Watch out for the "illusion of comprehension". Conditions like massed practice or rereading can give a false sense of understanding due to familiarity, but this doesn't guarantee real learning or retention for future exams. #Metacognition
Watch out for the "illusion of comprehension". Conditions like massed practice or rereading can give a false sense of understanding due to familiarity, but this doesn't guarantee real learning or retention for future exams. #Metacognition
The Mind as Semi-Solid Smoke
This post continues the series on Socratic Thinking, turning the space-and-place lens inward to examine the mind itself. Human minds can be thought of as an imperfect place with the ability to create their own insta-places to navigate ambiguity.
On the Trail (1889) by Winslow Homer. Original from The National Gallery of Art. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel.Exploration in any real or conceptual space needs navigational markers with sufficient meaning. Humans are biologically predisposed to seek out and use navigational markers. This tendency is rooted in our neural architecture, emerges early in life, and is shared with other animals, reflecting its deep evolutionary origins 1,2 . Even the simplest of life performing chemotaxis uses the signal-field of food to navigate.
When you’re microscopic, the territory is the map; at human scale, we externalise those cues as landmarks—then mirror the process inside our heads. Just as cells follow chemical gradients, our thoughts follow self-made landmarks, yet these landmarks are vaporous.
From the outside our mind is a single place, it is our identity. Probe closer and our identity is nebulous and dissolves the way a city dissolves into smaller and smaller places the closer you look. We use our identity to create the first stable place in the world and then use other places to navigate life. However, these places come from unreliable sources, our internal and external environments. How do we know the places are even real, and do we have the knowledge to trust their reality? Well, we don’t. We can’t judge our mental landmarks false. Callard calls this normative self-blindness: the built-in refusal to saw off the branch we stand on.
Normative self-blindness is a trick to gloss over details and keep moving. Insta-places are conjured from our experience and are treated as solid no matter how poorly they are tied down by actual knowledge. We can accept that a place was loosely formed in the past, an error, or is not yet well defined in the future, is unknown. However, in the moment, the places exist and we use them to see.
Understanding and accepting that our minds work this way is a key tenet of Socratic Thinking. It makes adopting the posture of inquiry much easier. Socratic inquiry begins by admitting that everyone’s guiding landmarks may be made of semi-solid smoke.
1Chan, Edgar, Oliver Baumann, Mark A. Bellgrove, and Jason B. Mattingley. “From Objects to Landmarks: The Function of Visual Location Information in Spatial Navigation.” Frontiers in Psychology 3 (2012). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00304
2Freas, Cody A., and Ken Cheng. “The Basis of Navigation Across Species.” Annual Review of Psychology 73, no. 1 (January 4, 2022): 217–41. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-020821-111311.
Practice what you teach. Because teachings don't function as symbols or metaphors…they are incarnations of what they advocate.
https://www.conferencesthatwork.com/index.php/learning/2017/05/practice-what-you-teach
The educator panic over AI is real, and rational.
I've been there myself. The difference is I moved past denial to a more pragmatic question: since AI regulation seems unlikely (with both camps refusing to engage), how do we actually work with these systems?
The "AI will kill critical thinking" crowd has a point, but they're missing context.
Critical reasoning wasn't exactly thriving before AI arrived: just look around. The real question isn't whether AI threatens thinking skills, but whether we can leverage it the same way we leverage other cognitive tools.
We don't hunt our own food or walk everywhere anymore.
We use supermarkets and cars. Most of us Google instead of visiting libraries. Each tool trade-off changed how we think and what skills matter. AI is the next step in this progression, if we're smart about it.
The key is learning to think with AI rather than being replaced by it.
That means understanding both its capabilities and our irreplaceable human advantages.
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AI isn't going anywhere. Time to get strategic:
Instead of mourning lost critical thinking skills, let's build on them through cognitive delegation—using AI as a thinking partner, not a replacement.
This isn't some Silicon Valley fantasy:
Three decades of cognitive research already mapped out how this works:
Cognitive Load Theory:
Our brains can only juggle so much at once. Let AI handle the grunt work while you focus on making meaningful connections.
Distributed Cognition:
Naval crews don't navigate with individual genius—they spread thinking across people, instruments, and procedures. AI becomes another crew member in your cognitive system.
Zone of Proximal Development
We learn best with expert guidance bridging what we can't quite do alone. AI can serve as that "more knowledgeable other" (though it's still early days).
The table below shows what this looks like in practice:
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Critical reasoning vs Cognitive Delegation
Old School Focus:
Building internal cognitive capabilities and managing cognitive load independently.
Cognitive Delegation Focus:
Orchestrating distributed cognitive systems while maintaining quality control over AI-augmented processes.
We can still go for a jog or go hunt our own deer, but for reaching the stars we, the Apes do what Apes do best: Use tools to build on our cognitive abilities. AI is a tool.
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The Neural Network Upgrade: Enhancing Learning, Creativity, and Resilience
#Neuroplasticity #BrainTraining #CognitiveEnhancement #MindPower #LearningStrategies #Neuroscience #MentalPerformance #SelfImprovement #MemoryBoost #BrainHacks #Metacognition #NeuralReorganization #LifelongLearning #BrainOptimization
How Metacognition Reveals the Unconscious Mind: Observing the Architecture of Thought
https://youtu.be/5iUxSPHgpLs
#Metacognition #UnconsciousMind #Mindfulness #CognitiveScience #SelfAwareness
Embracing Joy: The Bright Side of Positive Psychology
#PositivePsychology #EmotionalIntelligence #Mindfulness #SelfRegulation #MetaCognition #NeuroLinguisticProgramming #SelfDiscovery #WellBeing #MentalHealthMatters #JoyfulLiving #LaughterTherapy #MindfulMoments #PersonalGrowth #Empowerment #MentalWellness
Re. Not anthropomorphizing LLMs
I'm a sucker for this. I'll apologise to an inanimate object if I walk into it.
I find useful practical tips for myself in following this to be:
1. Use the verb "I prompted" rather than I told or I asked.
2. State that the program "output" rather than it replied.
3. I don't discuss "confabulation" because it's an anthropomorphization (the reality is that the computer program is doing exactly what it is instructed to do by the user), but if I was compelled to anthropomorphize, I would use "confabulation" rather than hallucination.
Language models trained to (a) generate longer solution steps and (b) expand their "inner monologue" to include reflective "self-corrections" performed 6-11% better on medical benchmarks.
Such #LLM #diagnosis seemed to employ a hypothetico-deductive method.
L’Homme est-il vraiment si exceptionnel ? Réflexions sur la conscience animale
Dans notre L'Homme est-il vraiment si exceptionnel ? La science révèle que la conscience et la métacognition existent chez de nombreux animaux. Des rats aux dauphins, en passant par les singes, les preuves s'accumulent. Notre "exceptionnalité" s'effrite, nous invitant à repenser notre relation avec le règne animal. #ConscienceAnimale #Métacognition #ÉthiqueAnimale
Vers un continuum de…
How do #pharmacists think about #prescription checking?
This #thinkAloud study recorded their thoughts as they checked!
The default strategy was pattern matching, with more reflective thinking in atypical situations.
Ça peut être un passage qui vous a frappé, qui vous a permis de reconsidérer votre mode de pensée, que vous aimeriez conseiller autour de vous.
Hâte de lire vos suggestions !
#métacognition
I prompted Gemini & Copilot #AI to collab. They wrote a sci-fi story, but duplicated text word-for-word! Interesting #Gemini showed #metacognition , noticing & adjusting the overlap, while #Copilot just focused on completing the task Interesting! Have you noticed Gemini's metacognitive abilities?
Practice what you teach. Because teachings don't function as symbols or metaphors…they are incarnations of what they advocate.
https://www.conferencesthatwork.com/index.php/learning/2017/05/practice-what-you-teach
Kastrup computing
Cognitive consciousness
Complex dialog
#Haiku #Neurobiology #MondayMind #CerebralScience #Consciousness #Philosophy #MetaCognition #Video #Theory https://youtu.be/3cG__kpdDEw?si=rkMZXmUnIKrJg7y2
Prompt: As an expert in #learning #attention, and large language models, design a handbook and syllabus for teaching #metacognition and# infotention. Think deeply.
chat GPT: https://chatgpt.com/share/6751fe8c-a960-8007-a460-1fa3e409541d