But I was so sure : metacognitive judgments are less accurate given prospectively than retrospectively

Prospective and retrospective metacognitive judgments have been studied extensively in the field of memory however their accuracy has not been systematically compared. Such a comparison is important for studying how metacognitive judgments are formed. Here, we present the results of an experiment aiming to investigate the relation between performance in an anagram task and the accuracy of prospective and retrospective confidence judgments. Participants worked on anagrams and were then asked to respond whether a presented word was the solution. They also rated their confidence, either before or after the response and either before or after seeing the suggested solution. The results showed that although response accuracy always correlated with confidence, this relationship was weaker when metacognitive judgements were given before the response. We discuss the theoretical and methodological implications of this finding for studies on metacognition and consciousness

The efficacy of determinants of attention bias training in mental disorders

This paper focuses on a method of attention bias training, considering in particular its efficacy and usability in several mental disorders. The results of current meta-analyses and selected experiments indicate possible efficacy of training in case of some anxiety disorders (generalised anxiety disorder and social phobia), particularly in young individuals. Its efficacy in other previously tested disorders such as depression and addictions seems questionable. We analysed moderators of training efficacy considered in previous studies: subjects" age, type of training task, type and location of emotional stimuli, duration of training, awareness of test objective and place of testing (research laboratory or subjects" homes). It seems that greater efficacy of attention bias can be achieved by conducting longer trainings, located in a laboratory, rather than in-house, and using verbal rather than visual stimuli. It is not clear whether participants should be informed of the training objective or whether arranging stimuli vertically is more efficient than horizontally

Memory bias training by means of the emotional short-term memory task

According to major cognitive theories of emotional disorders cognitive biases are partly responsible for their onset and maintenance. The direct test of this assumption is possible only if experimental method capable of altering a given form of cognitive bias is available. The purpose of the study was to examine the effectiveness of a novel implicit memory bias training procedure based on the emotional version of the classical Sternberg’s short-term memory task with negative, neutral and positive words. 108 participants, who completed the PANAS and the CES-D questionnaires, were randomly assigned to the control group (n = 33), the No-Negative group (n = 36), in which the target words in the Sternberg’s task were either positive or neutral but never negative or the Negative-New group (n = 39) in which the negative target words in the modified Sternberg’s task were always new. This training was followed by the recollection stage. Only one of the training protocols resulted in significant effects at the recall stage - individuals in the No-Negative group recalled more positive words and fewer negative words than those in the control group. These results show that it may be possible to experimentally induce memory bias characteristic of non-depressed individuals

Cognitive effects of attentional training depend on attentional control

Attentional bias is assumed to be partly responsible for the onset and maintenance of anxiety by major cognitive theories of emotional disorders. Although much is already known about the therapeutic effects of attentional bias training, only a few studies have examined the mechanism responsible for these effects. In order to test if low-level, cognitive effects of attentional bias training depend on attentional control, 73 participants, who completed the STAI-x2 and the ACS questionnaires, were randomly assigned to a control (n = 37) or attentional training group (n = 36). The attentional manipulation was followed by a search task, during which novel neutral or negative faces could be presented within an array of all-neutral, all-negative or all-positive faces. It was found that individuals with higher ACS score displayed stronger attentional training effects, i.e., they were less accurate in detecting distinctive negative faces, and this effect was not found to be associated with STAI-x2 score. These results show that there is individual variability even in immediate, cognitive effects of attentional bias modification and that special abilities, such as attentional control, might be required for attentional training to be efficient

Confounding in studies on metacognition : a preliminary causal analysis framework

By definition, metacognitive processes may monitor or regulate various stages of first-order processing. By combining causal analysis with hypotheses expressed by other authors we derive the theoretical and methodological consequences of this special relation between metacognition and the underlying processes. In particular, we prove that because multiple processing stages may be monitored or regulated and because metacognition may form latent feedback loops, (1) without strong additional causal assumptions, typical measures of metacognitive monitoring or regulation are confounded; (2) without strong additional causal assumptions, typical methods of controlling for first-order task performance (i.e., calibration, staircase, including first-order task performance in a regression analysis, or analyzing correct and incorrect trials separately) not only do not deconfound measures of metacognition but may even introduce bias; (3) that the first two problems cannot be solved by using simple models of decision-making derived from Signal Detection Theory. We conclude the paper by advocating robust methods of discovering properties of latent mechanisms

Post-decision wagering affects metacognitive awareness of emotional stimuli : an event related potential study

The present research investigated metacognitive awareness of emotional stimuli and its psychophysiological correlates. We used a backward masking task presenting participants with fearful or neutral faces. We asked participants for face discrimination and then probed their metacognitive awareness with confidence rating (CR) and post-decision wagering (PDW) scales. We also analysed psychophysiological correlates of awareness with event-related potential (ERP) components: P1, N170, early posterior negativity (EPN), and P3. We have not observed any differences between PDW and CR conditions in the emotion identification task. However, the "aware" ratings were associated with increased accuracy performance. This effect was more pronounced in PDW, especially for fearful faces, suggesting that emotional stimuli awareness may be enhanced by monetary incentives. EEG analysis showed larger N170, EPN and P3 amplitudes in aware compared to unaware trials. It also appeared that both EPN and P3 ERP components were more pronounced in the PDW condition, especially when emotional faces were presented. Taken together, our ERP findings suggest that metacognitive awareness of emotional stimuli depends on the effectiveness of both early and late visual information processing. Our study also indicates that awareness of emotional stimuli can be enhanced by the motivation induced by wagering.angielsk

Different subjective awareness measures demonstrate the influence of visual identification on perceptual awareness

We compare four subjective awareness measures in the context of a visual identification task and investigate quantitative differences in terms of scale use and correlation with task performance. We also analyse the effect of identification task decisions on subsequent subjective reports. Results show that awareness ratings strongly predict accuracy for all scale types, although the type of awareness measure may influence the reported level of perceptual awareness. Surprisingly, the overall relationship between awareness ratings and performance was weaker when participants rated their awareness before providing identification responses. Furthermore, the Perceptual Awareness Scale was most exhaustive only when used after the identification task, whereas confidence ratings were most exhaustive when used before the identification task. We conclude that the type of subjective measure applied may influence the reports on visual awareness. We also propose that identification task decisions may affect subsequent awareness ratings.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Subjective measures of consciousness in artificial grammar learning task

Consciousness can be measured in various ways, but different measures often yield different conclusions about the extent to which awareness relates to performance. Here, we compare five different subjective measures of awareness in the context of an artificial grammar learning task. Participants (N = 217) expressed their subjective awareness of rules using one of five different scales: confidence ratings (CRs), post-decision wagering (PDW), feeling of warmth (FOW), rule awareness (RAS), and continuous scale (SDS). All scales were equally sensitive to conscious knowledge. PDW, however, was affected by risk aversion, and both RAS and SDS applied different minimal criteria for rule awareness. CR seems to capture the largest range of consciousness, but failed to indicate unconscious knowledge with the guessing criterion. We close by discussing the theoretical implications of scale sensitivity and propose that CR’s unique features enable (in conjunction with RAS and FOW) a finer assessment of subjective states of awareness

Attentional bias training in reducing symptoms of anxiety

Anxiety is related to attentional bias, i.e. a tendency to pay attention to threatening stimuli. This occurs both in individuals suffering from anxiety disorders, and in healthy individuals with elevated levels of trait anxiety. This article is an analysis of a research paradigm, used to modify attentional bias (CBM-A Cognitive Bias Modification - Attention). A growing number of studies indicate that with the help of computer methods such as a modified version of the dot-probe task we can train individuals to direct attention away from threatening stimuli, which in turn reduces symptoms of anxiety. This effect was observed in adults, adolescents and children suffering from social phobia, generalised anxiety disorder and subclinical symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Effectiveness of this method constitutes the evidence for attentional bias being among the causes of anxiety disorders. The article also analyses the still not completely clear mechanisms of CBM-A and limitations of this method