-Topic: Comparison between neural basis of decision making and metacognitive processes using event-related potentials. (Supported by TÜBİTAK 1001 program)
Whether or not the neural basis of decision making and metacognitive processes is different or the question regarding which neural structure have a role on what stages of the decision process of metacognitive judgments are still unanswered. In the proposed project, two basic and essential questions are evaluated for an answer. The first question is that whether there are differences between the neural basis of metacognition and the neural basis of decision-making processes. In respect to this, the project's first original value: To examine a recent and essential fundamental scientific question, and with this examination using specially designed tasks and different analysis methods. The project's one of the main arguments is that the level of uncertainty during the decision will indicate the similarity or difference between these two cognitive processes' neural basis. From this point of view project’s second question is that whether decision uncertainty has an effect on the relationship between metacognitive and decision-making processes. Considering this, the project’s second original value is that it will examine the effect of uncertainty on the relationship between decision-making and metacognition the first time in the literature, and examine how this effect varies through by task type for different metacognitive judgments (judgment of learning [JOL], feeling of knowing [FOK] and event-related brain potentials [ERPs]) during decision evaluations (decision, re-decision, decision confidence) by source determination and power spectrum methods.
Project Team: Metehan Irak, Can Soylu, Berna Güler, Mert Tütenkan, Soner Yücetepe, Busenur Akbaş
-Topic: The effect of worry on metamemory judgments: An event-related-potential study
Worry, as a cognitive component of anxiety, has a significant influence on metamemory and metacognitive judgments. Worry is a psychological concept, and it is a form of thinking about the future. During the worry which consists of thoughts that are not pleasant and comfortable, people feel that the situation cannot be controlled consciously by trying to direct attention to other things. In this study, we are investigating the effect of worry on temporal dynamics of JOL and FOK under episodic memory task. Participants will be divided into two groups namely low and high worry according to Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ).
Project Team: Berkhan Karslı, Mustafa Yıldız, Can Soylu, Berna Güler, Metehan Irak
-Topic: Metacognition in Patients with Mesial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (MTLE): Before and After Anterior Temporal Lobectomy (ATL)
Epilepsy, a neurodegenerative disease, is a clinical picture characterized by seizures that occur due to sudden, abnormal, and excessive electrical discharges of a group of neurons in the brain. The literature shows that many cognitive functions of MTLE patients are negatively affected. There are inconsistent results in the literature on whether this impairment in episodic memory is also associated with impairment in metacognitive judgments. However, the accessibility framework hypothesis that explains metacognitive skills shows that our recollective experiences play an important role in metacognitive processes. In this project, the participants will consist of three groups: MTLE patients who will undergo ATL, MTLE patients receiving medication, and healthy individuals. In addition standardized neuropsychological tests, participants’ metacognitive performances are measuring using with verbal and visual episodic memory tasks, and associative learning task.
Project Team: Metehan Irak, Bekir Tuğcu, Cahit Keskinkılıç, Berna Güler, Busenur Akbaş
- Topic: Investigating the Relationships between Encoding Strategies, episodic memory, and metacognitive judgments in patients with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders (Supported by TUBITAK ARDEB 1001 program)
In recent years, models which are to explain the cognitive aspect of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) have drawn attention to inconsistency and lack of evidence in metacognitive decisions, because overlap of brain areas associated with metacognitive processes was mentioned. Although it is known that metacognitive decisions are influenced by learning/encoding strategies and type of learned material (e.g. faces, words, places), such elements are neglected in OCD. The first aim of the project is that is to examine the relationship different encoding strategies, episodic memory performance and metacognitive judgments. Second, to investigate the effect of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on these relationships before, after the CBT and also during six-month of follow-up period.
Current Project Team: Tamer Numan Duman, Erol Göka, Hasan Kaya (Ankara City Hospital), Metehan Irak, Can Soylu, İlknur Yaren Pala, İrem Yılmaz, Serra Akyurt, Esra Tafralı, Gaye Özdemir (BAU)
Past Project Team: Merve Özarslan(Ankara City Hospital), Berna Güler, Elif Güldemir (BAU)
Topic: Eyewitness memory and metacognition
The question of whether the eyewitness memory, which contains information about an event witnessed or experienced, is reliable or not remains up-to-date. Studies on the accuracy of eyewitness memory emphasize the importance of the characteristics of the witness, the suspect and the inquiry processes (offering different alternatives, involving several experts in the inquiry process, performing the diagnosis only once, type of feedback given). However, it is thought that metacognitive judgments about the accuracy of remembered information play a key role in understanding these features. In this direction, the present study investigates the effect of correct and incorrect feedback given in the eyewitness memory on the accuracy of the remembered information and the related metacognitive judgments.
Project Team: Aleyna Elmaslı, Berfin Sıla Yalçın, Ceyda Yalçın, Elif Dilsiz, Gökçe Sakarya, Halid Oğuz Serçe, Metehan Irak
Topic: Mentalization, Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms and Eye-Witness Memory
It has been shown that various cognitive processes (need for cognition and mentalization) cause false memories in the eye-witness memory literature. Whether mentalization, one of these cognitive processes, affect the accuracy of eye-witness memory in individuals with obsessive-compulsive symptoms has not been investigated yet in literature. Individuals with obsessive-compulsive symptoms become contaminated through mentalization of a situation that evokes feeling of contamination and disgust. Thus, the aim of this project is to investigate the processes of eye-witness memory of the participants, who watched videos that will trigger the feeling of disgust. As participants who show obsessive-compulsive symptoms will experience these contamination and disgust feelings with more intense mentalization processes, they will make more errors in eye-witness memory.
Project Team: Metehan Irak, İlknur Yaren Pala, İrem Yılmaz, Serra Akyurt, Esra Tafralı, Gaye Özdemir
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