Executive Attention and Metacognitive Regulation

doi:10.1006/ccog.2000.0447

Consciousness and Cognition

Volume 9, Issue 2, June 2000, Pages 288-307

https://doi.org/10.1006/ccog.2000.0447 Get rights and content

Abstract

Metacognition refers to any knowledge or cognitive process that monitors or controls cognition. We highlight similarities between metacognitive and executive control functions, and ask how these processes might be implemented in the human brain. A review of brain imaging studies reveals a circuitry of attentional networks involved in these control processes, with its source located in midfrontal areas. These areas are active during conflict resolution, error correction, and emotional regulation. A developmental approach to the organization of the anatomy involved in executive control provides an added perspective on how these mechanisms are influenced by maturation and learning, and how they relate to metacognitive activity.

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^☆: This article is part of a special issue of this journal on Metacognition and Consciousness, with Thomas O. Nelson and Georges Rey as Guest Editors.

¹: To whom reprint requests should be addressed.

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Regular ArticleExecutive Attention and Metacognitive Regulation☆

Abstract

Awareness of disease states following cerebral infarctation, dementia, and head trauma: Standardized assessment

The Clinical Neuropsychologist

Mapping the cingulate cortex in response selection and monitoring

Neuroimage

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder

Scientific American

Behavioral inhibition, sustained attention, and executive functions: Constructing a unifying theory of ADHD

Psychological Bulletin

Mindblindness: An essay on autism and theory of mind

Investigations of the functional anatomy of attention using the Stroop test

Neuropsychologia

Knowing when, where, and how to remember: A problem of metacognition

Learning, remembering, and understanding

Cognitive and emotional influences in the anterior cingulate gyrus

Trends in Cognitive Sciences

The counting Stroop: An interference task specialized for functional neuroimaging—Validation study with functional MRI

Human Brain Mapping

The role of inhibitory processes in young children's difficulties with deception and false belief

Child Development

The contribution of the anterior cingulate to executive processes in cognition

Reviews in Neuroscience

Anterior cingulate cortex, error detection, and the on-line monitoring of performance

Science

Interference and facilitation effects during selective attention: An H215O PET study of Stroop task performance

Neuroimage

Anterior cingulate gyrus dysfunction and selective attention in schizophrenia: An [15O]H2O PET study during single-trial Stroop task performance

American Journal of Psychiatry

The role of the anterior cingulate in automatic and controlled processes: A developmental neuroanatomical study

Developmental Psychobiology

A developmental function MRI study of prefrontal activation during performance of a go–no-go task

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

Functional imaging of an illusion of pain

Nature

Relations between source amnesia and frontal lobe functioning in older adults

Psychology and Aging

Attentional and nonattentional forms of sequence learning

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition

Confabulation: Knowledge and recollective experience

Cognitive Neuropsychology

Localization of a neural system for error detection and compensation

Psychological Science

Pain and Stroop interference tasks activate separate processing modules in anterior cingulate

Experimental Brain Research

The immediate effects of positive and negative feedback signals

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Arousal, affect, and attention as components of temperament

Journal of Personality & Social Psychology

Neuropsychological insights into the meaning of object concept development

The performance of human infants on a measure of frontal cortex function, the delayed response task

Developmental Psychobiology

Toward understanding commonalities in the development of object search, detour navigation, categorization, and speech perception

Disorganization of behavior after frontal lobe damage

Journal of Cognitive Neuropsychology

Attention, intelligence, and the frontal lobes

Attention metaphors: How metaphors guide the cognitive psychology of attention

Cognitive Science

Metacognition and cognitive monitoring: A new area of cognitive development inquiry

American Psychologist

Children's knowledge about the mind

Annual Review of Psychology

Developmental changes in memorization processes

Cognitive Psychology

Cognitive development

The neuropsychology of schizophrenia

Interacting minds—A biological basis

Science

Metacognition and executive control

A neural system for error detection and compensation

Psychological Science

Regional brain activity when selecting response despite interference: An H215O PET study of the Stroop and an emotional Stroop

Human Brain Mapping

The relationship between cognition and action: Performance of children 3 1/2 –7 years old on a Stroop-like day–night test

Cognition

Modeling other minds

Neuroreport

Distress and attention interactions in early infancy

Motivation & Emotion

Toward a functional analysis of the basal ganglia

Regular Article
Executive Attention and Metacognitive Regulation☆

Interference and facilitation effects during selective attention: An H₂¹⁵O PET study of Stroop task performance

Anterior cingulate gyrus dysfunction and selective attention in schizophrenia: An [¹⁵O]H₂O PET study during single-trial Stroop task performance

Regional brain activity when selecting response despite interference: An H₂¹⁵O PET study of the Stroop and an emotional Stroop