If you’ve studied psychology, you are familiar with ‘cognition.’

Thinking, brain power.

Researchers are now studying what they call “METACOGNITION.”

It just might be the key to unlocking the rapid acceleration of learning and self-improvement.

Here’s how…

In cognitive psychology, there are two types of knowledge:

Declarative knowledge.
Procedural knowledge.

This is
Knowing the facts (declarative)
And
Having the “muscle memory”. (procedural)

The more you do the thing, the more knowledge moves from head to muscle!
Skills.

Now, Metacognition is sometimes explained as “thinking about thinking”.

Refers to the mental processes of taking a

“3rd person view”

Of your mind and actions.

In this state of metacognition, we judge, analyze, and iterate on our cognition.

This has applications to self-improvement, especially learning and skill acquisition.

Students who run metacognitive exercises in the context of their studying and learning have better academic performance than those who don’t.

The metacog asks the right questions at the correct times, before, during, and after the event/test/practice session.

Questions like:
What do I already know about this topic?
Am I studying a significant concept or a detail right now?
Or
How did I do in my speech yesterday?
What caused me to experience anxiety this morning?
What mental state is optimal for the task ahead?

With the right questions, you can do anything.

So, question everything.

Until next time,

Jake the Metacog