In cognitive psychology, metamemory refers to the ability to self-monitor and control one's learning and memory. Metamemory is a field of study within metacognition, the study of the thinking about one's thinking. A new study reveals the creation of a new artificial intelligence (AI) machine-learning algorithm with an adaptable intelligence based on what it already knows--a step toward endowing machines with a more humanlike mind. "We believe that our study can contribute to the understanding of human metamemory and, furthermore, to the realization of artificial consciousness," wrote Professor Takaya Arita, Yusuke Yamato, and Reiji Suzuki at Nagoya University. The researchers show the evolution of artificial neural networks have a metamemory function based on the self-reference of memory that is similar to the metamemory model defined in 1980 by researchers Thomas Nelson and Louis Narens.