Metathinking question

Question

Does metathinking cause an infinite regress. I know I can think about that I had a thought. But i feel like this should cause an infinite regression.

Answer 1

Hi Austin,

You are starting to dive into some more philosophical concepts! From a psychological standpoint, it does not cause infinite regression as thinking about something you should remember generally increases the likelihood that you will be able to retrieve that from your memory. Now, there are other alternatives that could cause regression, but thats more of a philosophical debate. Here is a pretty nice quote explaining it:

What's interesting about this mental hiccup is that, even though the mind can't remember the information, it's convinced that it knows it, which is why we devote so many mental resources to trying to recover the missing word. (...) But here's the mystery: If we've forgotten a person's name, then why are we so convinced that we remember it? What does it mean to know something without being able to access it?

The larger question is how the mind decides what to think about. After all, if we really don't know the name - it's nowhere inside our head - then it's a waste of time trying to find it. This is where metacognition, or thinking about thinking, comes in handy. At any given moment, we automatically monitor the flux of thoughts, emotions and errata flowing in the stream of consciousness. As a result, when a name goes missing we immediately analyze the likelihood of being able to remember it. Do we know the first letter of the name? Can we remember other facts about the person? Are we able to remember the first names of other acquaintances from high school? Based on the answer to these questions, we can then make an informed guess about whether or not it's worth trying to retrieve the misplaced memory.