METACOGNITION

Thinking About Thinking
Some of the research on the characteristics of giftedness has focused on cognition and metacognition.
In these studies, researchers observed how students identified as gifted thought through a given problem or
situation (cognition), and how they reflected on their thinking throughout the problem-solving experience
(metacognition).
Cognitive Strategies: Not surprisingly, the studies on cognitive strategies showed that gifted students
acquired information and solved problems faster, better, or at earlier stages than other students, even in the
primary grades (Cho & Ahn, 2003; Delcourt, Cornell, & Goldberg, 2007). Some studies showed that higher
IQ individuals had more efficient memories, more information-processing strategies, larger and more
elaborately organized knowledge bases, and a better ability to solve mathematical problems by employing
their own symbolic encoding (Robinson & Clinkenbeard, 1998).
Sternberg has also investigated how different thinking styles in gifted students affect their academic
performance (Grigorenko & Sternberg, 1997). The study found that there were no differences in thinking
styles among groups of students at different ability levels, and that certain thinking styles contributed
significantly to prediction of academic performance. For example, the style that involved analyzing, grading,
or comparing things had the highest predictive value. Further, this contribution was independent of the type
of instruction the students were given. One other finding of interest was that the gifted students performed
best on assessment procedures that closely matched their thinking style. (This last finding corroborates the
results of decades of earlier research on different types of student learning styles.) Other studies have found
similar results (Rayneri, Gerber, & Wiley, 2006; Zhang & Sternberg, 2006).
Metacognitive Strategies: Research studies in metacognition (i.e., thinking about one’s own thinking)
have focused around three aspects:
• What do students know about thinking strategies?
• Can they use the strategies?
• Can they monitor their own cognitive processing?
Compared to other students, the studies showed that gifted students knew more about metacognitive
strategies and could use them more easily in new contexts. The first edition of this book noted that several
studies in the 1990s found that gifted students did not use a greater variety of metacognitive strategies than
other students, nor did they monitor their strategies any more than the other students (Alexander, Carr, &
Schwanenflugel, 1995). However, more recent studies have found that high performing elementary and
secondary school students with strong metacognitive skills were aware of them and knew how to use them
to successfully complete academic tasks (Coutinho, 2008; Steiner, 2006).
Neuroscientists—or more specifically, cognitive neuroscientists—also think about thinking. In recent
years, they have explored what differences in the structure and functions of the gifted brain may allow it to
achieve remarkable levels of performance. These researchers use many tools in their investigations. They
include imaging technologies, such as PET scans and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI),
as well as electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG). The techniques reveal
similarities and differences in the function of high-performing brains compared with the brains of students
showing no signs of the same kinds of giftedness. One area of particular interest is determining whether
there is any difference in how information flows in gifted brains as compared to typical brains.