IDCN: Understanding how children think about thinking
When Iroise Dumontheil joined the University of Melbourne in late 2023, she launched the Development and Cognitive Neuroscience lab (iDCN) which researches higher cognitive functions on during development and adulthood, across the fields of developmental psychology, cognitive neuroscience and educational neuroscience. Today the lab brings together four PhD students, Sarah Podwinski, Aastha Sarraf, Suzanne Rotsaert and Jingxian Zhao, and a Masters Student, Gemma Bruceto investigate the development of metacognition during childhood and early adolescence.
Put simply, metacognition is thinking about thinking. It’s the ability to judge how well you’re doing, recognise when a different approach is needed and adjust your strategy to achieve a goal. Closely linked to cognitive control, metacognition plays a central role in learning and problem-solving.
The iDCN lab studies how these metacognitive skills develop across different tasks, with a particular focus on arithmetic. By understanding the underlying processes of metacognition, they are hoping to inform educational practice.
The lab combines questionnaire data with experimental tasks to explore different markers of the metacognition. At the same time, the team is establishing a functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) laboratory to investigate brain activation associated with metacognition in both children and adults. Because fNIRS is non-invasive and relatively resistant to movement, it is well suited to research with children and allows data collection in settings that are closer to everyday learning environments.
Each member of the lab focuses on a different marker of metacognition.
- PhD student Sarah Podwinski, who is co-supervised by Professor Rob Hester, studies cognitive offloading. This refers to the use of external tools that reduce the demands of a task, such as setting reminders or using maths manipulatives. Sarah and Iroise also collaborate with researchers at the University of Queensland and in the UK on a longitudinal study examining the development of cognitive offloading in childhood and early adolescence and whether children consider the costs and benefits of offloading.
- Suzanne Rotsaert and Aastha Sarraf hold joint KU Leuven (co-supervised by Professor Bert de Smedt and Dr Elien Bellon) and University of Melbourne (co-supervised by Dr Jacob Paul) PhD studentships where they investigate different aspects of metacognition. Suzanne’s longitudinal study examines metacognitive monitoring, looking at how accurately confidence aligns with performance. Aastha focuses on behavioural adjustments following errors, often referred to as post-error slowing, or based on instructions, for example timed vs untimed tests.
- The newest member of the lab, Jingxian Zhao, is assessing the neural correlates of arithmetic and behavioural adjustments during mathematical problem solving. Her work examines what happens when people switch between operations, such as addition and multiplication, and how responses vary depending on problem difficulty. Solving 3+5 draws on rapid retrieval of arithmetic facts, while solving 36+29 requires procedural strategies. Understanding those differences can provide insight into the cognitive processes involved in mathematical learning.
- Lastly, Iroise studies post-error slowing using large existing datasets. This includes research with her former Masters student Liam-Francis Dunne using data from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) study as well as work with Professor Katherine Johnson comparing children with and without attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
One of the defining features of iDCN is the breadth of expertise within the group. As Iroise puts it:
“It’s great that the different lab members have different strengths, which means they can help each other depending on the current aspect of the project they are working on.”
Suzanne and Sarah bring backgrounds in developmental and educational psychology. Aastha contributes expertise in mathematics and programming, while Jingxian’s training is grounded in cognitive neuroscience.
Since educational neuroscience is at the intersection of these fields, the lab’s collaboration is built into day-to-day work with team members supporting each other in developing their skills.
The team is also international, bringing together researchers from Australian, Indian, Chinese, Belgian and French backgrounds.
Looking Ahead
The lab appreciates the support it receives from ScienceWorks, which has enabled them to collect data from hundreds of children across three studies. This partnership has played a crucial role in helping the team build its research team and they hope to make it ongoing.
For a relatively new lab, iDCN is already tackling important questions about how children monitor, evaluate and adapt their thinking. But they are always seeking ways to improve their research and increase participation rates. In particular, a key priority for future research is to gain access to government-funded and Catholic Schools, which has so far proved impossible. They hope this is something that the Schools of Psychology across Victoria can come together and lobby the Department of Education.
By combining expertise from across disciplines within the team and developing external partnerships, the team is building a more complete picture of how metacognition emerges and changes during childhood and adolescence.