Center for Neural Science, New York University, 6 Washington Place, Room 809, New York, NY 10003, USA.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2012 May 19;367(1594):1338-49. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2011.0417.
Ability in various cognitive domains is often assessed by measuring task performance, such as the accuracy of a perceptual categorization. A similar analysis can be applied to metacognitive reports about a task to quantify the degree to which an individual is aware of his or her success or failure. Here, we review the psychological and neural underpinnings of metacognitive accuracy, drawing on research in memory and decision-making. These data show that metacognitive accuracy is dissociable from task performance and varies across individuals. Convergent evidence indicates that the function of the rostral and dorsal aspect of the lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) is important for the accuracy of retrospective judgements of performance. In contrast, prospective judgements of performance may depend upon medial PFC. We close with a discussion of how metacognitive processes relate to concepts of cognitive control, and propose a neural synthesis in which dorsolateral and anterior prefrontal cortical subregions interact with interoceptive cortices (cingulate and insula) to promote accurate judgements of performance.
能力在各种认知领域通常通过测量任务表现来评估，例如知觉分类的准确性。类似的分析也可以应用于关于任务的元认知报告，以量化个体对其成功或失败的感知程度。在这里，我们回顾了记忆和决策研究中关于元认知准确性的心理和神经基础。这些数据表明，元认知准确性与任务表现不同，可以在个体之间变化。一致的证据表明，外侧前额叶皮层（PFC）的额侧和背侧部分的功能对于表现的回溯判断的准确性很重要。相比之下，表现的前瞻性判断可能取决于内侧 PFC。我们最后讨论了元认知过程与认知控制概念的关系，并提出了一个神经综合模型，其中背外侧和前侧前额叶皮质亚区与内脏感觉皮质（扣带回和岛叶）相互作用，以促进对表现的准确判断。
