Definition of Metacognition:
- �knowing about knowing�
- knowledge and awareness of your own cognitive processes, how they function,
when it�s likely to falter, etc.
�I don�t recall�
�I understood this fairly well�
�I won�t be able to solve this problem right away�
�I can�t study with the TV on�
�Her name is on the tip of my tongue�
Metacognitive Awareness and Monitoring:
- retrospective monitoring
- judgments about what was previously retrieved from memory
- e.g. confidence judgments
- prospective monitoring
- predictive about information available or to be retrieved from memory
- judgments about future responding
3 Types of Prospective Monitoring Judgments:
- Ease-of-learning (EOL) judgments
- occur in advance of acquisition
- predictions about what info and strategies will be the easiest to learn
- Judgments of learning (JOL)
- occur during or after acquisition
- predictions about future test performance on currently recallable items
- Feeling-of-knowing (FOK) judgments
- occur during or after acquisition
- judgments about a currently unrecallable item is known and/or will
be remembered on a later memory test
- for incorrectly or non-recalled items, FOK judgments are obtained by asking
how likely Ss are to be able to identify the answer on a recognition test
Research in Metacognition:
Tip-of-the-Tongue (TOT) Phenomenon
- Definition of TOT state:
- information is available but not accessible from memory
- usually parts of the information is accessible, but not enough to warrant
a response
- associated with FOK
- Methods:
- naming rare words from definitions (e.g. Brown & McNeill, 1966)
- naming famous people from pictures
- answering trivia questions
- Results:
- TOT levels are fairly low (BUT STILL OCCUR)
- often recall the first letter and the number of syllables of the target
when reporting a TOT state
- names of famous people, acquaintances, and famous landmarks are especially
susceptible to TOT states
- What causes TOT states?
- retrieval blocking:
- activation of items in memory that are similar to the target (called
�interlopers�) compete with the target during a memory search
- thus, the retrieval of the target is suppressed
- related words serve to block retrieval
- incomplete activation:
- an initial memory cue may not activate a target word or name enough
for retrieval of target
- related words facilitate eventual retrieval
- How are TOT states resolved?
- more resolutions occur when Ss varied their search strategies, rather
than sticking to a single strategy
- phonological cues, such as initials of famous names (Brennen et al., 1990)
help to narrow search and resolve TOT state
- Do TOT reports predict imminent recall?
- immediate resolution:
- 40-50% of reported TOTs are resolved within a few minutes (Brown, 1991)
- associated with incomplete activation
- delayed resolution:
- 50-60% were NOT resolved in a short time (Brown, 1991)
- associated with retrieval blocking
- incubation effect......
Metacognition and Mount Everest (Nelson et al., 1990)
- assessed memory for factual information (�What is the capital of Finland?�)
- assessed FOK judgments for unanswered or incorrect responses
- tested at varying levels of elevation:
- Katmandu (1,200 m)
- Basecamp (5,400 m)
- Camp 2 (6,500 m)
- Camp 3 (7,100 m)
- Basecamp (5,400 m)
- Katmandu (1,200 m)
- Results:
- memory retrieval was unimpaired
- ratings of FOK decreased, and remained low 1 week after returning to Katmandu
- Conclusions
- climbers at extreme altitudes become less confident in their future performance
and decision-making
- direct and long-lasting effect of hypoxia on brain mechanisms
- similar results with individuals on diazepam (Valium)
- should take these findings into account when psychologically treating
someone on Valium
Metacognition and Alcohol Intoxication
- Results:
- memory retrieval is impaired
- FOK judgments are unimpaired
- Conclusions:
- based on Nelson et al. (1990), hypoxia DOES NOT resemble overindulgence
in alcohol as previously believed
Metacognition and Depressed Children (Lauer et al., 1994)
- Method:
- frequency of occurrence task (with pictures)
- Metamemory Battery (Belmont & Borkowski, 1988)
- examines a child�s metamnemonic knowledge and ability
- Results:
- both depressed and nondepressed children performed equally well on memory
task
- depressed children (aged 9-12 yrs) overestimated their memory abilities
- Conclusions:
- overestimation may be an attempt to compensate for feelings of inadequacy
produced by overly critical thought processes
- overestimation may be part of a self-fulfilling prophecy, where depressives
overestimate their abilities, consistently falling short of their expectations
and thus finding more evidence that they are failures -- tend to set themselves
up for failure by being unrealistic about their abilities
- targeting such cognitive distortions can be a focal point of cognitive
therapy for depression
Metacognition and College Learning
- most students tend to OVERESTIMATE their knowledge of the course materials
- students with lower grades tend to overestimate their knowledge more than
students with higher grades
- SO WHAT�S THE LESSON HERE??
- use stricter criteria for deciding that you �know� the material
- You probably do NOT know the material if you cannot:
- explain a theory, concept, or experiment to someone else
- answer all the chapter review questions (without looking back)
- define all the �new terms� at the end of each chapter (without looking
back)
