Cultural influence on metacognition: comparison across three societies

This study investigates the hypothesis that metacognition—the ability to evaluate one's cognitive processes—is influenced by cultural values. Using retrospective confidence ratings in a mental rotation task across three societies (Saudi Arabia, Portugal, and China), the researchers found that lower individualism and higher uncertainty avoidance correlated with higher metacognitive abilities. Sex-based differences in mental rotation did not translate to metacognitive differences. Metacognitive bias might be linked to cultural masculinity, but independently of metacognitive sensitivity.

Mikhail Ordin, Dina Abdel Salam El-Dakhs, Ming Tao, Fengfeng Chu, Leona Polyanskaya