Contributions of age and clinical depression to metacognitive performance.

One aspect of metacognition is the ability to judge the accuracy of our own performance, even in the absence of external feedback, which is often measured using confidence ratings. Past research suggests that confidence is lower in Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Less is known about the ability of MDD patients to discriminate correct from incorrect performance (metacognitive efficiency). The metacognitive performance of aged MDD patients (62-89y) was compared to an age-matched control group. A younger control group (21-28y) was included to also explore the relationshipbetweenageandmetacognitive performance. We found no difference in confidence bias nor metacognitive efficiency between MDD patients and age-matched controls.We found age-related differences in metacognition:normal aging was associated with higher confidencebut lower metacognitive efficiency. The overconfidence was specifically driven by overconfidence in incorrect trials. Our results point to the importance ofage while investigating the relation between MDD and metacognitive performance.

The relation between task-relatedness of anxiety and metacognitive performance.

It is well established that anxiety influences a range of cognitive processes such as cognitive control or decision-making. What is less known is how anxiety influences the metacognitive evaluations individuals make about their own performance. The present study explored the importance of task-relatedness in the relation between anxiety and metacognitive awareness. More specifically, we hypothesized that induced anxiety would affect metacognitive performance in opposite directions depending solely on whether the threat is perceived as related or unrelated to the performance. We conducted two experiments to test this hypothesis. In both studies, electric shocks were administered randomly, regardless of participant's performance. In experiment 1, participants were informed that the shocks would be administered randomly, unrelated to performance. In experiment 2, participants were told that their metacognitive performance would influence the administration of the electric shocks (i.e. fewer electric shocks with better metacognitive performance). Our predictions were confirmed. Threat perceived as unrelated to metacognitive performance (Experiment 1) decreased metacognitive performance. Threat believed to be related to metacognitive performance resulted in improved performance (Experiment 2). These findings confirm that induced anxiety exerts a strong influence on metacognitive awareness while sparing first-order task performance. We furthermore demonstrate that the perceived relatedness of the anxiety determines whether metacognitive performance decreases or improves performance under threat.

Happy is easy: the influence of affective states on cognitive control and metacognitive reports.

In many situations, engaging cognitive control is required to override automatic responses and to behave in an adaptive manner. However, cognitive control is also effortful and costly which makes it aversive. A fundamental question is how individuals decide to engage or not in cognitive control based on the costs of this effort and the motivation to achieve the goals. In the present study, we explored the hypothesis that affective states can influence this decision by changing participants' subjective experiences during the task. Participants performed a conflict task (arrow priming) and judged their feeling of difficulty after each trial. Affective states were induced by presenting emotional faces (happy, fearful or neutral) at the beginning of each trial. We found that participants subjectively judged happy trials as easier even though they objectively made more errors in this condition. Follow-up analyses revealed that participants engaged less cognitive control with happy than with neutral or fearful faces. We conclude that affective states influence the recruitment of cognitive control and associated metacognitive experiences.

Study protocol for an adapted personal project analysis to measure vertical inter-goal relations on physical activity and diet.

BACKGROUND: The promotion of multiple healthy lifestyles has been implemented as part of public health efforts to prevent and reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases. However, these interventions have shown a heterogeneity in their effectiveness. The pursuit of multiple daily goals may influence overall progress in achieving health goals. Horizontal inter-goal relations can be conflicting (due to time constraints) or facilitating (due to goal compatibility) and impact progress towards goal achievement. Personal values also play an important role in health promotion. Personal values direct attention towards accomplishing a higher-level goal through goal setting. Identifying the conflicting or facilitating relationships between health goals and personal values would provide insights in how individuals value health and the personal values that may support the adoption of a healthy behavior. The health goals that this study will focus on are physical activity and a healthy diet. METHODS: Participants between 18 and 30 years old residing in Belgium and interested in a healthy diet and/or physical activity, will be recruited. The study will be a mixed-methods research study based on an adapted personal project analysis for goal elicitation, goal appraisal, and rating of inter-goal conflicting or facilitating relations on a cross-impact matrix. The main objectives include examining the conflicting and facilitating relations between health goals and personal values. Secondary objectives include: examining correlations between horizontal and vertical goal relations; and the goal self-concordance score as a method of data triangulation of facilitating relations between goals and personal values. DISCUSSION: This study will provide insights into how the emerging adult population relate healthy behaviors, specifically physical activity and a healthy diet, to their personal values. The degree to which individuals are able to pursue a health goal is also influenced by other life goals, and therefore the conflicting and facilitating relations between health goals and other life goals will also be examined. This study contributes to multiple health behavior change theories and has implications for the formulation of interventions for the promotion of healthy behaviors.

The influence of sad mood induction on task performance and metacognition.

In many situations, the ability to make appropriate metacognitive judgements on our performance is essential to make decisions and adapt our behaviour. Past research suggests a strong relationship between metacognition and emotional disorders such as depression. Depressive disorders have been associated with an underestimation bias: depressive patients report lower confidence in their performance than healthy individuals. It is currently not clear whether the induction of a negative mood in healthy participants has similar consequences. Yet, such knowledge would permit to isolate the causal influence of the negative affect on metacognition, free of all the comorbidities associated with depression. In this study, we used a combination of films, pictures, and recalls to induce negative and neutral moods during a perceptual metacognitive task. Negative mood induction had no impact on the perceptual task. Participants did report lower confidence levels in the negative condition compared with a neutral condition. This study thus confirms a causal relationship between negative affect and metacognitive abilities.