Self-Awareness & Metacognition

1. Self-Awareness & Metacognition March 16, 2010 Psychology 485

2. Outline • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvaD-29pQBY • Introduction • History & Definitions • Self-recognition • Associative processes? • Metacognition • Associative processes, modeling and Behavioral Economics

3. History • Rene Descartes • Cogito ergo sum • I think, therefore I am • Dualism • Cartesian theatre • A place in your head where “you” are watching things happen

4. 1. Self-awareness • Humans are aware of ourselves as animate beings • Control of own behaviour • Mental representation of ourselves • Are animals self-aware? • Mirror tasks

5. 2. Metacognition • Thinking about thinking • Primary vs secondary representations • Assessing internal states is not enough • Knowing that you are hungry isn’t metacognition

6. 2. Metacognition • Assessing knowledge states • Some people know a lot about baseball, some don’t know much • Do you know how much you know? • e.g. “I really have to study for this midterm tomorrow, I don’t know anything!” Know a lot John is a moderate fan of baseball Know a little

7. Morgan’s canon • Do not interpret as higher cognitive process if lower process will suffice • Difficult to “show” secondary representations (especially without language) • Can self-awareness and metacognition be explained through reinforcement history and/or associative learning?

8. Self-Awareness & Self-Recognition

9. Gallup’s Mirror test • A test of self-recognition, self-consciousness • Stages: • Time to adjust/experience mirror • Tranquilize animal and paint 2 dots (visible and control-hidden) • See if animal notices dot, compare to control dot • Animals tested: chimps, dolphins, elephants, magpies, cats?

10. But... It can be trained? • Epstein, Lanza & Skinner (1981) • Trained pigeons to peck at blue dot • Experience with mirror (see blue dot in mirror, peck at origin) • Blue dot on pigeon, under bib • Peck at bib • video

11. Shaping of Self-Observation? Skinner Kinds of questions we ask children reinforces self-observation e.g., “are you hungry?” “what are you doing?” Accurate response likely results in some form of desired outcome (i.e., reinforcement of behaviour)

12. Metacognition

13. Uncertainty monitoring • Do animals know when they don’t know? • Dolpins, pigeons, rats, non-human primates • Testing procedure • Some trials include the option to ‘decline’ • If animals know they don’t know, should decline to answer

14. Uncertainty Monitoring Study phase: Short or Long tone 0.66 0.33 Choice phase: 1/3 Forced Test 2/3 Choice Test phase: 6 pellets if correct 0 pellets if incorrect 3 pellets

15. Uncertainty Monitoring • If animals have metacognition: • Increase use of ‘decline’ option as task difficulty increases • Red-green  not much use of ‘decline’ • Light green-dark green  more use of ‘decline’ • Accuracy is higher on ‘chosen’ tests than ‘forced’ tests • You choose to take the test when you know the answer • Accuracy difference increases with task difficulty • Can associative processes explain higher accuracy on ‘Chosen’ tests?

16. Quantitative Modelling • Smith, Beran, Couchman, & Coutinho, 2008 • Reinforcement of ‘decline’ options creates a “low frequency tendency” to decline • Competes with generalization gradients for each stimulus

17. Quantitative Modelling High Response Strength Decline Threshold Low Short Long Subjective level of stimulus

18. Quantitative Modelling • Reinforcement to decline option creates a constant response-strength tendency • Competes with response-strength of stimuli • Winner-take-all mechanism • Since it is based on subjective view of stimuli, also accounts for difference between Chosen-Forced accuracy

19. Simulation Data • Shows associative processes can explain metacognition • Morgan’s canon?

20. Behavioural Economic Model • Jozefowiez, Staddon& Cerutti, 2009 • Similar to quantitative model, but measures • Probability of payoff • Risk levels (is animal risk-prone or risk-averse?)

21. Behavioural Economic Model Short response Long response 1.0 Probability of payoff at subjective equality is diminished Payoff 0 Short Long Subjective level of stimulus

22. Behavioural Economic Model Short response Long response 1.0 Correct 50% of time, average reward = 3 pellets Decline reward = 3 pellets Payoff Risk Neutral 0 Short Long Subjective level of stimulus

23. Behavioural Economic Model Short response Long response 1.0 Risk Averse Would rather guarantee payoff of 3 than risk no reward Payoff 0 Short Long Subjective level of stimulus

24. Behavioural Economic Model • More on this next week... • When might an animal want to guarantee some kind of payoff? • When might they be willing to “risk it” for the larger payoff? • Model accounts for changing needs, and metacognition • Still doesn’t assume metacognition

25. Awareness & Consciousness • http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/archives/2007/01/010807.html • Is self-awareness/metacognition/consciousness necessary? • Why learn to be self-aware? Evolutionary advantages?