Introspective Accuracy Is Related To Individual Differences In Brain Structure

White-matter microstructure correlated with introspective ability.

Science | September 2010

In a paper published this week in Science, neuroscientist Stephen Fleming and a team of UK researchers explain that they asked test subjects to engage in a metacognitive exercise while their brains were being scanned. Thoughts qualify as metacognitive if they are thoughts about other thoughts, rather than responses to outside stimuli. In the case of this test, the researchers used a commonly-accepted introspection test. Subjects were asked to do a visual perception test (identifying and rotating objects), and then asked to evaluate whether they performed well on the visual test. The self-evaluation part is what qualifies as metacognitive: You're analyzing your own analysis of something from the outside world.

Fleming and colleagues found that people with more gray and white matter microstructures in a particular area of the prefrontal cortex [anterior prefrontal cortex] tended to be more introspective, which is to say, better at evaluating their own performance on the visual test. People who are more introspective in this way tend to be better decision-makers. Their confidence levels tend to match the accuracy of their perceptions.

... The good news for people who want to heighten their powers of metacognition is that Fleming and his co-authors say it's possible people could "train" themselves to be better at it. The neurons in your brain are constantly changing and growing, so it would be very possible for somebody to do mental exercises that would beef up connections in the introspection area ...

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