Examining Individual Differences in Human Metacognition for Multi-choice Versus Two-choice Tasks
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Haddara, Nadia
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Abstract
Metacognitive ability, or the capacity to evaluate the accuracy of one’s own decision, is a critical faculty that has large implications in the effectiveness of many cognitive functions. Recent investigations have found that individual differences in depressive/anxious traits show a decrease in average confidence ratings on task performance (Benwell et al., 2022; Rouault et al., 2018). However, examinations of metacognition with 2-choice tasks have generally shown poor reliability (Guggenmos, 2021; Kopčanová et al., 2023; Rahnev, 2023), and individual difference research requires methods of investigation that produce high test-retest reliability to be considered valid. Participants completed 2-choice, 4-choice, and 8-choice perceptual discrimination over two days, and the Day1/Day2 correlations were used to determine test-retest reliability of metacognitive measures in the three conditions. Self-report questionnaires assessing trait levels of anxiety, depression, perception of control and self-esteem were collected. We found that, although response choice conditions showed comparatively sufficient test-retest reliability for confidence and metacognitive ability, the 4-choice and 8-choice conditions were slightly more sensitive in detecting a significant relationship between anxiety and average confidence, and between self-esteem and reaction time during the confidence judgement period. Perception of control significantly predicted metacognitive ability regardless of response choice condition. This effect occurred despite high association with the other three self-report measures (anxiety, depression and self-esteem), suggesting that the degree to which one views their capability of controlling outcomes and events in their daily life (i.e. perception of control) is a unique trait individual difference predictor of metacognitive ability that warrants further targeted study into its explanatory power.
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2024-04-27
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Dissertation