Metacognitive Skill Learning as a Mechanism of Advanced Meditation
Abstract
Despite growing interest in advanced meditation, the cognitive mechanisms underlying these capacities remain poorly understood. This paper develops a cognitive account of advanced meditation as a specialized form of metacognitive skill learning. Drawing on classic accounts of skill acquisition, we propose the automatization of metacognitive control as a mechanism through which meditative skill develops. Through sustained practice, practitioners become less reliant on explicit instructions as metacognitive control becomes increasingly automatic. This shift may allow meditative practice to become more effective, fluent, and less effortful. The resulting metacognitive control is directed toward well-defined phenomenological targets, including advanced absorption states and insight stages. By connecting cognitive mechanisms with neural findings and experiential descriptions, the account offers a testable framework for explaining the development of advanced meditative capacities.
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BibTeX
@misc{conwaysmith2026metacognitive,
title = {{Metacognitive Skill Learning as a Mechanism of Advanced Meditation}},
author = {Brendan Conway-Smith and Ruby Potash and Matthew Sacchet},
howpublished = {PsyArXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.31234/osf.io/n58gy_v1},
url = {https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/n58gy_v1/},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Metacognitive Skill Learning as a Mechanism of Advanced Meditation
AU - Brendan Conway-Smith
AU - Ruby Potash
AU - Matthew Sacchet
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/02
PB - PsyArXiv
DO - 10.31234/osf.io/n58gy_v1
UR - https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/n58gy_v1/
AB - Despite growing interest in advanced meditation, the cognitive mechanisms underlying these capacities remain poorly understood. This paper develops a cognitive account of advanced meditation as a specialized form of metacognitive skill learning. Drawing on classic accounts of skill acquisition, we propose the automatization of metacognitive control as a mechanism through which meditative skill develops. Through sustained practice, practitioners become less reliant on explicit instructions as metacognitive control becomes increasingly automatic. This shift may allow meditative practice to become more effective, fluent, and less effortful. The resulting metacognitive control is directed toward well-defined phenomenological targets, including advanced absorption states and insight stages. By connecting cognitive mechanisms with neural findings and experiential descriptions, the account offers a testable framework for explaining the development of advanced meditative capacities.
ER -