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Metacognition serves allostasis and co-evolves with the social brain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 November 2025

Valery Krupnik Open the ORCID record for Valery Krupnik [Opens in a new window]
Valery Krupnik*
Affiliation:
Department of Mental Health, Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton, H200 Mercy Circle, Oceanside, CA, USA valery.y.krupnik.civ@health.mil
*
*Corresponding author.
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Abstract

In this commentary, I suggest a complementary view to the target paper’s idea that primate social metacognition evolved as an adaptation to living in large groups. I present metacognition as a necessary step in the development of complex allostatic systems and suggest that intrinsic and social metacognition are dissociable, which can be studied in the mammalian default mode network.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 48 , 2025 , e173
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

Commentary on R.I.M. Dunbar “Structural and Cognitive Mechanisms of Group Cohesion in Primates”

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