Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T08:25:08.732Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Neurocognitive predictors of metacognition in individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 April 2019

M.K. Shakeel ,
L. Lu ,
S.W. Woods ,
D.O. Perkins  and
J. Addington
M.K. Shakeel
Affiliation:
Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Department of Psychiatry, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
L. Lu
Affiliation:
Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Department of Psychiatry, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
S.W. Woods
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
D.O. Perkins
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
J. Addington*
Affiliation:
Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Department of Psychiatry, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background:

Metacognition refers to the ability to evaluate and control our cognitive processes. While studies have investigated metacognition in schizophrenia and clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR), less is known about the potential mechanisms which result in metacognitive deficits.

Aims:

We aimed to investigate whether neurocognitive functions including attention, working memory, verbal learning and executive functions predicted the tendency to focus on one’s thoughts (cognitive self-consciousness) and beliefs in the efficacy of one’s cognitive skills (cognitive confidence).

Method:

Participants (130 CHR individuals) were recruited as part of the multi-site PREDICT study. They were assessed using the Metacognitions Questionnaire (MCQ) as well as measures of executive function (WCST), attention (N-Back), working memory (LNS) and verbal learning (AVLT).

Results:

Cognitive competence was negatively correlated with N-Back while cognitive self-consciousness was positively correlated with N-Back and LNS. Linear regression analysis with N-Back, AVLT, LNS and WCST as predictors showed that neurocognition significantly predicted cognitive self-consciousness, with N-Back, LNS and WCST as significant predictors. The model accounted for 14% of the variance in cognitive self-consciousness. However, neurocognition did not result in a significant predictive model of cognitive competence.

Conclusions:

Neurocognition was associated with an increased focus on one’s thoughts, but it was not associated with higher confidence in one’s cognitive skills. Neurocognition accounted for less than one-sixth of the variance in metacognition, suggesting that interventions that target neurocognition are unlikely to improve metacognitive abilities.

Keywords

clinical high riskmetacognitionneurocognition
Type
Brief Clinical Report
Information
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Volume 48 , Issue 2 , March 2020 , pp. 248 - 252
Copyright
© British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2019 

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

Barbato, M., Penn, D. L., Perkins, D. O., Woods, S. W., Liu, L. and Addington, J. (2014). Metacognitive functioning in individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 42, 526–534.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cartwright-Hatton, S. and Wells, A. (1997). Beliefs about worry and intrusions: the Meta-Cognitions Questionnaire and its correlates. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 11, 279–296.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Flavell, J. H. (1979). Metacognition and cognition monitoring: a new area of cognitive developmental inquiry. American Psychologist, 34, 906–911.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGlashan, T. H., Walsh, B. and Woods, S. (2010). The Psychosis-Risk Syndrome : Handbook for Diagnosis and Follow-Up. New York, USA: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Morrison, A. P., French, P. and Wells, A. (2007). Metacognitive beliefs across the continuum of psychosis: comparisons between patients with psychotic disorders, patients at ultra-high risk and non-patients. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 45, 2241–2246.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wells, A. and Cartwright-Hatton, S. (2004). A short form of the metacognitions questionnaire: properties of the MCQ-30. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 42, 385–396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Shakeel et al. supplementary material

Shakeel et al. supplementary material 1

Download Shakeel et al. supplementary material(File)
File 65.3 KB
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.