Are you doing well, but still doubt? Scientists have found the explanation

Digital fruits reveal trend

In a new study, Sucharit Katyal and researchers from University College London have identified the psychological mechanisms that underlie sustained undue.

« We recruited a large number of volunteers via a web -based platform and measured their symptoms of anxiety and depression. Then we asked the participants to conduct a computer game where they were to help the residents of ‘Fruitville’ reap fruit, » explains Sucharit Katyal.

Participants had to use both their visual abilities and their memory to complete the tasks. After each task, they had to report how safe they felt on their answers. Eventually, they had to assess how well they felt they had completed the whole game.

« Here we discovered that participants with symptoms of anxiety and depression often ignored the times when they felt a high degree of confidence in their answers. Instead, they focused on situations where their answers were accompanied by low confidence when assessing their overall performance, » says Sucharit Katyal.

Positive feedback works

In other words, the study shows that people with anxiety and depression can perform tasks satisfactorily, even in their own eyes, but ultimately they do not update their self -perception correctly.

« It points to the need for interventions specifically addressing metacognitive distortions in people with anxiety and depression, » says Sucharit Katyal.

Interestingly, the study also shows that people with sustained uncertainty about their abilities can update their self -perception correctly when they are explicitly told that they have done well (instead of simply relying on their own assessment).

« You can actually help with persistent uncertain people effectively with focusing more on their successes and less on their inner uncertainty, » says Sucharit Katyal, elaborating:

« It emphasizes the importance of positive feedback. Some people need help taking their own assessments with a grain of salt – otherwise they will just maintain a distorted, negative view of their own abilities, » he notes.

The study, called ‘Distorted Learning from Local Metacognition Supports Transdiagnostic Underconfidence,’ is published in the scientific journal Nature Communications. You can read The whole study here.