Metacognitive Agents for Ethical Decision Support: Conceptual Model and Research Roadmap

An ethical value-action gap exists when there is a discrepancy between intentions and actions. This discrepancy may be caused by social and structural obstacles as well as cognitive biases. Computational models of cognition and affect can provide insights into the value-action gap and how it can be reduced. In particular, metacognition ("thinking about thinking") plays an important role in many of these models as a mechanism for self-regulation and reasoning about mental attitudes. This paper outlines a roadmap for translating cognitive-affective models into assistant agents to help make value-aligned decisions.