Julian Matthews

@quining.bsky.social

528 Followers 391 Following

Research Fellow at Queensland University of Technology cognitive science, philosophy of mind, metacognition, consciousness. (he/him) 🇦🇺➡️🇯🇵➡️🇦🇺

A plot from the paper that shows negligible effect of limiting time or motor preparation on metacognitive efficiency measures.

A figure from the paper illustrating the study design:

Three report orders determine the arrangement of task decisions and confidence ratings: (1) decision followed by confidence, (2)decision simultaneous with confidence, and (3) confidence followed by decision.Three report contexts test the influence of reaction time and motor preparation. (1)In the time limited context, participants had 2.8 seconds in total to make the task decision and confidence rating. The response annulus appeared at a new, random angle on each trial. (2) In the baseline context, participants had unlimited time toreport, but the response annulus appeared at a new, random angle on each trial. (3)In the motor fixed context, participants had unlimited time to report, and the response annulus was fixed in the same position on every trial. An orange spot is added to each annulus in this figure to aid in visualising the rotation. This spot was not presented to participants.

A picture of our paper's abstract and title: The order of task decisions and confidence ratings has little effect on metacognition.

Task decisions and confidence ratings are fundamental measures in metacognition research, but using these reports requires collecting them in some order. Only three orders exist and are used in an ad hoc manner across studies. Evidence suggests that when task decisions precede confidence, this report order can enhance metacognition. If verified, this effect pervades studies of metacognition and will lead the synthesis of this literature to invalid conclusions. In this Registered Report, we tested the effect of report order across popular domains of metacognition and probed two factors that may underlie why order effects have been observed in past studies: report time and motor preparation. We examined these effects in a perception experiment (n = 75) and memory experiment (n = 50), controlling task accuracy and learning. Our registered analyses found little effect of report order on metacognitive efficiency, even when timing and motor preparation were experimentally controlled. Our findings suggest the order of task decisions and confidence ratings has little effect on metacognition, and need not constrain secondary analysis or experimental design.

Banner advertising "Metacognition is mentally demanding: revealing the cost and consequences of metacognitive effort". A concurrent talk at the 27th Meeting of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness.

A flow diagram where "time" and "action" feed from a task decision into a confidence rating, causing it to be distorted.

An drawing of someone considering three report orders: 1) decision then confidence, 2) decision and confidence, 3) confidence and decision.

A banner advertising my poster "Metacognition is mentally demanding" at the 2024 Vision Sciences Society meeting.

I will present poster 33.310 on Sunday, May 19 from 8:30am to 12:30pm in the session "Decision making: perceptual decision making 2".

"AI for Cognitive Neuroscience: Exploring new horizons" a symposium with talks by Dr Casey Becker, Dr Tijl Grootswagers, Dr Astrid Zeman, and Dr Patrick Cooper

'The sense of self fluctuates by trimester during first pregnancy' a fascinating open talk by Dr Kelsey Perrykkad for the Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society conference 2023 held in Sydney, Australia

A photo of the festival coffee mug. What a beaut!

The nighttime cityscape of Tokyo from Shibuya Sky

Crates of eggplants with a sign that says: ナス、 100円・1袋