What is a bearded dragon thinking?
Sitting on a hot rock, running the entire operation.
Basking is thermoregulation, and it is the whole day job. A bearded dragon cannot generate its own heat, so it shuttles between the hot end and the cool end of the tank to hold a body temperature it cannot produce internally.
The beard is a separate system. It darkens and puffs to signal threat, stress or territory, so a black beard on the basking rock is not the heat - it is an opinion.
Try it on a real one
Three peeks a day, free. No account, nothing to install.