Shyam Barr
Helping people become better, self-regulated learners

Self-Regulated Learning Blog

 

PREFACE

This blog discusses topics that exist between the fields cognitive psychology and leadership, teaching and learning. Although I make connections between research and personal experience (my attempt at bridging the age-old ‘theory-practice’ gap), I write for a general audience. It is as Mihaly Csikszenmihalyi stated in the preface of his book FLOW:

“To take this step is somewhat dangerous, because as soon as one strays from the stylised constraints of academic prose, it is easy to become careless or overly enthusiastic about such a topic” (p. xi)

To avoid carelessness, I will endeavour to include references to journal articles, books and alike (as commonly expected in academic writing), but not at the expense of accessibility and ease of reading. This will be a delicate balance and one I will endeavour to achieve.

To end, I chose the word ‘discusses’ in the first sentence of this preface, to highlight that although the blog articles themselves are very much a dialogue between myself and what I read, I encourage you to share your comments and questions, so that we may start a more authentic discussion. 

 
 

The Possibility of Metacognitive Expertise: Developing the capability to regulate your thinking more fluently and flexibly.

Think back to when you first learned to drive.

You sit in the driver's seat, adjust the mirrors and fasten your seatbelt. Your hands find their position ("10 and 2") on the steering wheel. You check your surroundings, indicate and prepare to accelerate.

Your attention moves constantly between the road and the mirrors. You're observing your speed and, at the same time, the position of other vehicles. You tell yourself to check your blind spot. You remind yourself to maintain a safe distance and anticipate what other drivers might do. Each decision and subsequent action requires deliberate thought. 

Even a relatively short journey can feel mentally exhausting.

Now consider the same journey after many years of driving. You drive with little conscious effort, yet if a vehicle brakes unexpectedly ahead of you, you can respond quickly.

What changes between those early driving lessons and years of experience?

Deliberate practice changes how you translate knowledge into action. Processes that once required deliberate attention become increasingly fluent, while skilled performance retains the capacity to respond to changing circumstances.

Metacognition as a skill

This distinction between knowing something and becoming skilled at doing it has implications beyond driving. It may also have implications for metacognition*.

 

* Metacognition involves our capacity to monitor and regulate our cognitive processes. This includes becoming aware of where you direct your attention and deciding how to manage it. It is often conceptualised as two interconnected processes: metacognitive monitoring and metacognitive control (Nelson & Narens, 1990). Monitoring provides information about our ongoing cognitive activity, while control involves regulating that activity in response. (Check out my TEDx Talk, specifically the 'living room of the mind', to better understand it.)

Interested in exploring metacognition further? I share research-informed ideas and practical insights on metacognition and self-regulation in learning, leadership, and life through my newsletter. Subscribe to receive future articles and reflections.

 
 
 


Educational research has long distinguished between metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive skills (e.g., Veenman et al., 2006). Knowing about cognition, including the strategies available to regulate it, is not necessarily equivalent to being able to regulate cognition effectively (i.e., availability versus production deficiencies).

We can, therefore, think about metacognition as a skill, defined as:

 

"the learned capacity to monitor and regulate mental processes reliably and flexibly across contexts" (Conway-Smith et al., 2026, p. 8).

Why metacognitive expertise matters

So, if metacognition is a skill, what distinguishes a novice from an expert?

Shepherd (2021) identified three dimensions along which skill can vary. Conway-Smith (2025) applied these dimensions to metacognitive expertise:

  • Height: How successfully we achieve a particular metacognitive goal, such as sustaining attention.

  • Breadth: The range of metacognitive goals in which we demonstrate proficiency.

  • Depth: Our capacity to regulate effectively across different circumstances, particularly when conditions become unfamiliar or demanding.

Together, these dimensions suggest that expertise is not simply about knowing more strategies. It concerns our capability to regulate our thinking and adapt that regulation to different circumstances.

However, an intriguing paradox emerges: Metacognition is often associated with deliberate, conscious reflection. Yet Conway-Smith and colleagues (2023, 2026) proposed that, with practice, some metacognitive processes may become increasingly automatic.

Could becoming more skilled at metacognition mean that we need to think less deliberately about thinking?

How might you develop metacognitive expertise?

Drawing on established theories of skill acquisition (e.g., Fitts, 1964; Anderson, 1982), Conway-Smith, West and Mylopoulos (2023) proposed that metacognitive skill develops through three stages, a process known as proceduralisation:

Declarative → Associative → Automatic

  • Declarative: Regulation relies on consciously recalling instructions.

  • Associative: Practice strengthens connections between relevant conditions and regulatory responses.

  • Automatic: Regulation becomes increasingly fluent and less effortful.

For example, someone learning to meditate might initially need to consciously remember instructions to notice when their attention wanders and redirect it. With practice, noticing distraction may itself begin to cue the appropriate regulatory response (Conway-Smith et al., 2026).

However, proceduralisation alone does not explain expertise. Skilled regulation must remain flexible, allowing us to intervene deliberately when circumstances demand it.

Developing metacognitive expertise, therefore, requires opportunities to practise regulatory processes and refine them through experience. Crucially, this practice needs to extend beyond familiar circumstances.

From knowing to skilful regulation

Ok, so back to driving. The experienced driver does not simply know more about driving than the novice. Through practice, many driving processes become more fluent, while deliberate control remains available when circumstances change.

A similar progression may be possible in the metacognitive regulation of our thinking. As you become increasingly skilled, you begin to recognise when your attention wanders without deliberately checking, or notice when an assumption is influencing your judgement and adjust your thinking accordingly.

Initially, these processes may require considerable conscious effort. But with practice, they may become more reliable and require less effort, without losing the flexibility skilled regulation demands.

So perhaps metacognitive expertise is possible.

An upcoming conversation…

I'm excited to share that Dr Brendan Conway-Smith, Affiliate Scientist at Harvard Medical School, whose research I've drawn on throughout this article, has agreed to join me on my new podcast, The Metacognitive Being (launching soon).

We'll be exploring the possibility of metacognitive expertise and what it might mean to become more skilled at thinking about our thinking.

Is there a question you'd like me to ask Brendan? I'd love to hear it.


References

Anderson, J. R. (1982). Acquisition of cognitive skill. Psychological Review, 89(4), 369–406.

Conway-Smith, B. (2025). Metacognition as a domain of skill. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 47, 2646–2653.

Conway-Smith, B., Potash, R. M., & Sacchet, M. D. (2026). Metacognitive skill learning as a mechanism of advanced meditation [Research manuscript].

Conway-Smith, B., West, R. L., & Mylopoulos, M. (2023). Metacognitive skill: How it is acquired. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 45.

Fitts, P. M. (1964). Perceptual-motor skill learning. In A. W. Melton (Ed.), Categories of human learning. Academic Press.

Nelson, T. O., & Narens, L. (1990). Metamemory: A theoretical framework and new findings. In G. H. Bower (Ed.), The psychology of learning and motivation (Vol. 26, pp. 125–173). Academic Press.

Shepherd, J. (2021). The shape of agency: Control, action, skill, knowledge. Oxford University Press.

Veenman, M. V. J., Van Hout-Wolters, B. H. A. M., & Afflerbach, P. (2006). Metacognition and learning: Conceptual and methodological considerations. Metacognition and Learning, 1, 3–14.

Shyam Barr