trautwein|first2=Fynn-Mathis|last3=Böckler|first3=Anne|last4=Singer|first4=Tania|last5=Kanske|first5=Philipp|date=1 December 2016|title=Neural correlates of metacognitive ability and of feeling confident: a large-scale fMRI study|journal=Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience|volume=11|issue=12|pages=1942–1951|doi=10.1093/scan/nsw093|issn=1749-5024|pmc=5141950|pmid=27445213}}</ref>
* Task knowledge (procedural knowledge), which is how one perceives the difficulty of a task which is the content, length, and the type of assignment. The study mentioned in Content knowledge also deals with a person's ability to evaluate the difficulty of a task related to their overall performance on the task. Again, the accuracy of this knowledge was skewed as students who thought their way was better/easier also seemed to perform worse on evaluations, while students who were rigorously and continually evaluated reported to not be as confident but still did better on initial evaluations.
* Strategic knowledge (conditional knowledge) is one's own capability for using strategies to learn information. Young children are not particularly good at this; it is not until students are in upper elementary school that they begin to develop an understanding of effective strategies.
In short, strategic knowledge involves knowing ''what'' (factual or declarative knowledge), knowing ''when and why'' (conditional or contextual knowledge) and knowing ''how'' (procedural or methodological knowledge). 

Similar to metacognitive knowledge, metacognitive regulation or "regulation of cognition" contains three skills that are essential.<ref name="Schraw 1998 113–125"/><ref>{{cite journal|last=Jacobs|first=J.E.|author2=Paris, S.G.|title=Children's metacognition about reading: Issues in definition, measurement, and instruction|journal=Educational Psychologist|year=1987|volume=22|issue=3–4|pages=255–278|doi=10.1080/00461520.1987.9653052}}</ref> 
# ''Planning'': refers to the appropriate selection of strategies and the correct allocation of resources that affect task performance.
# ''Monitoring'': refers to one's awareness of comprehension and task performance
# ''Evaluating'': refers to appraising the final product of a task and the efficiency at which the task was performed. This can include re-evaluating strategies that were used.

Metacognitive control is an important skill in cognitive regulation, it is about focusing cognitive resources on relevant information.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Meidinger |first1=Paul |last2=K. Vijaykumar |first2=Kausalya |date=2006-10-18 |title=Interrupted cognition in an undergraduate programming course |url=https://asistdl.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/meet.14504201168 |journal=Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology |language=en |volume=42 |issue=1 |doi=10.1002/meet.14504201168 |issn=0044-7870}}</ref> Similarly, maintaining motivation to see a task to completion is also a metacognitive skill that is closely associated with the attentional control. The ability to become aware of distracting stimuli – both internal and external – and sustain effort over time also involves metacognitive or [[executive functions]]. Swanson (1990) found that metacognitive knowledge can compensate for IQ and lack of prior knowledge when comparing fifth and sixth grade students' problem solving. Students with a  better metacognition were reported to have used fewer strategies, but solved problems more effectively than students with poor metacognition, regardless of IQ or prior knowledge.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Swanson|first=H.L.|title=Influence of metacognitive knowledge and aptitude on problem solving|journal=Journal of Educational Psychology|year=1990|volume=82|pages=306–314|doi=10.1037/0022-0663.82.2.306|issue=2}}</ref>

A lack of awareness of one's own knowledge, thoughts, feelings, and adaptive strategies leads to inefficient control over them. Hence, metacognition is a necessary life skill that needs nurturing to improve one's quality of life. Maladaptive use of metacognitive skills in response to stress can strengthen negative psychological states and social responses, potentially leading to psychosocial dysfunction. Examples of maladaptive metacognitive skills include worry based on inaccurate cognitive conceptions, rumination, and hypervigilance. Continuous cycles of negative cognitive conceptions and the associated emotional burden often lead to negative coping strategies such as avoidance and suppression. These can foster pervasive learned helplessness and impair the formation of executive functions, negatively affecting an individual's quality of life.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wells |first=Adrian |date=2019-12-12 |title=Breaking the Cybernetic Code: Understanding and Treating the Human Metacognitive Control System to Enhance Mental Health |journal=Frontiers in Psychology |language=English |volume=10 |page=2621 |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02621 |doi-access=free |issn=1664-1078 |pmc=6920120 |pmid=31920769}}</ref>

The theory of metacognition plays a critical role in successful learning, and it's important for both students and teachers to demonstrate understanding of it. Students who underwent metacognitive training including pretesting, self evaluation, and creating study plans performed better on exams.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Casselman|first1=Brock L.|last2=Atwood|first2=Charles H.|date=2017-12-12|title=Improving General Chemistry Course Performance through Online Homework-Based Metacognitive Training|journal=Journal of Chemical Education|volume=94|issue=12|pages=1811–1821|doi=10.1021/acs.jchemed.7b00298|bibcode=2017JChEd..94.1811C|issn=0021-9584}}</ref> They are self-regulated learners who utilize the "right tool for the job" and modify learning strategies and skills based on their awareness of effectiveness. Individuals with a high level of metacognitive knowledge and skill identify blocks to learning as early as possible and change "tools" or strategies to ensure goal attainment. A broader repertoire of "tools" also assists in goal attainment. When "tools" are general, generic, and context independent, they are more likely to be useful in different types of learning needs. In one study examining students who received text messages during college lectures, it was suggested that students with higher metacognitive self-regulation were less likely than other students to have their learning affected by keeping mobile phones switched on in classes.<ref>Rosen, L. D., Lim, A. F., Carrier, L. M., & Cheever, N. A. (2011). An empirical examination of the educational impact of message-induced task switching in the classroom: Educational implications and strategies to enhance learning. Psicología Educativa, 17(2), 163–177.</ref>

Finally, there is no distinction between domain-general and domain-specific metacognitive skills. This means that metacognitive skills are domain-general in nature and there are no specific skills for certain subject areas. The metacognitive skills that are used to review an essay are the same as those that are used to verify an answer to a math question.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Gourgey|first=A.F.|title=Metacognition in basic skills instruction|journal=Instructional Science|year=1998|volume=26|pages=81–96|doi=10.1023/A:1003092414893|s2cid=141774919}}</ref>

=== Related concepts ===
A number of theorists have proposed a common mechanism behind [[theory of mind]], the ability to model and understand the mental states of others, and metacognition, which involves a theory of one's own mind's function. Direct evidence for this link is limited.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Feurer |first1=Emanuel |last2=Sassu |first2=Raluca |last3=Cimeli |first3=Patricia |last4=M. Roebers |first4=Claudia |date=2015-03-25 |title=Development of Meta-Representations: Procedural Metacognition and the Relationship to Theory of Mind |url=http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jedp/article/view/46791 |journal=Journal of Educational and Developmental Psychology |volume=5 |issue=1 |page=8 |doi=10.5539/jedp.v5n1p6 |issn=1927-0534|doi-access=free }}</ref>

Several researchers have related [[mindfulness]] to metacognition. Mindfulness includes at least two mental processes: a stream of mental events and a higher level awareness of the flow of events.<ref name=":5" /> Mindfulness can be distinguished from some metacognition processes in that it is a conscious process.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hussain |first=Dilwar |date=2015-10-16 |title=Meta-Cognition in Mindfulness: A Conceptual Analysis |url=http://psyct.psychopen.eu/article/view/139 |journal=Psychological Thought |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=132–141 |doi=10.5964/psyct.v8i2.139 |issn=2193-7281|doi-access=free }}</ref>{{Rp|page=137}}