Metacognitive monitoring and strategic behaviour in working memory performance

Research indicates that cognitive age differences can be influenced by metacognitive factors. This research has generally focused on simple memory tasks. Age differences in working memory (WM) performance are pronounced, but are typically attributed to basic cognitive deficits rather than metacognit...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Quarterly journal of experimental psychology (2006) 2010-08, Vol.63 (8), p.1533-1551
Main Authors: Touron, Dayna R., Oransky, Natalie, Meier, Matthew E., Hines, Jarrod C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Adult. Elderly
Age Factors
Aged
Ageing
Aging
Behavior - physiology
Biological and medical sciences
Cognition - physiology
Developmental psychology
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Human
Humans
Judgment - physiology
Learning. Memory
Male
Memory
Memory, Short-Term - physiology
Mental Recall - physiology
Metacognition
Middle Aged
Monitoring
Neuropsychological Tests
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Reaction Time - physiology
Strategies
Working memory
Young Adult
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Research indicates that cognitive age differences can be influenced by metacognitive factors. This research has generally focused on simple memory tasks. Age differences in working memory (WM) performance are pronounced, but are typically attributed to basic cognitive deficits rather than metacognitive factors. However, WM performance can be influenced by strategic behaviour that might be driven by metacognitive monitoring. In the current project, we attempted to connect these lines of research by examining age differences in metacognitive WM monitoring and strategies. In Experiment 1, younger and older adult participants completed a computerized operation span task in conditions that either required or did not require monitoring reports. Participants in the monitoring condition predicted and postdicted global performance for each block and rated their responses following each trial within a block. In Experiment 2, participants also reported their trial-level strategic approach. In contrast to the age equivalence typically found for simple memory monitoring, results demonstrated age differences in WM monitoring accuracy. Overall age differences in strategy use were not found, but using effective strategies benefited older adults' performance more than younger adults'. Furthermore, age-related differences in the WM task appear to be mediated by the accuracy of performance monitoring.
ISSN:1747-0218
1747-0226
DOI:10.1080/17470210903418937