Increased metamemory accuracy with practice does not require practice with metamemory.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Educational Psychology
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Learners often exhibit inaccurate predictions of their future memory performance.
• Improving metamemory accuracy is crucial for effective learning strategies.
• Previous studies suggest practice enhances metamemory accuracy over time.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether improved metamemory accuracy stems from practicing metamemory judgments or other learning factors.
• To differentiate the effects of explicit metamemory monitoring practice versus general multi-trial learning on accuracy.

Main Methods:

• Conducted three multi-trial cued recall experiments.
• Participants were divided into groups that either practiced making judgments of learning or did not.
• Metamemory accuracy was assessed across different study blocks.

Main Results:

• Metamemory accuracy significantly increased across study blocks for all participants.
• The improvement in metamemory accuracy was equivalent between groups that did and did not practice explicit judgments of learning.
• This suggests practice in making judgments of learning is not the primary driver of accuracy improvement.

Conclusions:

• Enhanced metamemory accuracy during multi-trial learning is not solely dependent on practicing explicit metamemory monitoring.
• Factors such as retrieval practice and the use of prior test performance as a cue contribute significantly to improved accuracy.
• These findings highlight the importance of repeated testing and feedback in metacognitive development.