Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T18:20:00.827Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

22 - Metacognitive Monitoring and Control in Monkeys

from Part II - Evolution of Memory Processes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 May 2022

By
Robert R. Hampton
Edited by
Mark A. Krause ,
Karen L. Hollis  and
Mauricio R. Papini
Mark A. Krause
Affiliation:
Southern Oregon University
Karen L. Hollis
Affiliation:
Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts
Mauricio R. Papini
Affiliation:
Texas Christian University
Get access

Summary

Metacognition, or thinking about thinking, can adaptively modulate cognitive processing. For example, a student preparing for an exam may introspectively evaluate what she knows well already so that she can allocate more time to studying material she does not know as well. Such metacognition involves feedback between metacognitive monitoring, which assesses the current state of cognition, and metacognitive control that effects changes in cognitive processing. Some interesting and complex forms of cognition likely involve metacognition. Metacognition is also linked to explicit memory, executive control, theory of mind, consciousness, and other phenomena central to cognitive science. Like learning, memory, and cognition, metacognition is likely present in at least rudimentary forms in some animals other than humans. Information about the extent to which metacognition occurs in animals other than humans informs our understanding about the evolution of cognition. Metacognitive monitoring likely evolved because it supports effective metacognitive control.

Keywords

metacognitioncognitive monitoringcognitive controlexplicit memoryimplicit memoryintrospectionmemory systemsmonkeysprimates
Type
Chapter
Information
Evolution of Learning and Memory Mechanisms , pp. 392 - 405
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bachevalier, J. (1990). Ontogenic development of habit and memory formation in primates. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 608, 457–484. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1990.tb48906.xGoogle Scholar
Baddeley, A. (1992). Working memory. Science, 255(5044), 556–559. www.jstor.org/stable/2876819Google Scholar
Basile, B. M., & Hampton, R. R. (2013). Dissociation of active working memory and passive recognition in rhesus monkeys. Cognition, 126(3), 391–396. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2012.10.012Google Scholar
Basile, B. M., Hampton, R. R., Suomi, S. J., & Murray, E. A. (2009). An assessment of memory awareness in tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella). Animal Cognition, 12(1), 169–180. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-008-0180-1Google Scholar
Basile, B. M., Schroeder, G. R., Brown, E. K., Templer, V. L., & Hampton, R. R. (2015). Evaluation of seven hypotheses for metamemory performance in rhesus monkeys. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 144(1), 85–102. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000031Google Scholar
Belger, J., & Bräuer, J. (2018). Metacognition in dogs: Do dogs know they could be wrong?. Learning & Behavior, 46(4), 398–413. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13420-018-0367-5CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beran, M. J., & Smith, J. D. (2011). Information seeking by rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) and capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella). Cognition, 120(1), 90–105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2011.02.016Google Scholar
Beran, M. J., Smith, J. D., Coutinho, M. V. C., Couchman, J. J., & Boomer, J. (2009). The psychological organization of “uncertainty” responses and “middle” responses: A dissociation in capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 35(3), 371–381. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014626Google Scholar
Brady, R. J., & Hampton, R. R. (2018). Nonverbal working memory for novel images in rhesus monkeys. Current Biology, 28(24), 3903–3910.e3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.10.025CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brady, R. J., & Hampton, R. R. (2021). Rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) monitor evolving decisions to control adaptive information seeking. Animal Cognition, 24(4), 777–785. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-021-01477-5CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brauer, J., Call, J., & Tomasello, M. (2004). Visual perspective taking in dogs (Canis familiaris) in the presence of barriers. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 88(3–4), 299–317. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2004.03.004Google Scholar
Brown, E. K., Basile, B. M., Templer, V. L., & Hampton, R. R. (2019). Dissociation of memory signals for metamemory in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). Animal Cognition, 22(3), 331–341. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-019-01246-5Google Scholar
Brown, E. K., & Hampton, R. R. (2020). Cognitive control of working memory but not familiarity in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). Learning & Behavior, 48(4), 444–452. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13420-020-00432-7Google Scholar
Brown, E. K., Templer, V. L., & Hampton, R. R. (2017). An assessment of domain-general metacognitive responding in rhesus monkeys. Behavioural Processes, 135, 132–144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2016.12.004Google Scholar
Call, J., & Carpenter, M. (2001). Do apes and children know what they have seen? Animal Cognition, 4, 207–220. https://doi.org/10.1007/s100710100078Google Scholar
Cowan, N. (2008). What are the differences between long-term, short-term, and working memory? In Sossin, W. S., Lacaille, J. C., Castellucci, V. F., & Belleville, S. (Eds.), Essence of memory (vol. 169, pp. 323–338). Elsevier Science Bv. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0079-6123(07)00020-9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferrigno, S., Kornell, N., & Cantlon, J. F. (2017). A metacognitive illusion in monkeys. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 284(1862), 6, Article 20171541. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.1541Google Scholar
Finstermeier, K., Dietmar, Z., Brameier, M., Meyer, M., Kreuz, E., Hofreiter, M., & Roos, C. (2013). A mitogenomic phylogeny of living primates. PLOS ONE, 8(7), e69504. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0069504CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Flavell, J. H. (1979). Metacognition and cognitive monitoring: A new area of cognitive-developmental inquiry. American Psychologist, 34, 906–911. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0003-066X.34.10.906Google Scholar
Foote, A. L., & Crystal, J. D. (2007). Metacognition in the rat. Current Biology, 17(6), 551–555. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2007.01.061Google Scholar
Fujita, K. (2009). Metamemory in tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella). Animal Cognition, 12(4), 575–585. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-009-0217-0Google Scholar
Gabrieli, J. D. E., Corkin, S., Mickel, S. F., & Growdon, J. H. (1993). Intact acquisition and long-term retention of mirror-tracing skill in Alzheimer’s disease and in global amnesia. Behavioral Neuroscience, 107(6), 899–910. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0735-7044.107.6.899Google Scholar
Gasbarri, A., Pompili, A., Packard, M. G., & Tomaz, C. (2014). Habit learning and memory in mammals: Behavioral and neural characteristics. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 114, 198–208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nlm.2014.06.010Google Scholar
Hampton, R. R. (2001). Rhesus monkeys know when they remember. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 98(9), 5359–5362. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.071600998CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hampton, R. R. (2009). Multiple demonstrations of metacognition in nonhumans: Converging evidence or multiple mechanisms? Comparative Cognition and Behavior Reviews, 4, 17–28.Google Scholar
Hampton, R. R., Engelberg, J. W., & Brady, R. J. (2020). Explicit memory and cognition in monkeys. Neuropsychologia, 138, 107326. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.107326Google Scholar
Hampton, R. R., & Hampstead, B. M. (2006). Spontaneous behavior of a rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) during memory tests suggests memory awareness. Behavioral Processes, 72, 184–189.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hay, J. F., & Jacoby, L. L. (1996). Separating habit and recollection: Memory slips, process dissociations, and probability matching. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 22(6), 1323–1335. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0278-7393.22.6.1323Google Scholar
Inman, A., & Shettleworth, S. J. (1999). Detecting metamemory in nonverbal subjects: A test with pigeons. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 25(3), 389–395. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0097-7403.25.3.389Google Scholar
Kelley, C. M., & Jacoby, L. L. (2000). Recollection and familiarity. In Tulving, E. & Fergus, C. I. M. (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of memory (pp. 215–228). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kornell, N., Son, L. K., & Terrace, H. S. (2007). Transfer of metacognitive skills and hint seeking in monkeys. Psychological Science, 18(1), 64–71. https://doi.org/10.1111%2Fj.1467-9280.2007.01850.xGoogle Scholar
Malamut, B. L., Saunders, R. C., & Mishkin, M. (1984). Monkeys with combined amygdalo-hippocampal lesions succeed in object discrimination-learning despite 24-hour intertribal intervals. Behavioral Neuroscience, 98, 759–769. https://doi.org/10.1037/0735-7044.98.5.759Google Scholar
McMahon, S., Macpherson, K., & Roberts, W. A. (2010). Dogs choose a human informant: Metacognition in canines. Behavioral Processes, 85(3), 293–298. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2010.07.014Google Scholar
Milner, B. (1962). Les troubles de la memoire accompagnant deslesions hippocampiques bilaterales [Memory impairment accompanying bilateral hippocampal lesions]. In Psychologie de I’hippocampe.Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (pp. 257–272).Google Scholar
Paukner, A., Anderson, J., & Fujita, K. (2006). Redundant food searches by capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella): A failure of metacognition? Animal Cognition, 9(2), 110–117. www.springerlink.com/openurl.asp?genre=article&id=doi:10.1007/s10071-005-0007-2Google Scholar
Poldrack, R. A., & Packard, M. G. (2003). Competition among multiple memory systems: Converging evidence from animal and human brain studies. Neuropsychologia, 41, 245–251. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0028-3932(02)00157-4Google Scholar
Roberts, W. A., Feeney, M. C., McMillan, N., MacPherson, K., Musolino, E., & Petter, M. (2009). Do pigeons (Columba livia) study for a test? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 35(2), 129–142. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0013722Google Scholar
Rosati, A. G., & Santos, L. R. (2016). Spontaneous metacognition in rhesus monkeys. Psychological Science, 27(9), 1181–1191. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797616653737CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sherry, D. F. (2006). Neuroecology. Annual Review of Psychology, 57, 167–197. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.56.091103.070324CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sherry, D. F., & Schacter, D. L. (1987). The evolution of multiple memory-systems. Psychological Review, 94(4), 439–454.Google Scholar
Shettleworth, S. J. (2010). Cognition, evolution, and behavior (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Shields, W. E., Smith, J. D., & Washburn, D. A. (1997). Uncertain responses by humans and rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) in a psychophysical same-different task. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 126(2), 147–164. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0096-3445.126.2.147CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, J. D., Couchman, J. J., & Beran, M. J. (2014). Animal metacognition: A tale of two comparative psychologies. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 128(2), 115–131. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0033105Google Scholar
Smith, J. D., Coutinho, M. V. C., Church, B. A., & Beran, M. J. (2013). Executive-attentional uncertainty responses by rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 142(2), 458–475. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029601CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, J. D., Shields, W. E., & Washburn, D. A. (1998). Memory monitoring by animals and humans. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 127(3), 227–250. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0096-3445.127.3.227Google Scholar
Smith, T. R., Smith, J. D., & Beran, M. (2018). Not knowing what one knows: A meaningful failure of metacognition in capuchin monkeys. Animal Behavior and Cognition, 5(1), 55–67. https://doi.org/10.26451/abc.05.01.05.2018Google Scholar
Squire, L. R., Knowlton, B., & Musen, G. (1993). The structure and organization of memory. Annual Review of Psychology, 44, 453–495.Google Scholar
Squire, L. R., & Zola-Morgan, S. (1991). The medial temporal-lobe memory system. Science, 253(5026), 1380–1386. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1896849Google Scholar
Sutton, J. E., & Shettleworth, S. J. (2008). Memory without awareness: Pigeons do not show metamemory in delayed matching to sample. Journal of Experimental Psychology-Animal Behavior Processes, 34(2), 266–282.Google Scholar
Templer, V. L., Brown, E. K., & Hampton, R. R. (2018). Rhesus monkeys metacognitively monitor memories of the order of events. Scientific Reports, 8(1), 11541. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-30001-yGoogle Scholar
Templer, V. L., & Hampton, R. R. (2012). Rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) show robust evidence for memory awareness across multiple generalization tests. Animal Cognition, 15(3), 409–419. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-011-0468-4Google Scholar
Templer, V. L., Lee, K. A., & Preston, A. J. (2017). Rats know when they remember: Transfer of metacognitive responding across odor-based delayed match-to-sample tests. Animal Cognition, 20(5), 891–906. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-017-1109-3Google Scholar
Tu, H.-W., & Hampton, R. R. (2014). Control of working memory in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition, 40(4), 467–476. https://doi.org/10.1037/xan0000030Google ScholarPubMed
Tu, H. W., Pani, A., & Hampton, R. R. (2015). Rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) adaptively adjust information seeking in response to information accumulated. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 129, 347–355. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/a0039595Google Scholar
Unsworth, N., & Engle, R. W. (2007). The nature of individual differences in working memory capacity: Active maintenance in primary memory and controlled search from secondary memory. Psychological Review, 114(1), 104–132. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295x.114.1.104CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Washburn, D. A., Gulledge, J. P., Beran, M. J., & Smith, J. D. (2010). With his memory magnetically erased, a monkey knows he is uncertain. Biology Letters, 6(2), 160–162. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2009.0737Google Scholar
Yonelinas, A. P. (2002). The nature of recollection and familiarity: A review of 30 years of research. Journal of Memory and Language, 46, 441–517. https://doi.org/10.1006/jmla.2002.2864Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×