People with bipolar disorder (BD) often show inaccurate subjective ratings of their objective cognitive function. However, it is unclear what information individuals use to formulate their subjective ratings. This study evaluated whether people with BD are likely using information about their crystallized cognitive abilities (which involve an accumulated store of verbal knowledge and skills and are typically preserved in BD) or their fluid cognitive abilities (which involve the capacity for new learning and information processing in novel situations and are typically impaired in BD) to formulate their subjective cognitive ratings.

Eighty participants diagnosed with BD and 55 control volunteers were administered cognitive tests assessing crystallized and fluid cognitive abilities. Subjective cognitive functioning was assessed with the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ), daily functioning was rated using the Multidimensional Scale of Independent Functioning (MSIF) and the Global Assessment of Functioning Scale (GAF), and quality of life was assessed with the Quality of Life in Bipolar Disorder scale (QoL.BD).

The BD group exhibited considerably elevated subjective cognitive complaints relative to controls. Among participants with BD, CFQ scores were associated with fluid cognitive abilities including measures of memory and executive function, but not to crystallized abilities. After controlling for objective cognition and depression, higher cognitive complaints predicted poorer psychosocial outcomes.

Cognitive self-reports in BD may represent a metacognitive difficulty whereby cognitive self-appraisals are distorted by a person’s focus on their cognitive weaknesses rather than strengths. Moreover, negative cognitive self-assessments are associated with poorer daily functioning and diminished quality of life.

Although the effect of aging on episodic memory is relatively well studied, little is known about how aging influences metamemory. In addition, while executive function (EF) is known to mediate the age-related decline in episodic memory, the role of metamemory in aging-related memory differences beyond EF remains unknown. This study aimed to elucidate the effect of aging on metamemory and to clarify the role of metamemory in the age-related decline in memory.

One hundred and four adults aged 18–79 years (50 M, 54 F) performed several EF tasks, as well as a face-scene paired-associate learning task that required them to make judgments of learning, feeling-of-knowing judgments, and retrospective confidence judgments.

Aging was significantly associated with poor metamemory accuracy and increased confidence across metamemory judgment types, even after controlling for EF and memory performance. A parallel mediation analysis indicated that both confidence of learning and EF performance had significant partial mediation effects on the relationship between aging and memory, albeit in different ways. Specifically, poor EF explained the age-related decline in memory, whereas increased confidence of learning served to compensate for this memory decline.

Aging is associated with general changes (i.e., poor inferences from cues) rather than specific changes (i.e., declined activation or utilization of certain cues) in metamemory monitoring. Also, changes in confidence of learning and in EF ability contribute to the preservation and decline of memory during aging, respectively. Therefore, boosting confidence during encoding and enhancing EF skills might be complementary memory intervention strategies for older adults.

Metacognitive deficits are common following traumatic brain injury (TBI), and this has important implications for recovery, social relationships, and rehabilitative outcomes (Chiou et al., 2011; Flashman & McAllister, 2002; Ownsworth & Fleming, 2005). Metacognitive deficits have historically been measured using self-report (Allen & Ruff, 1990; Newman et al., 2000; Sherer et al., 1995; Sherer et al., 1998), which is problematic as individuals with an awareness of deficit cannot accurately reflect on their own condition (Akturk & Sahin, 2011). In the past two decades, studies have transitioned to using more objective measures to assess metacognition, including error monitoring tasks (McAvinue et al., 2005; Yeung & Summerfield, 2012) and tasks using retrospective confidence judgments (RCJs) (Busey et al., 2000). Importantly, both tasks are used to study “metacognition,” but clear distinctions as to what domains these tasks measure has not been elucidated. Additionally, both tasks have been linked to executive functioning broadly, but error detection tasks are uniquely associated with measures of attention and self-reported anxiety (Hoerold et al., 2008; O’Keefe et al., 2007), indicating that there may be distinct processes that comprise metacognition. It is a goal to determine what domains these tasks represent so proper assessments of metacognitive ability can be conducted in this population.

Participants included 23 older adults with moderate-severe TBI and 16 age, sex, and education matched healthy control (HC) individuals ages 53-80. All participants received identical neuropsychological test batteries, including two tasks of metacognition (error monitoring task, RCJ task), neurocognitive tasks of attention (Digit Span - Forward, Trail Making Test A) and executive functioning (Digit Span - Backward, Trail Making Test B), and a self-report measure of anxiety (Brief Symptom Inventory - Anxiety subscale). To determine overlapping constructs measured by the two metacognitive tasks, these tasks were correlated with each other and with an attention composite, executive functioning (EF) composite, and anxiety measure in the TBI and HC groups.

In the TBI group, the metacognitive tasks were significantly correlated with each other (r=-0.47, p=0.022). The RCJ task was associated with EF (r=0.47, p=0.025), but not with attention (r=0.20, p=0.358) or anxiety (r=0.25, p=0.248). The error detection task was associated with EF (r=-0.48, p=0.021) and attention (r=-0.46, p=0.026), but not with anxiety (r=-0.19, p=0.383). In the HC group, there were no significant associations between the metacognitive tasks, or between either metacognitive task and EF, attention, or anxiety.

For older adults sustaining TBI, tasks of error detection and tasks using retrospective confidence judgments measured an overlapping construct, with both having an association with executive functioning and only the error detection task being associated with attention. Interestingly, these associations were not found in a healthy control sample of older adults. Both metacognitive tasks have been used in the literature to measure errors of awareness, but this study provides insight that these tasks are measuring different domains of metacognitive ability in older individuals with TBI. Use of multiple tasks of metacognitive ability in this population can help to describe where the deficits of awareness occur following TBI.

To find how healthy college going participants SRS were affected by a customized Mind Body Intervention (MBI).

We performed a customized online tele-video course based MBI incorporating mindfulness and awareness training over a period of one month in 2021 to MBA students attending the Indian Institute of Management (IIM). Each subject was their own control. We used the World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale (QO-BREF) social relationship sub-scores pre and post intervention to assess participant SRS.

277 MBA students from the IIM with a mean age of 26.89 ± 1.7 were analyzed. Of the 277 students, 90 (32.49%) were female. The MBI decreased the self-perceived Social Relationship score among 277 graduate students. The mean SRS before the intervention was 7.51 ± 1.7 while the mean SRS after was 6.9 ± 1.7. Univariate paired t-test showed a significant mean difference (t = 5.1, p<.001). On a multivariate linear-regression model, the SRS change estimate was 0.46, t-value was 9.3, p < 0.001; 95% confidence interval was 0.37 - 0.56; p-value <0.001.

An online tele-video based customized Mind Body Intervention decreased the self-perceived social relationship score among graduate students at the IIM during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Metacognition is defined as the ability to observe, monitor, and make judgments about one’s own cognitive status. Judgments of learning (JOLs) and retrospective confidence judgments (RCJs) are two elements of metacognition related to memory, or metamemory. JOLs refer to one’s assumptions of their memory performance prior to completing a memory task, while RCJs describe one’s subjective assessment of their memory performance after they have completed the task. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is known to negatively impact general metacognitive functioning. However, the nuanced effects of TBI on constituent metacognitive subprocesses like JOLs and RCJs remain unclear. This study aimed to characterize patterns of brain activity that occur when individuals with TBI render JOLs and RCJs during a meta-memory task. Differences between JOL- and RCJ-related patterns of activation were also explored.

20 participants with moderate-to-severe TBI completed a metacognition task while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Participants were first exposed to target slides with a set of polygons placed in specific locations, then asked to identify the target slides within a set of distractors. Before identifying the target slides, participants rated how well they believed they would remember the polygons’ shape and location (JOL). After answering, they rated how confident they were that the answer they provided was correct (RCJ). First-level time series analyses of fMRI data were conducted for each participant using FSL FEAT. Higher-level random effects modeling was then performed to assess average activation across all participants. Finally, contrasts were applied to examine and compare JOL- and RCJ-specific patterns of activation.

JOLs were associated with activation of the left frontal gyri, bilateral anterior cingulate, left insula, and right putamen (p < 0.01). RCJs were associated with activation of the bilateral frontal gyri, bilateral posterior and anterior cingulate, left insula, right putamen, and left thalamus (p < 0.01). Compared to RCJs, JOLs demonstrated greater left insula activation (p < 0.01). Compared to JOLs, RCJs demonstrated greater activation of the left superior frontal gyrus, bilateral middle frontal gyrus, and bilateral anterior cingulate (p < 0.01).

The areas of activation found in this study were consistent with structures previously identified in the broader metacognition literature. Overall, RCJs produced activity in a greater number of regions that was more bilaterally distributed compared to JOLs. Moreover, several regions that were active during both metacognitive subprocesses tended to be even more active during RCJs. A hypothesis for this observation suggests that, unlike JOLs, the additional involvement of reflecting on one’s immediate memory of completing the task during RCJs may require greater recruitment of resources compared to JOLs. Importantly, these findings suggest that, while different metacognitive subprocesses may recruit similar brain circuitry, some subprocesses may require more potent and widespread activation of this circuitry than others. As such, subprocesses with greater activational needs and complexity, such as RCJs, may be more susceptible to damage caused by TBI. Future research should aim to compare patterns of activation associated with certain metacognitive subprocesses between survivors of TBI and healthy controls.

Research has indicated that racial and ethnic minoritized groups in the United States are disproportionately affected by dementia (e.g., Alzheimer’s disease), and seek help (HS) later in the disease course, if at all. It has also been posited that individuals from different ethno-racial groups have divergent perceptions of the aging process, which may influence HS. These disparities warrant tailored preventive efforts to encourage identification of factors which contribute to HS to enable earlier psychoeducation and enhanced access to resources. The factors which influence HS may differ across ethnoracial groups. Here we examine the relative influence of subjective cognitive decline (SCD), a risk factor for AD, and aging perceptions to HS in these groups.

The current sample consisted of 161 healthy older adults (51 Male, 110 Female), aged 51 to 92 (M=73.43, SD=6.85) with a mean education of 16 years (SD=2.3 years) who performed > -1.5 SD on clinical neuropsychological testing. 26.7% of the sample self-reported as race/ethnic minorities (e.g., Hispanic or Non-Hispanic African American, Asian, Other.) Participants completed a 20-item SCD questionnaire assessing perceived cognitive difficulties in comparison to same aged peers, in addition to measures assessing HS behavior, (e.g., Have you gone to the doctor specifically for memory concerns?), and aging perceptions (e.g., older adulthood group identification, explicit stereotypes, essentialism). Point biserial correlations examined relationships between SCD, HS and aging perceptions, and multinomial logistic regressions examined the contribution of SCD and aging perceptions to HS across majority (White) and minoritized groups (Non-White participants).

In bivariate analyses of the White participant group, HS was associated with SCD (r=0.43, p<0.001) and age group identification (r=0.27, p<0.01), and the latter were also associated (r=-0.19, p<0.05). The logistic regression model correctly classified 86% of participants (same as null), explaining a relatively small proportion of variance in HS, Snell R2 = 0.09, Nagelkerke’s R2 = 0.16. Age group identification was not associated with HS (b=-0.02, SE=0.26, p=0.94, 95% CI [0.59, 1.63] but SCD was (p=0.04). In the non-White group (n=42), bivariate analyses showed that HS was associated with essentialism (r=-0.41, p<0.01; belief aging as a fixed and inevitable process)) and explicit stereotypes (r=-0.42, p<0.01) but not with SCD (r=0.21, p=0.19). SCD was also associated with essentialism (p=-0.32, p<0.05), stereotypes (p=0.32, p<0.05), and age group identification (r=0.38, p<0.01). The regression model correctly classified 88.9% of participants (same as null); neither SCD (p=0.39), explicit stereotypes (p=0.43), essentialism (p=0.72), nor age group identification (p=0.62) contributed to HS when all were considered.

When both SCD and age perceptions are examined together as predictors of HS, SCD alone predicts HS in the majority group. Neither construct predicts HS in the minoritized group—despite significant bivariate associations between HS, aging perceptions and SCD that varied across ethno-racial groups. Findings illustrate that SCD and aging perceptions may contribute differently to HS across ethno-racial groups in the US, and as such may indicate different priorities when implementing HS tools (e.g., screeners for detection of cognitive impairment). Ongoing work is addressing illness perceptions, another key barrier in HS in these groups to further inform on tailoring of services.

Research evaluating mindfulness and cognition has produced mixed results. However, variability in mindfulness has not been previously evaluated as a predictor of cognitive ability. This study evaluated the relation between intra-individual variability (IIV) in mindfulness and cognitive performance.

274 university participants (M=19 years old, SD=1.5; 72.6% female, 67.2% White, 25.6% African American, 3.3% Asian American, 1.1% Hispanic American) completed the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) and the CNS Vital Signs computerized test battery. IIV was computed from the FFMQ facet T-scores. Additionally, high and low cognitive performance groups were formed from the top and bottom 16% of the sample using the neurocognition index (NCI) score from CNS Vital Signs (N=52 high NCI performance and N=46 low NCI performance).

Pearson r correlations were used to evaluate the relation between mindfulness IIV and CNS Vital Signs domains. Mindfulness IIV was negatively associated with performance on the domains of psychomotor speed [r=-.18; p=.003], composite memory [r=-.14; p=.023] and verbal memory [r=-.15; p=.015]. For the high NCI group, IIV mindfulness was positively associated with cognitive flexibility [r=.31; p=.024], executive functioning [r=.33; p=.016] and was negatively related to visual memory [r=-.28; p=.043]. For the low NCI group, IIV mindfulness was negatively related to psychomotor speed [r=-.49; p<.001], composite memory [r=-.32; p=.033] and verbal memory [r=-.31; p=.038]. There was no relation found for individual FFMQ facet scores and CNS Vital Sign domains.

Increased consistency in self-reported mindfulness (lower IIV) was associated with greater processing speed and memory performance in the overall sample. However, the relation been mindfulness IIV and cognitive performance changed greatly in high NCI performers compared to low NCI performers. The low NCI group may be a proxy for poor effort which would explain why more variable self-reported mindfulness was associated with worse performance for processing speed and memory and this could be driving the results for the overall sample. However, our findings for the high NCI performance group are unique and suggest an association between increased variability in mindfulness facets and improved cognitive flexibility and executive functioning. Further study of mindfulness variability and aspects of executive functioning is warranted.

The process of metacognitive monitoring refers to one’s ability to incorporate rapid in-the-moment self-assessments of their cognitive performance. An area of interest within this literature concerns metacognitive accuracy (MA), or the extent to which an individual can discern when their own judgments are incorrect/correct. Much of the work in this area has either focused on school-aged samples or clinical samples, with findings of impairment in metacognitive processes associated with traumatic brain injury, Schizophrenia, cerebrovascular accidents, and Alzheimer’s disease. Notably, decreased working memory and executive functioning are frequently reported in samples with low MA, suggesting a possible reliance on basic cognitive resources in the facilitation of metacognitive processes. Thus, the goal of this investigation was to elucidate potential relationships between individual domains of cognition and higher-order MA. We hypothesized that performance on measures of working memory and executive function would be positively associated with measures of MA.

Data from 87 undergraduate students who volunteered in research for class credit were used. All participants completed a computerized metamemory task where six lists of 12 words each paired with varying point values were first presented to the participants. After each list, participants were instructed to score as many points as possible by recalling words they could remember. After a brief delay, participants completed a recognition task using the words presented earlier and provided a retrospective confidence judgement (RCJ) following each item. A metric for MA, meta d', was calculated using signal-detection theory analysis from the reported RCJs and recognition task performance. Participants also completed neuropsychological tests of attention (Trails A), working memory (WM; Backward Digits), executive function (EF; Trails B), mental flexibility (MF; Trails B/A Ratio), and processing speed (Symbol Digit Modalities). A sequential multiple regression was performed with meta d’ serving as the criterion, with education, age, and performance on neuropsychological measures entered as predictors.

The model indicated that a moderate percentage of the variability (R2 = .201) in metacognitive accuracy could be attributed to the combination of predictors in the model (F (7,79) = 2.843, p = .011). Examination of the regression coefficients indicated that only measures of attention (ß = .638, p = .01), MF (ß = .473, p = .041), and WM ß = .244, p = .024) were significantly related to MA after controlling for all other variables in the model.

The model suggests that working memory, attention, and mental flexibility increased in a linear fashion as MA increased. Our hypotheses were partially supported, while working memory predicted MA, its contribution to the overall model was the smallest among the significant predictors. While executive function was not a significant contributor to the model, MF (a component of EF) was. The largest contributor to the model was attention, which supports prior findings in the literature. This outcome would suggest that while separate from EF, metacognitive processes in neurotypical students may rely on other, more basic cognitive processes. These results may prove beneficial in guiding the development of rehabilitative interventions for MA in clinical samples.

Metacognition refers to one’s ability to make online, in-the-moment judgments regarding their own cognitive performance, and has significant implications for one’s abilities to function in daily life. It has been documented that individuals with TBI often present with metacognitive deficits, and are slower than neurotypical peers in making such judgments. Preliminary attempts have been made to determine how neural contributions to metacognitive functioning differ after injury. Studies thus far have found unique roles of prefrontal gray matter volume and inter-network connectivity in metacognitive functioning after injury, but functional activation directly associated with metacognitive processing has yet to be investigated. This event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study aimed to document differences in functional activation between adults with TBI and neurotypical peers when completing metacognitive confidence judgments.

16 adults with moderate to severe TBI and 10 healthy adults (HCs) completed a metacognitive task while in the fMRI scanner. All participants were exposed to target slides with polygons arranged in various positions, then asked to identify the target slide from a group including 3 other distractor slides. Following each response, participants provided a metacognitive retrospective confidence judgment (RCJ) by rating their confidence that the answer they provided was correct. Meta d', a signal-detection based metric of metacognitive accuracy, was calculated. FSL FEAT was used for processing and analysis of the imaging data. Contrasts were created to model activation that was greater when RCJs were made compared to target recognition, mixed effects modeling was then used to investigate group differences. Cluster based thresholding set to z>2.3, p<0.01 was used for multiple comparisons correction.

Healthy controls performed significantly better on the target identification task (p<0.01), and were faster at making RCJs (p=0.03). Individuals with TBI had greater meta d’ scores (p=0.03). Significant activation beyond what was present during target recognition (RCJ>recognition) was found in left supramarginal gyrus, left posterior cingulate, and left cerebellum when individuals with TBI made RCJs, while HCs showed significant activation in the left precuneus, and bilateral superior temporal gyri. Individuals with TBI demonstrated more activation in the lateral occipital cortex bilaterally and the left cerebellum than HCs when completing RCJs. HCs presented with more activation in the left supramarginal gyrus than the TBI group when making RCJs.

The areas of activation present in both the TBI and HC groups are consistent with previous imaging findings from studies of healthy samples. Interestingly, two structures previously implicated in self-directed cognition and consciousness, the posterior cingulate and precuneus, were differentially activated by the groups. The lack of a common network between the two groups suggests that survivors may rely on separate neural substrates to facilitate metacognition after injury. The TBI group was found to recruit more functional areas when completing the RCJs. These findings, paired with the behavioral data indicating metacognitive performance differences, suggests that neural recruitment may occur after injury to allow for survivors to engage in making metacognitive judgments. Future qualitative investigations of the metacognitive judgments are needed to determine the compensatory nature of this postinjury recruitment.