Making Judgments of Learning Increases Restudy Choices: Evidence for Reactivity in Metacognitive Control

An emerging body of research has shown that requiring participants to make concurrent JOLs during learning can reactively influence memory performance, a phenomenon known as the reactivity effect. However, it remains unclear whether making JOLs can also reactively alter metacognitive control. The present study addressed this question across three types of materials: unrelated word pairs, general knowledge questions, and related word pairs. After studying each item, participants decided whether they would choose to restudy it. In JOL conditions, participants made an item-by-item JOL during learning, while in no-JOL conditions, no such judgment was required. Across all materials, making JOLs reliably increased the proportion of items selected for restudy, indicating a robust reactivity effect on metacognitive control. These findings suggest that JOL reactivity should be considered not only in relation to memory performance but also in relation to metacognitive control.