Ch 1 Discussion Questions - Metacognition Text 1 - The 'cell phone' analogy. The listener has control over the input because they can mute the volume, put the call on hold, turn on speakerphone, or make it louder. The speaker might be able to hear some of these alterations, but they might not. The listener can always interrupt, walk around, view distractions, make noise, or fail to murmur during pauses such that the speaker does not feel listened to. The listener could also go somewhere that has poor reception or is so noisy that the conversation is interrupted. This metaphor is incomplete because by creating a conversation between two distinct people, we introduce a separate and independent entity with his or her own priorities and contexts. The conversation is made external, and subject to social conventions and the limitations of spoken language. The use of technology as an intermediate layer is problematic because it has more delays and everyday opportunities for failure than the "internal conversation" that metacognition describes. However, a cell phone conversation does have some points of comparison with metacognitive monitoring, just as the text describes. A phone listener is listening both to understand and to communicate that understanding to the person speaking. While talking to a friend, you might also be trying very hard to think about what is being said and what you should say in reply, as well as trying to think a few steps ahead about what your friend might say in response. Meanwhile you want to make sure that you give all possible signs to your friend that you are listening to her, and if you begin to get off-track or say something you don't intend in response, your close monitoring of the conversation might allow you to correct before you offend or confuse her. One even more modern example worth considering is text messaging. When texting with someone, there is the content of the message, the timing of the reply, and whether the person spent much time composing it. There's also the possibility of autocorrect interfering in what you're trying to say but possibly communicating more about the words you use frequently. Some examples: 2. Some examples of cognitive processes that I am unable to monitor might be one common resolution to the 'tip of the tongue' state -- when the thing you couldn't remember for the life of you suddenly pops into your head while you are doing something else. Another cognitive process that I would find difficult to monitor is a 'lightbulb moment' or sudden flash of insight. It is probably also difficult to monitor the progression of certain kinds of knowledge attained very gradually or when one is very young -- such as asking a native speaker how they learned English, or asking someone how they learned to speak, read, count, assign colors, and so on. They might be able to recall specific events in the learning process, but the multi-year learning process would not lend itself to monitoring. I think that monitoring must specifically require an awareness of the before-state (a "don't know" feeling) and the after-state (a "got it now" feeling), as well as the ability to perceive the process of moving between them.