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Soutenance
Le 19 juin 2025
Saint-Martin-d'Hères - Domaine universitaire
Spontaneous Metacognitive Experiences
Abstract: There has recently been an upsurge of interest in using metacognitive paradigms to experimentally explore consciousness and cognitive processes such as episodic memory. Such laboratory-based research tends to overlook spontaneous experiences, which rather than being provoked by reflective questioning in laboratory settings (e.g. How confident are you that this is the correct response?) arise unexpectedly in daily life. This research examined a range of such spontaneous metacognitive experiences—including déjà vu, jamais vu, tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) states, and error detection—as well as spontaneous thoughts such as involuntary autobiographical memories (IAMs) and zoning out. Employing a multimethod approach, four studies investigated the nature, interrelations, and cognitive processes of these phenomena. In Study 1, (large online survey across, France, Poland and Pakistan; n=860), findings indicated that individuals who frequently experienced one form of spontaneous metacognition were more likely to report others, suggesting shared underlying mechanisms. These experiences exhibited common phenomenological characteristics, including spontaneity, transiency, and lack of intentional control. Cultural variations were observed, with lower reported incidence and frequency of the six phenomena in Pakistan compared to France and Poland. In Study 2, this same large-scale online questionnaire was analysed using both ChatGPT-3.5 and ChatGPT-4, which demonstrated strong performance in classifying descriptions of déjà vu, jamais vu, TOT states, error detection, IAMs, and zoning out. The alignment between AI and human participant classification suggested that these descriptions reliably captured the intended experiences. This method provided a promising tool for analysing large qualitative datasets, with high consistency and reduced experimenter bias. In Study 3, these six spontaneous phenomena were analysed in patients with epilepsy (n=71) and were compared with control groups (n=96). Results demonstrated that the epilepsy group reported low incidence and frequency of these phenomena, with some patients reporting at least one of the experiences with much higher frequency and unique classification. These findings indicated that while spontaneous cognitive experiences may be shared across populations, their occurrence, subjective interpretation and classification may differ in a meaningful way in individuals with and without epilepsy. In Study 4 (n=96), an experimental replication of the involuntary memory induction paradigm (Schlagman & Kvavilishvali, 2008) demonstrated that low-demand tasks facilitated mind wandering, with environmental cues triggering both IAMs and spontaneous metacognitive experiences such as déjà vu. Taken together, the research contributes to both theoretical and applied domains by providing a comprehensive understanding of the nature, mechanisms, and cross-cultural expression of spontaneous metacognitive and cognitive experiences. This thesis is among the first to examine these experiences collectively within the same participants and across multiple methodological designs, contributing to a more nuanced understanding of how people monitor, interpret, and reflect on their own cognition.
Professor, University of Hertfordshire– Rapporteur
Date
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Saint-Martin-d'Hères - Domaine universitaire
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