Monkey Metacognition Could Generate More Insight

• Authors: Robert Hampton, Emory University
• Journal Title: Animal Behavior and Cognition
• Volume: Volume 6, Number 4
• Publisher: Unicus | 2019-11-01, Pages 230-235
• Type of Work: Article | Final Publisher PDF
• Publisher DOI: http://doi.org/10.26451/abc.06.04.02.2019
• Subjects: Psychology, Cognitive; Biology, Neuroscience
• Keywords: introspection; primate; cognitive control; explicit; implicit

Abstract

Monkeys demonstrate metacognition by avoiding memory tests when they forget, seeking information when ignorant, and gambling sensibly after making judgments. Some of this metacognition appears to be based on introspection of private mental states. It is likely that nonhuman cognitive systems, like human systems, differ in accessibility to such introspective metacognition, and the extent to which differences in access map to explicit and implicit cognition will be an important topic for future work. It will be exciting to learn more about the distribution of metacognition among species, and the conditions under which metacognition evolves.