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Updated: Aug 6, 2026
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Multimodal Protocol for Assessing Metacognition and Self-Regulation in Adults with Learning Difficulties
Published on: September 27, 2020
Aging, encoding fluency, and metacognitive monitoring
A Emanuel Robinson1, Christopher Hertzog, John Dunlosky
1Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, 30332, USA.
Summary
Older and younger adults use encoding fluency cues to judge learning. Perceived fluency, not objective speed, better predicted judgments of learning (JOLs) in this age comparison study.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience of Aging
Background:
- Encoding fluency, the speed of forming mediators for new associations, may serve as a cue for self-assessed learning.
- Understanding how encoding fluency influences judgments of learning (JOLs) is crucial for cognitive aging research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate age-related differences in the utilization of encoding fluency as a cue for JOLs.
- To determine whether objective or subjective measures of encoding fluency are more influential in JOLs.
Main Methods:
- Participants (older and younger adults) studied paired associates using interactive imagery.
- Participants indicated image formation and latency, and made immediate JOLs for each pair.
- Objective and subjective measures of encoding fluency (image formation and latency) were recorded.
Main Results:
- Age equivalence was observed in JOL accuracy.
- JOLs were positively correlated with successful imagery formation and negatively with image formation latency for both age groups.
- Subjectively judged encoding fluency showed a stronger correlation with JOLs than objective latency measures.
Conclusions:
- Both older and younger adults utilize encoding fluency cues for JOLs.
- Perceived fluency, rather than objective speed, appears to be a primary cue in constructing JOLs, irrespective of age.
- Findings support the hypothesis that subjective experience of cognitive ease influences metacognitive judgments.
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