The effects of distraction on metacognition and metacognition on distraction: evidence from recognition memory.

C Philip Beaman,Dylan M Jones,Maciej Hanczakowski

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00439

C Philip Beaman, Dylan M Jones + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00439

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Abstract

The effects of auditory distraction in memory tasks have, to date, been examined with procedures that minimize participants’ control over their own memory processes. Surprisingly little attention has been paid to metacognitive control factors which might affect memory performance. In this study, we investigate the effects of auditory distraction on metacognitive control of memory, examining the effects of auditory distraction in recognition tasks utilizing the metacognitive framework of Koriat and Goldsmith (1996), to determine whether strategic regulation of memory accuracy is impacted by auditory distraction. Results replicated previous findings in showing that auditory distraction impairs memory performance in tasks minimizing participants’ metacognitive control (forced-report test). However, the results revealed also that when metacognitive control is allowed (free-report tests), auditory distraction impacts upon a range of metacognitive indices. In the present study, auditory distraction undermined accuracy of metacognitive monitoring (resolution), reduced confidence in responses provided and, correspondingly, increased participants’ propensity to withhold responses in free-report recognition. Crucially, changes in metacognitive processes were related to impairment in free-report recognition performance, as the use of the “don’t know” option under distraction led to a reduction in the number of correct responses volunteered in free-report tests. Overall, the present results show how auditory distraction exerts its influence on memory performance via both memory and metamemory processes.

Highlights

Distraction, whether in the form of external stimuli or selfgenerated thoughts, accompanies a vast spectrum of our everyday activities
We organize the result section according to the questions posed in Introduction and referring to (1) memory, (2) resolution of metacognitive monitoring, (3) report criterion, and (4) the input-bound accuracy (IBA) and output-bound accuracy (OBA) measures of performance
MEMORY The recognition tests used in the present study were 2AFC tests and recognition hit rates in these tests serve as a measure of recognition discrimination

Summary

Introduction

Distraction, whether in the form of external stimuli or selfgenerated thoughts, accompanies a vast spectrum of our everyday activities. If we do not have such control, for example, when we are in a supermarket and music plays over the store’s loudspeakers, our cognitive processes need to unfold in the presence of distraction. This can constitute a serious problem inasmuch as numerous studies have found that the efficacy of cognitive processes suffers in the presence of auditory distraction (see reviews by Hughes and Jones, 2003; Beaman, 2005a; Jones et al, 2010). Most relevantly to the purpose of the present study, decades of studies of memory processes have found that auditory distraction present either at encoding or retrieval negatively impacts upon memory performance (e.g., Broadbent, 1982; Salamé and Baddeley, 1982, 1986; Miles et al, 1991; Jones and Macken, 1993; Elliott and Cowan, 2005; Bell et al, 2013)

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