Skip to main content

Metacognitive Skills

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology
  • 23 Accesses

Definition

Metacognitive skills are strategies applied consciously or automatically during learning, cognitive activity, and communication to manipulate cognitive processes before, during, or after a cognitive activity (Flavell 1976, 1979). Examples are executive function processes such as verbal mediation, self-regulation, planning, judgment, and self-monitoring.

Current Knowledge

Application of metacognitive skills allows one to be aware of one’s own beliefs, attitudes, and experiences, to relate those internal states to the external environment and events in order to construct meaning from information, to infer the mental states of others (theory of mind), and to draw implications about the motives and intentions of others. Metacognitive skills contribute to an individual’s communicative competence during interaction with one or more communication partners through pragmatics or the social use of language. Metacognitive skills in the form of pragmatic skills allow a speaker to...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 899.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 1,099.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References and Readings

  • Flavell, J. H. (1976). Metacognitive aspects of problem solving. In L. B. Resnick (Ed.), The nature of intelligence (pp. 231–236). Hillsdale: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flavell, J. H. (1979). Metacognition and cognitive monitoring: A new area of cognitive-developmental inquiry. American Psychologist, 34, 906–911.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fleming, S. M., & Dolan, R. J. (2012). The neural basis of metacognitive ability. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 367(1594), 1338–1349.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Magno, C. (2010). The role of metacognitive skills in developing critical thinking. Metacognition Learning, 5(137), 137–156.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Metcalf, J. (2009). Metacognitive judgments and control of study. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18, 159–163.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shimamura, A. P. (2000). Toward a cognitive neuroscience of metacognition. Consciousness and Cognition, 9, 313–323.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sohlberg, M. M., & Mateer, C. A. (2001). Management of dysexecutive symptoms. In M. M. Sohlberg & C. A. Mateer (Eds.), Cognitive rehabilitation: An integrative neuropsychological approach (pp. 230–268, 337–369). New York: The Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Veenman, M. V. J., & Spaans, M. A. (2005). Relation between intellectual and metacognitive skills: Age and task differences. Learning and Individual Differences, 15(2), 159–176.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Janet P. Patterson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG (outside the USA)

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

P. Patterson, J. (2018). Metacognitive Skills. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_897

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics