Get cognitively fatigued and be more confident! The effect of working memory capacity and cognitive load on meta-reasoning

Abstract

The goal of this study was to investigate the effect of cognitive limitations on intermediate judgments of confidence as one of the meta-reasoning components. This experimental study was conducted with 384 participants who were randomly assigned to two groups with different cognitive loads. The main task at the target level was the Tower of Hanoi, where the participants reported the level of their intermediate judgment of confidence every 45 seconds via a computerized questionnaire that popped up during the problem-solving process. The visual-spatial working memory capacity of individuals was measured with a forward and backward computerized Corsi block-tapping task. The participants in the high cognitive load group performed the dot matrix task before the Tower of Hanoi task. Two-way ANOVA found a link between the additional cognitive load before the main task and the participant's intermediate judgment of confidence during the problem-solving process. Visual-spatial working memory, on the other hand, did not have a significant effect on intermediate judgments of confidence, either alone or in conjunction with additional cognitive load.