Impulsivity and strategy transfer: metamemory as mediator

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Educational Psychology

Background:

• Children's strategy acquisition, maintenance, and generalization are crucial for learning.
• Individual differences in cognitive tempo (impulsivity-reflectivity) and metamemory influence strategic behavior.
• Understanding these factors is key to optimizing educational interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how impulsivity-reflectivity and metamemory affect the acquisition, maintenance, and generalization of organizational strategies in children.
• To examine the mediating role of metamemory in the relationship between cognitive tempo and strategy use.
• To compare strategy performance between impulsive and reflective children.

Main Methods:

• Two experiments involving second- and third-grade children (N=144).
• Involved strategy training, transfer tasks, and control conditions.
• Assessed impulsivity-reflectivity, metamemory (knowledge of memory processes), and strategy use.

Main Results:

• Reflective children consistently scored higher in both strategy and metamemory compared to impulsive children.
• Metamemory significantly predicted strategic behavior, independent of cognitive tempo.
• Strategy use during transfer (but not initial training) was higher in reflective children, indicating better generalization.

Conclusions:

• Metamemorial processes appear to mediate strategy maintenance and generalization in children.
• Reflective children demonstrate superior ability to apply learned strategies in novel situations, linked to their metamemory.
• Interventions aimed at improving children's strategy use should consider both cognitive tempo and metamemory development.