Know Thyself

Stephen M. Fleming is a cognitive neuroscientist at University College London. He is a Wellcome/Royal Society Sir Henry Dale Fellow at the Department of Experimental Psychology and Principal Investigator at the Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, where he leads the Metacognition Group. He lives in London.

How do you know when you've studied enough to pass an exam?

Should you accept the testimony of an eyewitness?

How do you know when to trust a doctor's orders?

The answer is self awareness.


Self awareness is humans' greatest superpower. Like the conductor of an orchestra, self awareness guides the musicians of the mind - memory, creativity, intelligence and skill - to perform at their best. So why do we so often get it wrong?

Drawing on his own pioneering studies, as well as cutting-edge research in computer science, psychology and evolutionary biology, Stephen Fleming shows how we can learn from this groundbreaking new science, and gain the edge in a rapidly changing world.