Metacognition and Stencil Stacking

[waxwing]

This is pretty neat. There are sixty color geometric pattern items to stack, so only attempt if you have a little free time. Go to "Try Stencils 1 (12-20 minutes for 60 items)."


http://www.ldrc.ca/projects/projects.php?id=23


Summary Results for User 1504

MeasureUser 1504
Pass Score 50
Failed Score 10
Pass Percentage 83%
Average Reaction Time 17.983 n=63
Average Post Reaction Time 4.058 n=63
Average ESD Reaction Time 3.476 n=63
Average Reaction Time on Failed 26.90 n=13
Average Post Reaction Time on Failed 3.064 n=13
Average ESD Reaction Time on Failed 2.714 n=13
Average Reaction Time on Passed 22.659 n=50
Average Post Reaction Time on Passed 4.317 n=50
Average ESD Reaction Time on Passed 3.674 n=50


Metacognitive Behaviour

Pre Failure Reflectivity 0.001 n=13
Post Failure Reflectivity 0.755 n=13
Pre Success Reflectivity 1.260 n=50
Post Success Reflectivity 1.063 n=50
Post Failure Difficulty Judgement 0.780 n=13
Post Success Difficulty Judgement 1.056 n=50

[Hexchild]

Summary Results for User 1509

Measure User 1509
Pass Score 57
Failed Score 3
Pass Percentage 95%
Average Reaction Time 6.097 n=60
Average Post Reaction Time 1.995 n=60
Average ESD Reaction Time 2.173 n=60
Average Reaction Time on Failed 9.693 n=3
Average Post Reaction Time on Failed 12.63 n=3
Average ESD Reaction Time on Failed 4.903 n=3
Average Reaction Time on Passed 5.907 n=57
Average Post Reaction Time on Passed 1.435 n=57
Average ESD Reaction Time on Passed 2.030 n=57


Metacognitive Behaviour

Pre Failure Reflectivity 1.589 n=3
Post Failure Reflectivity 6.330 n=3
Pre Success Reflectivity 0.968 n=57
Post Success Reflectivity 0.719 n=57
Post Failure Difficulty Judgement 2.256 n=3
Post Success Difficulty Judgement 0.934 n=57

[waxwing]

I'm not sure what to make of my metacognitive behavior. It seems to suggest that I take less time overall for failures, and that I don't really think about my mistakes (at least in this context). I am wondering why it would appear that I take more time to reflect on successes.

Any ideas, Hex?

[Hexchild]

I'm not sure what to make of my metacognitive behavior. It seems to suggest that I take less time overall for failures, and that I don't really think about my mistakes (at least in this context). I am wondering why it would appear that I take more time to reflect on successes.

Any ideas, Hex?

It's hard to tell with so little information, but since you did ask:

First of all, while your results show a correlation between the time you took reflecting on a task and whether or not you made a mistake with said task, which is causing which is not revealed here in any reliable fashion (the correlation might also be the result of some other, external factor, but that seems less probable). But the fact that your "pre failure" reflectivity is next to none does suggest vaguely (but again, not reliably) that in those cases you might have come up with the wrong answer because you didn't reflect much on the solution.

On the other hand, I think it stands to reason that the things we take the most time to reflect on are the ones that we feel we need to either resolve or evolve. Assuming there is something substantial that can be derived from this, at first glance a couple of vague theories come up.

One possibility is that at some level you might expect failure from yourself and thus become surprised and therefore reflective when you succeed. If this is the case, I think you should give yourself a lot more credit than you do.

Another possibility is that you may have conditioned yourself into inherently ignoring anything that looks like failure, or seems too difficult to be of interest, essentially leaving those things behind because they might not be worth your effort. If this is the case, you probably need to find some balance between that practice and the fact that mistakes are what you learn from.


I might be way off though. I'm not an expert on physhology and, frankly, I don't think I know you well enough to make any qualified guesses about what goes on in your mind. So I'd be somewhat surprised if either theory resonates with you at all :)

[waxwing]

It's hard to tell with so little information, but since you did ask:

First of all, while your results show a correlation between the time you took reflecting on a task and whether or not you made a mistake with said task, which is causing which is not revealed here in any reliable fashion (the correlation might also be the result of some other, external factor, but that seems less probable). But the fact that your "pre failure" reflectivity is next to none does suggest vaguely (but again, not reliably) that in those cases you might have come up with the wrong answer because you didn't reflect much on the solution.

On the other hand, I think it stands to reason that the things we take the most time to reflect on are the ones that we feel we need to either resolve or evolve. Assuming there is something substantial that can be derived from this, at first glance a couple of vague theories come up.

One possibility is that at some level you might expect failure from yourself and thus become surprised and therefore reflective when you succeed. If this is the case, I think you should give yourself a lot more credit than you do.

Another possibility is that you may have conditioned yourself into inherently ignoring anything that looks like failure, or seems too difficult to be of interest, essentially leaving those things behind because they might not be worth your effort. If this is the case, you probably need to find some balance between that practice and the fact that mistakes are what you learn from.


I might be way off though. I'm not an expert on physhology and, frankly, I don't think I know you well enough to make any qualified guesses about what goes on in your mind. So I'd be somewhat surprised if either theory resonates with you at all :)
Those were good insights. I think everything you said is at least partly true. In real life, I understand that I learn from mistakes, but you are right in suggesting that I may ignore anything that seems to difficult to be of interest...because it might not be worth my effort.

I was later thinking that I do not see any reason to reflect on a mistake that I did not think very hard about making, so just instinctively move on to the next possible chance to get something right. I get impatient and impulsive. http://forums.intpcentral.com/images/smilies/smiley_violin.gif

Thanks for your comments.

[Zero Angel]

OMG, wow. That was an emotional experience, and for a test of all things. At the start of the test questions were fairly difficult and that I was feeling shitty because my concentration would keep breaking and that the visual image I had while stacking kept breaking, no matter how many times I tried to visually restack. On some of the more difficult questions, my mind would tell me "just go! You don't have time for this shit!" if my concentration kept breaking, and I would click on the OK link.

Then I developed a visual stacking technique and I was FLYING throught the rest of the test, using a visual b/w stack (use macros where possible), check colors, gestalt, quick restack, confirm. Some questions, you could tell halfway through that it was just 'wrong', and then click on 'no' without even needing to vis-stack the whole thing. It was kind of exhilerating, actually.

Pass Score 56
Failed Score 3
Pass Percentage 94%
Average Reaction Time 9.824 n=59
Average Post Reaction Time 19204 n=59
Average ESD Reaction Time 2.112 n=59
Average Reaction Time on Failed 14.21 n=3
Average Post Reaction Time on Failed 37769 n=3
Average ESD Reaction Time on Failed 4.953 n=3
Average Reaction Time on Passed 9.589 n=56
Average Post Reaction Time on Passed 1.643 n=56
Average ESD Reaction Time on Passed 1.960 n=56

Metacognitive Behaviour

Pre Failure Reflectivity 1.446 n=3
Post Failure Reflectivity 1.966 n=3
Pre Success Reflectivity 0.976 n=56
Post Success Reflectivity 8.555 n=56
Post Failure Difficulty Judgement 2.345 n=3
Post Success Difficulty Judgement 0.928 n=56
Hexchild, you are gooood! And here I thought I was quick.

[waxwing]

OMG, wow. That was an emotional experience, and for a test of all things. At the start of the test questions were fairly difficult and that I was feeling shitty because my concentration would keep breaking and that the visual image I had while stacking kept breaking, no matter how many times I tried to visually restack. On some of the more difficult questions, my mind would tell me "just go! You don't have time for this shit!" if my concentration kept breaking, and I would click on the OK link.

Then I developed a visual stacking technique and I was FLYING throught the rest of the test, using a visual b/w stack (use macros where possible), check colors, gestalt, quick restack, confirm. Some questions, you could tell halfway through that it was just 'wrong', and then click on 'no' without even needing to vis-restack. It was kind of exhilerating, actually.

Hexchild, you are gooood! And here I thought I was quick. Mmhmm. I agree.

I actually started very slow. For questions 1-10, maybe, I was really stalling, really wanting to quit the test altogether. That brought my average reaction time way up, but after about question 10, I was moving right along. I had developed a pretty good system of stacking and checking. Sometimes something as simple as a line the wrong color was enough to tell me the answer. Layers suddenly became far more visible to me, and so some of the initial stepwise processing was eliminated. I began to trust my intuition more.

I, too, found it exhilirating.

[Hexchild]

Hexchild, you are gooood! And here I thought I was quick.

I suspect that might have something to do with the fact that I've done a lot of analysis, design and programming in the computer graphics domain. The kind of "image stacking" this test had us perform is very similar to some common animation techniques.

[ne plus ultra]

91% I'm jealous of Hex.

[TPol]

Pass Score 54
Failed Score 6
Pass Percentage 90%
Average Reaction Time 9.843 n=60
Average Post Reaction Time 1.402 n=60
Average ESD Reaction Time 1.589 n=60
Average Reaction Time on Failed 12.64 n=6
Average Post Reaction Time on Failed 1.662 n=6
Average ESD Reaction Time on Failed 4.871 n=6
Average Reaction Time on Passed 9.531 n=54
Average Post Reaction Time on Passed 1.373 n=54
Average ESD Reaction Time on Passed 1.225 n=54
Metacognitive Behaviour
Pre Failure Reflectivity 1.284 n=6
Post Failure Reflectivity 1.185 n=6
Pre Success Reflectivity 0.968 n=54
Post Success Reflectivity 0.979 n=54
Post Failure Difficulty Judgement 3.065 n=6
Post Success Difficulty Judgement 0.770 n=54

Not sure what to think of it, but it is an interesting test.

[meshou]

Measure User 1608
Pass Score 58
Failed Score 2
Pass Percentage 96%
Average Reaction Time 9.930 n=60
Average Post Reaction Time 18894 n=60
Average ESD Reaction Time 1.558 n=60
Average Reaction Time on Failed 10.56 n=2
Average Post Reaction Time on Failed 5.801 n=2
Average ESD Reaction Time on Failed 4.153 n=2
Average Reaction Time on Passed 9.908 n=58
Average Post Reaction Time on Passed 19546 n=58
Average ESD Reaction Time on Passed 1.469 n=58
Metacognitive Behaviour
Pre Failure Reflectivity 1.063 n=2
Post Failure Reflectivity 0.000 n=2
Pre Success Reflectivity 0.997 n=58
Post Success Reflectivity 1.034 n=58
Post Failure Difficulty Judgement 2.665 n=2
Post Success Difficulty Judgement 0.942 n=58

Dunno whatit means. Score was good, though. :D

[Pan]

Measure User 1610

Pass Score 58
Failed Score 2
Pass Percentage 96%
Average Reaction Time 6.614 n=60
Average Post Reaction Time 1.626 n=60
Average ESD Reaction Time 1.843 n=60
Average Reaction Time on Failed 7.894 n=2
Average Post Reaction Time on Failed 9.170 n=2
Average ESD Reaction Time on Failed 2.198 n=2
Average Reaction Time on Passed 6.570 n=58
Average Post Reaction Time on Passed 1.366 n=58
Average ESD Reaction Time on Passed 1.831 n=58

Metacognitive Behaviour

Pre Failure Reflectivity 1.193 n=2
Post Failure Reflectivity 5.639 n=2
Pre Success Reflectivity 0.993 n=58
Post Success Reflectivity 0.840 n=58
Post Failure Difficulty Judgement 1.192 n=2
Post Success Difficulty Judgement 0.993 n=58

Kind of fun, but I'm not sure I learned much beyond "I reflect more on failures than on successes"

[philonightmare]

Summary Results for User 1611

Measure User 1611
Pass Score 51
Failed Score 9
Pass Percentage 85%
Average Reaction Time 11.44 n=60
Average Post Reaction Time 1.993 n=60
Average ESD Reaction Time 1.091 n=60
Average Reaction Time on Failed 13.57 n=9
Average Post Reaction Time on Failed 6.138 n=9
Average ESD Reaction Time on Failed 2.195 n=9
Average Reaction Time on Passed 11.06 n=51
Average Post Reaction Time on Passed 1.262 n=51
Average ESD Reaction Time on Passed 0.896 n=51

Metacognitive Behaviour

Pre Failure Reflectivity 1.186 n=9
Post Failure Reflectivity 3.079 n=9
Pre Success Reflectivity 0.966 n=51
Post Success Reflectivity 0.633 n=51
Post Failure Difficulty Judgement 2.011 n=9
Post Success Difficulty Judgement 0.821 n=51
---------
Very interesting test. I agree with ZeroAngel, it was an emotional experience. :D Damn, some of you are very skilled at this! Props to you guys, I did not have the patience approaching stack 30. That is when I began to wish it was over, and began to overestimate my skill at analyzing the stacks' format. There were also times after that half-way point where I became overly confident because I began to see how the pattern was emerging and I didn't have to give as much energy because I could just look at the final pattern and go backwards to determine if it was accurate.

[kali]

That was the funnest thing I have done in a while (yes, my idea of fun is probably warped) :D

necroing because I think others will enjoy it


Pass Score 53
Failed Score 4
Pass Percentage 92%
Average Reaction Time 21832 n=57
Average Post Reaction Time 1.948 n=57
Average ESD Reaction Time 2.046 n=57
Average Reaction Time on Failed 12.17 n=4
Average Post Reaction Time on Failed 4.238 n=4
Average ESD Reaction Time on Failed 4.161 n=4
Average Reaction Time on Passed 23480 n=53
Average Post Reaction Time on Passed 1.776 n=53
Average ESD Reaction Time on Passed 1.886 n=53

My reaction time is dismal though #_#

[Resonance]

Due to some lag, my results are screwed up (2 questions have a 'reaction time' of 1 and a quarter billion seconds, and a net lag to match):

Pass Score 59
Failed Score 1
Pass Percentage 98%
Average Reaction Time 41482 n=60
Average Post Reaction Time 2.088 n=60
Average ESD Reaction Time 2.125 n=60
Average Reaction Time on Failed 9.499 n=1
Average Post Reaction Time on Failed 3.039 n=1
Average ESD Reaction Time on Failed 6.899 n=1
Average Reaction Time on Passed 42185 n=59
Average Post Reaction Time on Passed 2.072 n=59
Average ESD Reaction Time on Passed 2.044 n=59
Metacognitive Behaviour
Pre Failure Reflectivity 0.000 n=1
Post Failure Reflectivity 1.455 n=1
Pre Success Reflectivity 1.016 n=59
Post Success Reflectivity 0.992 n=59
Post Failure Difficulty Judgement 3.246 n=1
Post Success Difficulty Judgement 0.961 n=59

[mikek]

Interesting.

Measure
Pass Score 56
Failed Score 4
Pass Percentage 93%
Average Reaction Time 6.408 n=60
Average Post Reaction Time 0.905 n=60
Average ESD Reaction Time 0.875 n=60
Average Reaction Time on Failed 14.26 n=4
Average Post Reaction Time on Failed 1.665 n=4
Average ESD Reaction Time on Failed 1.918 n=4
Average Reaction Time on Passed 5.847 n=56
Average Post Reaction Time on Passed 0.851 n=56
Average ESD Reaction Time on Passed 0.800 n=56

Metacognitive Behaviour
Pre Failure Reflectivity 2.225 n=4
Post Failure Reflectivity 1.839 n=4
Pre Success Reflectivity 0.912 n=56
Post Success Reflectivity 0.940 n=56
Post Failure Difficulty Judgement 2.192 n=4
Post Success Difficulty Judgement 0.914 n=56