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PAUL LYSAKER METACOGNITION RESEARCH AWARDEES

Aitana Fernández Villardón, PhD

University of Deusto, Spain

Laying the Foundations for Mental Health Prevention: Translating MERIT into Educational Settings

This project aims to adapt the core principles of Metacognition Reflection and Insight Therapy (MERIT) into a preventive protocol for higher education contexts. Through a quasi-experimental pilot study, the project explores how fostering metacognitive reflection in young adults can optimize learning strategies while addressing maladaptive metacognitive beliefs, which manifest prior to clinical onset, to prevent psychological distress before clinical escalation occurs.

Research: $5000

September 2026

Nancy Lundin

The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

Metacognitive Capacity, Linguistic Cohesion, and Recovery with Psychotic Disorders Undergoing Inpatient Psychiatric Hospitalization

This study will collect life story narratives from individuals with psychotic disorders undergoing psychiatric inpatient hospitalization. The overall goal of the project is to identify potential mechanisms of how people experiencing psychosis integrate thoughts about their mental health challenges and recovery through measurement of metacognitive capacity, language cohesion, and semantic search processes.

Research: $5000

July 2025

Courtney Wiesepappe

Indiana State University

Mapping Metacognitive Profiles in Personality Disorders

This project explores how metacognition, the ability to reflect on oneself, others, and the broader world, differs in individuals with personality pathology. By mapping metacognitive profiles, we aim to better understand self and interpersonal difficulties, identify metacognitive capacities, and inform more personalized treatments in personality pathology.

Research: $2000

July 2025

John Hanson Hogberg

University of Gothenburg (Sweden)

Metacognition in opioid maintenance patients

Despite the apparent relevance of metacognition to understanding addiction and treatment needs in the context of the global opioid epidemic, the concept has never been studied in opioid maintenance treatment (OMT). Our study showed widespread performance of metacognition, including low levels of Mastery, a complex relationship to executive function and psychiatric comorbidity and evidence of chronic impairment in OMT patients. The 25th World Congress of Psychiatry in Prague in 2025, themed “The Role of Psychiatry in the Changing World,” offers an opportunity to present original research of metacognition in OMT and represent MERIT in a global forum.

Travel: $1000

July 2025

Michael Masucci, PhD

Department of Veterans Affairs

Pilot Evaluation of Roll for Recovery, a Therapeutically-Applied Tabletop Role Playing Game Intervention for Metacognition and Social Connection

This project evaluates the efficacy of Roll for Recovery, a therapeutic tabletop role playing group intervention that incorporates MERIT principles to improve patients’ metacognition. Promising preliminary data demonstrated that social factors such as social connection and loneliness may reflect additional treatment targets for the intervention. Using natural language processing, qualitative methods, and case series analysis, the pilot will investigate how the intervention affects metacognition, social factors and recovery factors among Veteran patients after 24 sessions.

Research: $5000

September 2026

Louis Violeau, Pierrick Laulan, Ulrick Rimmele, and Laurent Boyer

Edouard Toulouse Psychiatric Hospital, Marseille, France

How Metacognition Shapes the Relationship Between Emotional Memory Impairment

This project tests whether metacognitive capacities can buffer the tendency of negative emotion to fragment contextual/associative memory—a mechanism thought to weaken illness awareness and narrative coherence in psychosis. Using an ecologically valid triad-association task (face–object–scene) with neutral versus negatively valenced events, we will compare 40 clinically stable individuals with schizophrenia to 40 matched controls and quantify both associative memory and metacognition. We expect that greater metacognitive capacity will counter emotion-related memory fragmentation and support insight, informing MERIT-inspired tools that help people reconnect their life stories in recovery.

Research: $5000

July 2025

Laura Faith

Indianapolis VAMC

Psychological Fragmentation in Psychosis: Rebuilding Identity Through Metacognitive Psychotherapy

Although metacognition appears highly relevant for understanding addiction and informing treatment strategies amidst the global opioid crisis, it remains an unexplored area within opioid maintenance treatment (OMT). Our research highlights a broad presence of metacognitive processes among OMT patients, characterized by notably low Mastery scores, a nuanced interplay with executive functioning and psychiatric comorbidities, and signs of persistent cognitive dysfunction. The upcoming 25th World Congress of Psychiatry in Prague (2025), themed “The Role of Psychiatry in the Changing World,” presents an ideal platform to share this pioneering research on metacognition in OMT and showcase MERIT’s work on an international stage.

Travel: $1000

July 2025

Evan Myers

Indiana University- Indianapolis

Disorganization and Disintegration in Schizophrenia: Metacognitive Capacity and Speech Content Across Levels of Conceptual Disorganization

This project examined the nature of the relationship between metacognition and disorganized speech. Disorganized speech was found to be most strongly associated with mastery, which has implications for tailoring metacognitive therapies for patients with higher levels of disorganization.

Travel: $1000

July 2025

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