Metamemory Ratings and Justifications in Middle Childhood

Metacognition is the ability to self-reflect about one’s own cognitive process. This study will focus on better understanding how children (aged 8 - 13) self-reflect about their memory processes by measuring metacognition in multiple different ways including confidence ratings (on a 5 point scale ranging from not sure to really sure) and verbal justifications (e.g., why did you pick that answer, describe in your own words). The current study will investigate the types of words and key phrases that are associated with memory accuracy and confidence. Confidence ratings and verbal justifications are predicted to provide unique information about memory performance. Additionally, an interaction with age is expected such that confidence ratings will be better predictors of memory performance especially for younger children in the sample.