Metacognition and fluid intelligence in value-directed remembering

Abstract

The ability to selectively focus on and remember important information, referred to as value-directed remembering, may be crucial for effective memory functioning. In the present study, we investigated the relationships between metacognitive monitoring and control accuracy, selectivity for valuable information, and fluid intelligence. Mediation analyses demonstrated that participants’ monitoring assessments and later recall were influenced by the value of the to-be-learned words and the accuracy of participants’ judgments was moderated by fluid intelligence. Moreover, recall, selectivity, metacognitive awareness of selectivity, and metacognitive accuracy all generally increased with task experience, demonstrating participants’ ability to improve their memory by utilizing cognitive resources more effectively. Together the results suggest that people may be aware of the need to be selective, and engaging in value-directed remembering may be related to higher-level cognitive skills associated with problem-solving and reasoning. Specifically, the strategic use of memory may be involved in focusing on important information, and the metacognitive processes that allow for this prioritization of memory may be related to more general problem-solving abilities that involve identifying important features of information to guide cognition in a broader context.