Related Experiment Videos
Predicting one's own forgetting: the role of experience-based and theory-based processes
Asher Koriat1, Robert A Bjork, Limor Sheffer
1Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel. akoriat@research.haifa.ac.il
Journal of Experimental Psychology. General
|December 9, 2004
Summary
Judgments of learning (JOLs) are insensitive to forgetting unless participants are prompted to consider retention intervals. Knowledge about forgetting is accessible when theory-based predictions are emphasized.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Metacognition
- Memory Research
Background:
- Judgments of learning (JOLs) are metacognitive assessments of future recall.
- Processing fluency during encoding may influence JOLs, potentially making them insensitive to retention intervals.
Purpose of the Study:
- To test if JOLs, when driven by processing fluency, are unaffected by anticipated retention duration.
- To investigate conditions under which individuals can access knowledge about forgetting.
Main Methods:
- Examined item-by-item and aggregate JOLs under varying retention intervals.
- Compared JOLs when participants estimated recall for multiple retention intervals versus single intervals.
- Manipulated retention interval within individuals and framed predictions around forgetting vs. remembering.
Main Results:
- Neither item-by-item nor aggregate JOLs showed sensitivity to forgetting across different retention intervals.
- JOLs mimicked actual recall rates when participants estimated recall for several retention intervals.
- Participants accessed knowledge about forgetting only when theory-based predictions were elicited and forgetting was accentuated.
Conclusions:
- JOLs can be insensitive to forgetting if based on processing fluency.
- Metacognitive awareness of forgetting is accessible but requires specific theoretical framing and emphasis on retention intervals.
- Findings support a distinction between experience-based and theory-based JOLs.