ABSTRACT
Metacognition is a term used to refer to a speci®c category of thinking and cognition. It is essentially cognition applied to cognition. Thinking requires metacognitive factors that monitor and control it. For instance, the process of memorizing a new telephone number depends on knowledge of strategies that can be used to modify memory (e.g. rote rehearsal). It requires the initiation and regulation of the rehearsal strategy, and depends on monitoring when it is time to stop rehearsal. In addition, it requires the subsequent accessing of information that drives retrieval of the number as and when required. In this small example of cognition, the act of memorizing requires multiple aspects of metacognition to make it possible. Beyond this example, metacognition is involved in the cessation, perpetuation and modi®cation of thinking, which encompasses the dysfunctional thinking that maintains psychological disorder.
