The purpose of this study is to investigate (1) how mathematics instructors develop their students’ metacognitive abilities concretely within mathematics instruction and (2) whether these teachers feel adequately prepared to develop their students’ metacognitive abilities. Qualitative email interviews with credentialed secondary school mathematics teachers in Sweden were used. Analysis of the participants’ interview responses indicate that the participants reported a limited use of the metacognitive teaching strategies described in the research. Although teacher responses indicated stress, frustration, and irritation and their responses indicated limited proficiency in their intuitive declarative metacognitive knowledge of thinking skills, whether or not teachers feel adequately prepared to develop their students’ metacognitive abilities cannot be completely answered by this study.

FundaÃÃo de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Cearà / FundaÃÃo Cearense de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Cientifico e TecnolÃgico / O uso de tecnologias nas sociedades modernas possibilitou a democratizaÃÃo do conhecimento e mudanÃas nas formas de pensar, de agir e de se comunicar. AtravÃs dessas tecnologias, tivemos tambÃm a oportunidade de interagir com um novo modo enunciativo, o hipertexto. Este trabalho compara a leitura do texto impresso com a leitura do hipertexto com relaÃÃo Ãs estratÃgias metacognitivas de leitores proficientes. Para fundamentar nossa pesquisa, apresentamos teorias de leitura, sob uma perspectiva psicolingÃÃstica, e algumas pesquisas realizadas sobre hipertextos. Os sujeitos com os quais trabalhamos, a fim de testarmos nossos pressupostos, foram quinze professores do Ensino MÃdio que demonstraram ser leitores proficientes em texto impresso e que tinham experiÃncia com leitura na Internet. A tÃcnica utilizada para verificarmos as estratÃgias dos sujeitos ao ler hipertextos foi o protocolo verbal, na qual os leitores verbalizaram seus pensamentos simultaneamente ao processo de leitura. Os resultados da pesquisa nos mostraram que estratÃgias utilizadas para a compreensÃo de textos impressos foram tambÃm usadas na leitura de hipertextos. PorÃm, nesse novo modo de enunciaÃÃo, algumas dessas estratÃgias possuem especificaÃÃes, devido ao seu formato. Observamos ainda outras estratÃgias utilizadas pelos leitores ao ler os hipertextos, tais como, fazer leitura previewing da pÃgina inicial, procurar textos mais compactos, observar o tamanho do texto antes de lÃ-lo, preferir textos com imagens e desistir da leitura de alguns fragmentos dos hipertextos. Os resultados dessa pesquisa contribuem para a criaÃÃo de um modelo de leitura que contemple tambÃm a compreensÃo de hipertextos. / The use of technologies in modern society made possible the democratization of knowledge and caused many changes in the ways we think, act, and communicate. Through these technologies, we also had the opportunity to interact with a new way of enunciating: the hypertext. This work compare the printed text reading with hypertext reading in relation to metacognitive strategies from proficient readers. Our theoretical bases are psycholinguistic theories, as well as some researches on the specific kind of texts we investigate. With the purpose of testing our presupposition, we worked with fifteen teachers from Ensino MÃdio, who displayed to be proficient readers when read printed text and who had experience with reading on the Internet. The technique used to verify the strategies the teachers carried out was the verbal protocol: the readers verbalized their thoughts as they read. The results showed that the strategies used for reading printed texts were the same used to understand hypertexts. However, in the reading of the latter, some of those strategies have particular characteristics, due to the format of the hypertext. Other strategies used by the subjects who took part in our research were also observed, while they read hypertexts, like to read like previewing the homepage, to look for smaller texts, to look at the text size before to read, to prefer text with picture, to give up reading some hypertexts fragments. The results contribute to creation of a reading model that contemplate the hypertext comprehension too.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a cognitive and metacognitive intervention program (Caribbean Quest; CQ), on improving cognitive and social self-concepts (i.e., evaluative self-perceptions, including self-efficacy beliefs), executive function (EF), and attention. The effect of motivation on cognitive training derived benefits also was assessed. Motivation was examined both in terms of motivation specific to engagement in the CQ intervention (i.e., state motivation) and children’s intrinsic motivation for learning situations in general. In addition, the relationship between age, motivation, and self-concept was investigated. Participants included fifty-five male children, ranging in age from 6 to 12 years, with teacher reported deficits in EF and attention (29 controls, M = 8.38 years; 26 intervention, M = 8.35 years). The CQ intervention was delivered to children at school by trained educational assistants (EAs). On average, children completed 12 hours of intervention over 6 weeks. During CQ training sessions, EAs provided support to children in their game play, helping them to monitor their performance and utilize cognitive and metacognitive strategies. Each participant completed a battery of tests before and after the intervention, including measures of cognitive function, self-concept, working memory (WM), sustained attention, and intrinsic motivation. Teachers also provided ratings of children’s intrinsic motivation. Following CQ sessions, children’s state motivation was assessed. Pre- and post-test analyses did not reveal significant intervention effects for self-concept. However, given known developmental differences in self-evaluations for children less than eight years of age as compared to children aged eight years and older, self-concept was analyzed separately within younger and older age groups. Results indicated that children younger than eight years of age showed significant improvements on cognitive and social self-concept compared to the control group, suggesting that self-concept may be more amenable to change in younger children. Transfer effects of cognitive training to neuropsychological measures of WM and attention were not significant, although findings trended in the direction of higher benefit for the intervention group. For participants in the intervention group, child-reported intrinsic motivation, but not teacher-reported or state motivation, predicted the extent of change on the self-concept questionnaire and the sustained attention task. Results indicated cognitive self-concept and state motivation increased with age for the younger group of children; for the older group of children, state motivation decreased with age. In sum, results support the use of a cognitive and metacognitive training intervention for improving cognitive and social self-concepts in younger boys with EF and attention deficits. These findings highlight the importance of motivation as a key determinant of change and training derived gains. Future studies should further explore the relationship between motivation and training derived gains to better understand factors that might limit or enhance the effectiveness of cognitive intervention, as well as examine the value of concurrently targeting motivational factors in cognitive intervention. / Graduate

This PhD investigated the theoretical and clinical applications of a meta-cognitive model of psychological disorders in social anxiety. The main objective was to identify potential associations between meta-cognitive knowledge (i.e. meta-cognitive beliefs) and social anxiety. These associations could be direct or indirect via information-processing mechanisms, such as anticipatory processing (AP), focus of attention, and post-mortem processing (PM). The current thesis reports six studies (N = 686).Study 1 explored cross-sectionally the potential contribution of meta-cognitive beliefs about general worry to social anxiety. The results showed that positive and uncontrollability beliefs along with AP were individual positive predictors of social anxiety. Furthermore, these beliefs had an indirect effect on social anxiety through anticipatory processing and the post-mortem. These results prompted further exploration of the nature of meta-cognitive beliefs in social anxiety. Study 2 employed semi-structured interviews to elicit meta-cognitive beliefs that could be specific to social anxiety. High and low socially anxious individuals reported beliefs about anticipatory processing, focusing on an observer perspective (OP) self-image, and the post-mortem. The high socially anxious group reported greater engagement in both AP and focusing on the OP, and spending greater time trying to control AP, OP, and the post-mortem. Moreover, the two groups differed in beliefs about these mechanisms, in coping strategies, and in stop signals. The beliefs elicited informed two new questionnaires that were investigated in Study 3. Each questionnaire revealed three subscales of positive and negative beliefs about AP and about the OP self-image, respectively. The subscales showed good reliability and stability. In addition, the new beliefs revealed further associations with social anxiety. Study 4 investigated whether meta-cognitive beliefs could affect attentional bias in social anxiety. High and low socially anxious individuals completed a dot-probe task with emotional, social and physical words matched with neutral words. The results indicated a potential moderation effect of social anxiety and positive meta-cognitive beliefs on attentional bias. Moreover, meta-cognitive beliefs predicted attentional bias in both social anxiety groups. The above results implicated meta-cognitive beliefs in the maintenance of social anxiety. Study 5 explored whether these beliefs could affect state anxiety in high socially anxious individuals that engaged in either AP or a distraction task prior to giving a speech. The results replicated previous findings that AP was associated with more anxiety compared with distraction. Additionally, uncontrollability beliefs were associated with increased state anxiety before the speech, while positive beliefs interfered with distraction and were associated with the maintenance of anxiety after the speech was over. Finally, Study 6 explored whether a meta-cognitive intervention could be effective in the treatment of social anxiety. In a cross-over design, high socially anxious individuals practiced detached mindfulness and thought challenging prior to giving a speech. The results showed that detached mindfulness was associated with greater reductions in negative beliefs, worry, and the OP. In conclusion, the results of a series of studies support the application of the meta-cognitive model to social anxiety.

Many of the symptoms characteristic of PTSD such as hypervigiliance towards threat, involve attentional processes. The first part of this thesis explored the role of attentional processes in the maintenance and treatment of PTSD. Although general models of anxiety give attentional processes central prominence cognitive models of PTSD (e.g., Foa & Riggs, 1993; Brewin, Dalgleish, & Joseph, 1996; Ehlers & Clark, 2000) assign an important role to trauma memory and place little or no emphasis on the role of attentional processes in maintaining symptoms. Models of anxiety have suggested that attentional bias is automatic (Mathews & Macleod, 2002) or strategic (Wells & Mathews, 1994). Wells' (2000) Metacognitive Model of PTSD is one of the few models to emphasis thinking style and attention rather then memory. In this model attentional bias is thought to be strategic in nature. The evidence reviewed supports a role of attention in PTSD and suggests it may be beneficial to modify this process. Two different attention techniques based on models of bias are reviewed.The second part of the thesis described a randomized controlled evaluation of attentional training technique (ATT; Wells, 1990) on traumatic stress symptoms in a sample of 60 university students, who had previously experienced a stressful life event. ATT is a technique used in metacognitive therapy to modify the control of attention. Participants were randomly assigned to either an ATT group (n = 29) or a control group (n = 31). An emotional attention set shifting task was included as an objective measure of attention. The results supported the hypotheses, ATT reduced intrusions and negative affect, increased self-report attention flexibility and modified performance on the attention set shifting task. The results are consistent with the metacognitive model of PTSD. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed and the results add to studies suggesting positive effects of the technique across a range of disorders.The third part critically reflected on methodological and ethical issues from the above research study. The interpretation of the findings is limited by the student population. It is acknowledged that the results are preliminary in nature but it is believed that the study provides useful insights into the role of attentional processes in the development and treatment of traumatic stress symptoms and provides a basis for studies in the future.

<p>Formal thought disorder (FTD) is a debilitating symptom of psychosis. It is linked to functional deficits and generally demonstrates poor response to interventions. Metacognition has emerged as a potential therapeutic target that may be effective in reducing FTD, as metacognitive deficits and FTD both arise from disruptions in associative thought processes. This study’s primary aim was to determine whether FTD could be reduced with metacognitive therapy. Pre-post changes in FTD severity were assessed using clinician-rated and automated measures in 20 individuals with psychotic disorders who received 12 sessions of evidence-based metacognitive therapy. We also examined whether reductions in FTD were larger when assessed with automated instruments versus clinician-rated measures. Aim two compared associations between FTD and three outcome variables (social functioning, role functioning, metacognition) across FTD-measurement approach. Results indicated that automated FTD, but not clinician-rated FTD, was significantly reduced post-intervention. This effect was more robust within a subsample exhibiting greater levels of FTD. Strength of associations between FTD and outcome variables did not differ across FTD measurement approach. These findings provide initial evidence that a targeted metacognitive intervention can reduce FTD. Effects were strongest for automated instruments, which may be more sensitive to detecting change; however, differences in measurement type did not extend to associations with selected outcome variables. This study provides preliminary support for future efforts to reduce FTD. Large-scale studies with longer intervention periods may further our understanding of the effectiveness of metacognitive intervention on FTD. </p>

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Objective: Social functioning encompasses interactions with people across situations of varying complexity. Given the frequency of observed social impairments in individuals with schizophrenia, there is a need to identify mechanisms that influence social functioning impairments. One proposed mechanism is metacognition, a mental process that enables the integration and interpretation of mental states and experiences. Impaired metacognition can inhibit one’s ability to engage and navigate through our social world. In individuals with schizophrenia, both social functioning and metacognitive deficits are profound. This study examined three hypotheses. Following Metacognitive Reflection and Insight Therapy (MERIT), (1) individuals will show improvements in social functioning; (2) individuals will show improvements in metacognitive abilities; and (3) improvements in social functioning will be associated with improved metacognitive abilities. Method: Using secondary data from a MERIT therapy feasibility study, data collected from the active condition groups (e.g., individuals with schizophrenia, n =16) at pre-and post-assessment were analyzed using paired samples t-tests for primary outcomes and hierarchical linear regressions to assess metacognition as an underlying mechanism of change. Results: Paired samples t-tests found no significant improvement in social functioning or metacognition. In contrast to the hypothesis, metacognitive abilities significantly declined. When subscales were examined, two subscales (self-reflectivity and awareness of others) significantly decreased. The post-hoc analysis found significant improvements in overall symptoms and disorganization. Lastly, metacognition did not significantly predict post-intervention social functioning. Conclusions: Measurement modality and the length of intervention may help explain the null findings observed in this study. The improvement in overall and disorganized symptoms could indicate that symptom reductions precede social functioning and metacognition changes. Given that the results from this trial were not aligned with previous studies, further research is needed to determine the effectiveness of MERIT on social functioning and metacognition in schizophrenia.

No description available.

No description available.

The aim of this dissertation was to investigate whether improving metacomprehension accuracy via the monitoring process impacted learning strategy selection implemented by the control process so that comprehension was also improved. A new paradigm—the multi trial metacomprehension paradigm—was introduced to investigate this aim. Participants studied a text using an effective or ineffective learning strategy, made metacomprehension predictions about their future comprehension, and took a comprehension test; there were three trials of this procedure. The goal was to determine whether metacomprehension accuracy improved—leading to improved comprehension accuracy—for the third trial. Experiment 1 tested whether metacomprehension accuracy improved across multiple trials when compared against single trials. Although no difference in metacomprehension accuracy between multiple and single trial conditions was found, comprehension accuracy did improve with multiple trials. However, for a subset of participants whose metacomprehension accuracy across trials did improve, their comprehension accuracy also improved. Although there was no effect of learning strategy on either metacomprehension accuracy or comprehension accuracy overall, the effective learning strategy produced the highest metacomprehension accuracy on the first trial, leaving no room for improvement at later trials. Metacomprehension accuracy only improved when using the ineffective learning strategy if it was used on multiple trials, but never to the same degree as when using an effective learning strategy. Experiment 2 tested whether improved metacomprehension accuracy affected the control process of learning strategy selection by allowing participants to select which learning strategy to use during the third trial. Participants overwhelmingly selected the ineffective learning strategy, even in case in which metacomprehension accuracy improved across trials. This finding calls into question the theory that improved monitoring accuracy informing the meta level leads to better implementation of control process on the object level. However, while metacomprehension accuracy might be necessary to improve comprehension accuracy—and to result in selection of effective learning strategies toward that end—it might not be sufficient. Students should not just be told to use an effective learning strategy; they should also be taught how to use cues during the monitoring process that are diagnostic of future comprehension.