Metacognition

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How many of you are aware of "metacognition"? Briefly it can be defined as "thinking about thinking," but the context I want to discuss here is analysis and awareness of your own mental processes. Once you develop the ability to think about your mental function, you can begin to take control of it. It's very helpful with executive function issues and also emotional regulation.

An example that just occurred in my life is I was waiting for my cup to come around to the front of the microwave. I do that because I'm in a wheelchair and need to be able to reach it easier (it's an under-cabinet type). When it comes near, I just open the door. Now I was thinking "While I wait for the cup, I could get my husband's lunchtime pills ready." Then I reconsidered, thinking "no, if I start to do that I'll forget about the coffee cup and it will get superhot. Better to wait." I was thinking about my own thinking process, namely my distractibility which would cause me to forget one task while doing a different one. Knowledge is power. I waited another 13 seconds for the cup to come around, took it out (at the perfect temperature) and then got the pills ready for my husband.

Another example would be if you can catch yourself starting to ruminate about something that usually brings you down, you can decide to do something different and stave off the bad mood.

Other examples would be noticing you learn best at a certain time of day and then using that time to study; and learning test-taking strategies that allow you to guess when it's advantageous and leave an item blank when guessing is penalized.

Anybody use these tricks?

I’m very absentminded, so I need to write appointments down in my agenda immediately or I’ll forget to and miss the appointment.

In college, I had to write to do lists for every task to stay on track.

I need to keep my house pretty clean because when it gets too messy I get overwhelmed and stressed which makes it difficult to clean. I’m more relaxed in an uncluttered house.

Yes, it's part of my survival strategy.
Including being able to identify when there is something wrong with my mental health.
I can't see all the patterns but I see a lot of them and I try use them to function better.

I have some. Like switching (micro)gears is akin the feeling and sensation of catching a ball. It's one of the easiest I could describe.


There are some I do understand -- but that doesn't equally mean acknowledged or accepted.
Then there's the sensitivity causing inconsistency, where there are, like, too many factors to consider. This 'me' at this 'mood', my 'brain' with that 'gut', etc. I'm not always sharp nor always absentminded, not always having the need for caution nor resort recklessness.
Times I have all the desirable traits of executive function and the emotional regulation, times that I flat out don't.
It can change anytime, it can last seconds or months I wouldn't always know. Only few are consistent.

What makes me refuse to accept this was my own desire of wanting to be consistent, my pride, and not wanting to cater my 'worst' just so I won't forget that my 'best' exists and happens. It's like not wanting to forget the fact that my body had forgotten what good sleep felt like and what happens to my cognition with it.

I'm not consistent, therefore most of the techniques I'd knew may as well the next day or even moment that I either forgotten or ineffective.
But most of these -- are outside the usage of alarms and written lists, if I can recall them, had little words or scrambled words to describe it. Any explanations I might have would have to be deciphered through some weird verbal metaphors I keep making up by myself.

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Excellent topic, Bea; it's one of the most important tools in the box, I think, though I don't pretend to be especially good at it! You've given some good practical examples, and magz has pointed out the advantages to mental health; and I'd add that it helps me socially too. I'm aware of what kind of situations I tend to misinterpret or over-react to, so that I can ask for a moment to think or calm down rather than just clumsily treading on everyone's toes. Emotionally, too, much of what's helped me with my Alexithymia is based on self-reflection, in part learned from a good counsellor. The biggest benefit of my autism diagnosis has been to gain a better understanding of exactly those things.

I would sound one little note of caution. I also think there are such things as "meta-procrastination" and "meta-rumination"! I do have to be careful that self-reflection itself doesn't become a rabbit-hole that my executive dysfunction leads me down. But that in no way diminishes the benefits.

You've made me think of the threads here where several interpretations of something are given, each held to be absolute, and often fiercely so, yet contradicting each other - precisely because the question was about something which may have several alternate explanations (e.g. "why did this person who none of you have ever met do X?"). Meta-recognising my tendency towards tunnel-vision and black-and-white thinking is one of the best insights I ever had. A bit more meta-cognition would do WP good too, I think!

On my microwave, it takes quite a few more keystrokes to enter a number of seconds, than to just hit the "1" key which starts the cooking with a time of 1 minute.

Yes, I think mine also takes 10 seconds to go around, or maybe it was 20. But the first 10 seconds would not heat the coffee sufficiently, so that's where I came up with 13 seconds to the next revolution.

I was taught about "metacognition" about 40 years ago by a psychologist...
It was/is enlightening how your inner thoughts can affect your emotional stability/state...
You can actually (mentally) talk yourself into a negative state of mind without consciously realising it, as an example...

I didn't know it had a name, but yes, I use this tool frequently and it is essential for me to improve my life, my skills and reduce my frustration. Your examples are excellent and I do the same sort of things; I'm not as good at articulating them as you have been, so I will just let that be. In order to implement this thought process, I do have to slow myself down and stop and consider.

As I think of it, to me it's way more than being aware of my own thought processes. It's also about other aspects of how I function.
I'm clumsy. I often drop items. But I managed to train special ways of holding plates when washing them up so I don't drop them.
I have no sense of time. Clocks and alarms help me a lot. I love the timer option in my cooker.
I forget things. Routines and procedures help, I don't remember locking the door but I find the door locked and the keys in the right pocket of my trousers. I don't remember removing my jacket but I find it folded in my backpack.
And when I really forget something, I've learned to laugh at my absent-mindedness. That's enormous help, very easily underestimated.