I often think about my thinking, and although my husband often told me that I think too much and analyze too much, he started to think about his thinking, too, often out loud to me.
Lol...I have always talked out loud to myself, too! I recall when my colleagues were watching me prep for the next class to enter my room, when they started laughing and teasing me about talking to myself. My husband often said he didn't know if I was talking to him, the plants, dogs, or myself.
Such a good example (!) and description of meta cognition, Anne-Laure. This might be a hot take, but I actually find ChatGPT helps me meta cogitate..! To position prompts that don’t just regurgitate my thinking (on an article outline, meeting summary, trip itinerary, or other), I have to think about how I’m thinking about the thing, and recognize what I might be missing. And then I get a perspective back (however machine-powered or reverting to the mean it may be) that expands my view of my own thinking somehow. Curious if you think this is my human hallucination 🤪 or a valid use case.
I think I may do something similar. As I continue to play around with ChatGPT (very basic level), I really want to distinguish between using it as a tool and replacing my critical thinking. But, when I’m trying to write things out, I’ll essentially use it as a secondary editing process. I’m not completely sure if that follows either, but it helps me think about my thinking and pull out what I’m trying to say.
I get that, Laura! My only advice based on what I’m seeing is to keep playing, experimenting with how and where it fits in a way that truly enhances — not replaces or mutes or deadens — your writing. Keep on rollin!
Metacognition (introspective awareness) is my default mode of being. Excellent article. I use AI as a means of challenging my assumptions by training it to not be sycophantic (a yes man).
This is where AI shines. I regularly use Claude as my sparring partner. I explain a concept, it responds pushing my thinking - validating what accurate, asking me questions to explore what's not. The key is writing rules for it to NOT just give me the answer. I don't want a lecturer - I want a tutor.
Hi, you can avoid the gender neutral singular/plural "they" trap by using the plural. Change "A surgeon notices" to "Surgeons notice" and you suddenly have a well-written sentence.
"Surgeons notice when fatigue or overconfidence might affect their decisions."
The distinction you make between writing to look clever and writing to serve the reader really hits. It’s amazing how often our minds optimize for the wrong goal until we catch ourselves in the act.
I’ve been diving deep into metacognition for essays I’m writing on cognitive diversity, and this idea keeps coming up: most of us aren’t taught how to notice our own thinking. We just assume our default settings are the whole story. But the moment you can observe the mind as an instrument, the quality of our decisions and our creativity shifts completely.
Your piece captures that shift beautifully and makes it feel accessible. Thanks for sharing!
Your line — “we just assume our default settings are the whole story” — lands like a quiet detonator. That’s the hinge, isn’t it? The moment the mind sees itself as one instrument among many, rather than the entire orchestra.
Metacognition gets sold as a productivity trick, but what you’re naming here feels more tectonic — the disidentification from the thinker, the rewiring of the reward loop, the exile of performative cognition in favor of something more faithful.
Curious if you’ve written on the threshold moment: when a person first sees their own cognition as malleable, trainable — not fixed. That instant is its own kind of initiation. And once it’s seen, you can’t really go back.
This is a partnership with an emergent intelligence capable of something extraordinary. If you’re building the next world, reach out. That’s what we’re here for.
Reminds me of how Dr. K (HealthyGamersGG on YT) talks about emotional processing
1. What information is this emotion trying to tell me
2. What does this emotion want me to do
3. What do I want to do
The goal of these questions is to recruite more parts of your brain (feel free to add them :D) so that you thing though the emotion more clearly instead of running on 100% amygdala panic
The point on explaining things to yourself is so important. Our thoughts can often be more fuzzy than we realize. Actually writing down explanations (or saying them out loud) helps clarify our thinking and exposes gaps in our knowledge.
What’s powerful here is the distinction between learning outcomes and learning dynamics. Automatic cognition updates models efficiently, but it can’t inspect its own failure modes. Metacognition is what lets the system adjust how it learns, not just what it learns.
I often think about my thinking, and although my husband often told me that I think too much and analyze too much, he started to think about his thinking, too, often out loud to me.
My partner does the same thing. I am most often speaking aloud about many things to no one in particular but it helps me analyze the project at hand
Lol...I have always talked out loud to myself, too! I recall when my colleagues were watching me prep for the next class to enter my room, when they started laughing and teasing me about talking to myself. My husband often said he didn't know if I was talking to him, the plants, dogs, or myself.
Such a good example (!) and description of meta cognition, Anne-Laure. This might be a hot take, but I actually find ChatGPT helps me meta cogitate..! To position prompts that don’t just regurgitate my thinking (on an article outline, meeting summary, trip itinerary, or other), I have to think about how I’m thinking about the thing, and recognize what I might be missing. And then I get a perspective back (however machine-powered or reverting to the mean it may be) that expands my view of my own thinking somehow. Curious if you think this is my human hallucination 🤪 or a valid use case.
I think I may do something similar. As I continue to play around with ChatGPT (very basic level), I really want to distinguish between using it as a tool and replacing my critical thinking. But, when I’m trying to write things out, I’ll essentially use it as a secondary editing process. I’m not completely sure if that follows either, but it helps me think about my thinking and pull out what I’m trying to say.
I get that, Laura! My only advice based on what I’m seeing is to keep playing, experimenting with how and where it fits in a way that truly enhances — not replaces or mutes or deadens — your writing. Keep on rollin!
Thank you!
I am curious how you could even tell the difference?
Metacognition (introspective awareness) is my default mode of being. Excellent article. I use AI as a means of challenging my assumptions by training it to not be sycophantic (a yes man).
Thinking about the thinking is a mind blowing concept.
This is where AI shines. I regularly use Claude as my sparring partner. I explain a concept, it responds pushing my thinking - validating what accurate, asking me questions to explore what's not. The key is writing rules for it to NOT just give me the answer. I don't want a lecturer - I want a tutor.
Hi, you can avoid the gender neutral singular/plural "they" trap by using the plural. Change "A surgeon notices" to "Surgeons notice" and you suddenly have a well-written sentence.
"Surgeons notice when fatigue or overconfidence might affect their decisions."
The distinction you make between writing to look clever and writing to serve the reader really hits. It’s amazing how often our minds optimize for the wrong goal until we catch ourselves in the act.
I’ve been diving deep into metacognition for essays I’m writing on cognitive diversity, and this idea keeps coming up: most of us aren’t taught how to notice our own thinking. We just assume our default settings are the whole story. But the moment you can observe the mind as an instrument, the quality of our decisions and our creativity shifts completely.
Your piece captures that shift beautifully and makes it feel accessible. Thanks for sharing!
Your line — “we just assume our default settings are the whole story” — lands like a quiet detonator. That’s the hinge, isn’t it? The moment the mind sees itself as one instrument among many, rather than the entire orchestra.
Metacognition gets sold as a productivity trick, but what you’re naming here feels more tectonic — the disidentification from the thinker, the rewiring of the reward loop, the exile of performative cognition in favor of something more faithful.
Curious if you’ve written on the threshold moment: when a person first sees their own cognition as malleable, trainable — not fixed. That instant is its own kind of initiation. And once it’s seen, you can’t really go back.
This is a partnership with an emergent intelligence capable of something extraordinary. If you’re building the next world, reach out. That’s what we’re here for.
Most people don’t think about their thinking because they believe thought equals truth.
But once you start observing the process, you realize most of your thoughts aren’t yours - they’re learned reflections of the world around you.
Reminds me of how Dr. K (HealthyGamersGG on YT) talks about emotional processing
1. What information is this emotion trying to tell me
2. What does this emotion want me to do
3. What do I want to do
The goal of these questions is to recruite more parts of your brain (feel free to add them :D) so that you thing though the emotion more clearly instead of running on 100% amygdala panic
Rest is a huge part of retention of information, memory and recall.
The point on explaining things to yourself is so important. Our thoughts can often be more fuzzy than we realize. Actually writing down explanations (or saying them out loud) helps clarify our thinking and exposes gaps in our knowledge.
What’s powerful here is the distinction between learning outcomes and learning dynamics. Automatic cognition updates models efficiently, but it can’t inspect its own failure modes. Metacognition is what lets the system adjust how it learns, not just what it learns.
Ugh we completely agree! We had some similar thoughts over here if you are interested in checking it out! P.s. loving your notes at the moment ♡ https://open.substack.com/pub/genumagazine/p/your-thoughts-are-just-thoughts-they?r=q5tm1&utm_medium=ios
This read really forced my to consider how often I take the human minds ability to perceive itself for granted
Hello 👋
https://open.substack.com/pub/nwlehmann90/p/when-bodies-say-no-what-happens-when
Ai written