higher-order thoughts

Higher-order thoughts are thoughts about other thoughts. For example, when you notice you're feeling anxious, that's a higher-order thought—you're thinking about your emotional state. They involve a level of self-awareness, allowing us to reflect on our own mental processes. This concept helps explain how we have consciousness about our experiences, such as being aware that we're thinking, feeling, or believing something. Essentially, higher-order thoughts are the mind's way of monitoring and understanding its own activity, giving us a sense of self-awareness and enabling complex mental functions like introspection and self-regulation.