Obleser Jonas
Department of Psychology, University of Lübeck, 23562 Lübeck, Germany; Center of Brain, Behavior, and Metabolism, University of Lübeck, 23562 Lübeck, Germany.
Trends Neurosci. 2025 Feb;48(2):100-112. doi: 10.1016/j.tins.2024.12.007. Epub 2025 Jan 21.
How do you know you have heard right? Metacognition, the ability to assess and monitor one's own cognitive state, is key to understanding human communication in complex environments. However, the foundational role of metacognition in hearing and communication is only beginning to be explored, and the neuroscience behind it is an emerging field: how does confidence express in neural dynamics of the listening brain? What is known about auditory metaperceptual alterations as a hallmark phenomenon in psychosis, dementia, or hearing loss? Building on Bayesian ideas of auditory perception and auditory neuroscience, 'meta-listening' offers a framework for more comprehensive research into how metacognition in humans and non-humans shapes the listening brain.