Metamemory Accuracy Research Articles

The effect of face race on metamemory: Examining its robustness and underlying mechanisms.

Perceivers typically exhibit better recognition memory for same-race faces than for cross-race faces, a phenomenon known as the cross-race effect (CRE). Despite its ubiquity, it is yet unclear whether people are metacognitively aware of the CRE. This research thoroughly investigates perceivers' metacognitive awareness of the CRE across five experiments. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated that both prospective (judgments of learning) and retrospective (confidence) metamemory judgments are sensitive to variations in the racial category and prototypicality of faces. Experiment 3 showed that participants' item-level prospective judgments are informed by beliefs about the impact of face race on memory performance. Experiment 4 revealed that global predictions are influenced by face race in the absence of direct stimulus experience, emphasizing the role of preexisting beliefs. Experiment 5 extended these findings by showing large crossover interactions between face race and participant race in both global predictions and item-level prospective judgments, indicating that both White and Black participants have higher metamemory estimates for ingroup faces. This experiment further showed that preexisting beliefs intensify the impact of face race on metamemory judgments yet do not fully account for it. Collectively, these experiments provide robust evidence of good metamemory accuracy for faces varying in racial categories and prototypicality among White participants and demonstrate that beliefs underlie the effect of face race on metamemory judgments among both White and Black participants, though this may not be the only mechanism involved. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Increased metamemory accuracy with practice does not require practice with metamemory.

Given that learners do not always predict their future memory performance accurately, there is a need to better understand how metamemory accuracy can be improved. Prior research suggests that one way to improve is practice-participants tend to become better at predicting their future memory performance over the course of multi-trial learning experiments. However, it is currently unclear whether such improvements result from participants having practised making metamemory judgements or whether comparable improvements occur even in their absence. This issue was investigated in three multi-trial, cued recall experiments wherein participants either did or did not receive practice making judgements of learning. Metamemory accuracy increased across study blocks but did so equally for the two groups. These results indicate that increased metamemory accuracy with practice is not due to participants having practised explicit metamemory monitoring but instead due to other factors associated with multi-trial learning such as retrieval practice and the availability of prior test performance as a metamemory cue.

Investigating the Effects of Discrimination Experiences on Everyday Metamemory Accuracy.

Lifetime and daily experiences of discrimination contribute to impaired performance on cognitive assessments. However, the underlying mechanism by which discrimination negatively affects cognition is unclear. Recent research investigating stress-induced impairment of metamemory may address the relationship between discrimination experiences and cognitive impairment. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship of lifetime and daily experiences of discrimination, daily affect balance, baseline objective cognitive performance, and sociodemographic variables (age, race, ethnicity, and sex) with metamemory accuracy across the lifespan (ages 20-75). Impaired metamemory accuracy was defined by the number of subjective cognitive complaints. Diary data from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS Refresher 1) Daily Diary Project (N = 782) was used for these analyses. Results from linear mixed model analyses showed significant within-person effects of daily discrimination, where people who reported more daily discrimination also reported lower metamemory accuracy, and daily affect balance, where people who reported very negative affect also reported lower metamemory accuracy. Additionally, linear mixed model analyses revealed significant between-person effects of race on metamemory accuracy, with individuals from minoritized racial groups generally reporting poorer metamemory accuracy. Daily discrimination experiences also interacted with other variables in predicting day-to-day metamemory accuracy. These findings add to our understanding of how psychosocial stress in the form of daily discrimination experiences may impair metamemory processes contributing to increased subjective cognitive complaints. Future research should consider the contribution of daily experiences of discrimination across the lifespan to poor cognitive outcomes in later life.

Predicting the memorability of scene pictures: Improved accuracy through one's own experience.

There are conflicting findings regarding the accuracy of metamemory for scene pictures. Judgements of stimulus memorability in general (memorability judgements [MJs]) have been reported to be unpredictive of actual image memorability. However, other studies have found that judgements of learning (JOLs)-predictions of one's own later memory performance for recently studied items-are moderately predictive of people's own actual recognition memory for pictures. The current study directly compared the relative accuracy and cue basis of JOLs and MJs for scene pictures. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants completed an MJ task and a JOL task in counterbalanced order. In the MJ task, they judged the general memorability of each picture. In the JOL task, they studied pictures and made JOLs during a learning phase, followed by a recognition memory test. Results showed that MJs were predictive of general scene memorability and relied on the same cues as JOLs, but MJ accuracy considerably improved after the JOL task. Experiment 3 demonstrated that prior learning experiences drove this increase in MJ accuracy. This work demonstrates that people can predict not only their own future memory performance for scene pictures with moderate accuracy but also the general memorability of scene pictures. In addition, experiences with one's own learning and memory support the ability to assess scene memorability in general. This research contributes to our understanding of the basis and accuracy of different metamemory judgements.

Metamemory and executive function mediate the age-related decline in memory.

Although the effect of aging on episodic memory is relatively well studied, little is known about how aging influences metamemory. In addition, while executive function (EF) is known to mediate the age-related decline in episodic memory, the role of metamemory in aging-related memory differences beyond EF remains unknown. This study aimed to elucidate the effect of aging on metamemory and to clarify the role of metamemory in the age-related decline in memory. One hundred and four adults aged 18-79 years (50 M, 54 F) performed several EF tasks, as well as a face-scene paired-associate learning task that required them to make judgments of learning, feeling-of-knowing judgments, and retrospective confidence judgments. Aging was significantly associated with poor metamemory accuracy and increased confidence across metamemory judgment types, even after controlling for EF and memory performance. A parallel mediation analysis indicated that both confidence of learning and EF performance had significant partial mediation effects on the relationship between aging and memory, albeit in different ways. Specifically, poor EF explained the age-related decline in memory, whereas increased confidence of learning served to compensate for this memory decline. Aging is associated with general changes (i.e., poor inferences from cues) rather than specific changes (i.e., declined activation or utilization of certain cues) in metamemory monitoring. Also, changes in confidence of learning and in EF ability contribute to the preservation and decline of memory during aging, respectively. Therefore, boosting confidence during encoding and enhancing EF skills might be complementary memory intervention strategies for older adults.

CONTEXTUALIZING HOW DAILY DISCRIMINATION EXPERIENCES IMPACT EVERYDAY METAMEMORY

Abstract Examining day-to-day responses to everyday stressors, such as discrimination, contextualizes how cognitive aging trajectories may vary across the lifespan. Furthermore, recent research investigating stress-induced impairment of metamemory may address the relationship between discrimination experiences and cognitive impairment. This study sought to articulate the association between daily experiences of discrimination and impaired metamemory across the lifespan, as defined by the number of subjective cognitive complaints, using data collected from the Midlife in the United States Refresher Study Daily Diary Project (N = 782; ages 20-75; M = 47.91 years, SD = 12.67 years). A two-level linear mixed model was conducted to examine the within and between-persons relationships concerning lifetime and daily experiences of discrimination, daily affect balance, baseline objective cognitive performance, and sociodemographic variables (age, race, ethnicity, and sex) on impaired everyday metamemory. Results from linear mixed model analyses showed significant within-person fixed effects of daily discrimination and daily affect balance on metamemory accuracy, as well as significant between-persons fixed effects of race and ethnicity on metamemory accuracy. Furthermore, significant interactions were found between race and daily discrimination experiences, ethnicity and daily discrimination experiences, daily affect balance and daily discrimination experiences, daily affect balance and age, and endorsement of lifetime experiences of discrimination and daily discrimination experiences on day-to-day metamemory accuracy. These findings extend our understanding of how discrimination experiences may impair metacognitive processes and demonstrate the need for more research into understanding metamemory accuracy as an underlying mechanism by which the psychosocial stressor of discrimination impacts cognition across the lifespan.

HD-tDCS over the left DLPFC increases cued recall and subjective question familiarity rather than other aspects of memory and metamemory

When retrieving information from memory there is an interplay between memory and metamemory processes, and the prefrontal cortex has been implicated in both memory and metamemory. Previous work shown that High Definition transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (HD-tDCS) over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) can lead to improvements in memory and metamemory monitoring, but findings are mixed. Our original design targeted metamemory, but because the prefrontal cortex plays a role in both memory and metamemory, we tested for effects of HD-tDCS on multiple memory tasks (e.g., recall, cued recall, and recognition) and multiple aspects of metamemory (e.g., once-knew-it ratings, feeling-of-knowing ratings, metamemory accuracy, and metamemory control). There were HD-tDCS-related improvements in cued recall performance, but not other memory tasks. For metamemory, there were HD-tDCS-related increases in subjective once-knew-it ratings, but not other aspects of metamemory. These results highlight the need to consider the effects of HD-tDCS on memory and metamemory at different timepoints during retrieval, as well as specific conditions that show benefits from HD-tDCS.

REIMAGINING AGING: EXAMINING THE IMPACT OF LIFETIME DISCRIMINATION EXPERIENCES ON EVERYDAY METAMEMORY

Abstract Lifetime and recent experiences of discrimination (based on race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, etc.) contribute to impaired performance on cognitive assessments. However, the underlying mechanism by which discrimination negatively impacts cognition is unclear. Recent research investigating stress-induced impairment of metamemory may address the relationship between discrimination experiences and cognitive impairment. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between lifetime experiences of discrimination, especially recent experiences, and everyday metamemory from a lifespan perspective (ages 20–75), using data collected from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS Refresher 1) Daily Diary Project (N = 782). Results from a 2-level multilevel model showed that the relationship between recent experiences of discrimination explained unique variance in impaired metamemory accuracy (25%; β = .377, σ = .052, 95% CI [.275, .479]), suggesting that individuals with recent discrimination experiences reported more cognitive complaints. Furthermore, the relationship between age, recent experiences of discrimination, and impaired metamemory showed that younger individuals reported more complaints after experiencing discrimination than older individuals (β = .192, σ = .092, 95% CI [.011, .373]. Individual differences accounted for 45% of the variance in the number of cognitive complaints. These findings demonstrate the need for more research into understanding metamemory accuracy as an underlying mechanism by which the psychosocial stressor of discrimination impacts cognition across the lifespan. Moreover, understanding the experiences of diverse aging populations, including experiences of discrimination, and their impact on cognition will inform research on interventions to promote positive cognitive health outcomes across the lifespan.

Reality Monitoring and Metamemory in Twins and Friends

The current study examined source memory/reality monitoring ability and metamemory accuracy in same-sex twins ( n = 60) versus friends ( n = 49). Dyads were provided a series of actions and imaginings followed by a reality monitoring and metamemory test that included both reality monitoring questions and appraisals of the likelihood of having made a memory error. There were no significant differences between twins and friends on the number of correct performed action items recalled, but twins were more likely than were friends to confuse whether they or their co-twin was the subject of the imaginings. Friends were more apt than twins to accurately appraise the likelihood of having made a memory error. Implications for twins as eyewitnesses are discussed.

Effects of acute exercise intensity on source episodic memory and metamemory accuracy.

Prior research suggests that behavioural (e.g., exercise) and psychological factors (e.g., metamemory; monitoring and control of one's memory processes) may influence memory function. However, there is conflicting results on the optimal intensity of acute exercise to enhance memory and whether acute exercise can also enhance metamemory. Furthermore, very limited research has evaluated whether acute exercise can influence source episodic memory. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether there is an intensity-specific effect of acute exercise on source episodic memory and metamemory accuracy. Thirty young adults participated in a three-condition (control/moderate/vigorous-intensity exercise), within-subject counterbalanced experimental study. After each intervention, participants completed source episodic memory and metamemory tasks. Results demonstrated that acute exercise, relative to control, was effective in enhancing source episodic memory, but not metamemory accuracy. Vigorous-intensity acute exercise was the most optimal intensity to enhance source episodic memory. Overall, our findings suggest that there is an intensity-specific effect of acute exercise on source episodic memory. Furthermore, when exercise-related improvements in memory occur, young adults may be unaware of these memory benefits from exercise.

Prospective Metamemory Monitoring of Episodic Visual Memory in Community-Dwelling Older Adults with Subjective Cognitive Decline and Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Metamemory tasks have been utilized to investigate anosognosia in older adults with dementia, though previous research has not systematically compared memory self-awareness in prodromal dementia groups. This represents an important oversight given that remedial and interventional efforts may be most beneficial before individuals' transition to clinical dementia. We examine differences in memory self-awareness and memory self-monitoring between cognitively healthy elderly controls and prodromal dementia groups. Participants with subjective cognitive decline despite intact objective neuropsychological functioning (SCD; n=82), amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI; n=18), nonamnestic mild cognitive impairment (naMCI; n=38), and normal cognitive functioning (HC; n=120) were recruited from the Einstein Aging Study for a cross-sectional study. Participants completed an experimental visual memory-based global metamemory prediction task and subjective assessments of memory/cognition and self-awareness. While, relative to HC, memory self-awareness and memory self-monitoring were preserved for delayed memory performance in SCD and aMCI, these processes were impaired in naMCI. Furthermore, results suggest that poor metamemory accuracy captured by our experimental task can be generalized to everyday memory problems. Within the framework of the Cognitive Awareness Model, our findings provide preliminary evidence that poor memory self-awareness/self-monitoring in naMCI may reflect an executive or primary anosognosia, with implications for tailored rehabilitative interventions.

Metamemory for pictures of naturalistic scenes: Assessment of accuracy and cue utilization

Memory for naturalistic pictures is exceptionally good. However, little is known about people’s ability to monitor the memorability of naturalistic pictures. We report the first systematic investigation into the accuracy and basis of metamemory in this domain. People studied pictures of naturalistic scenes, predicted their chances of recognizing each picture at a later test (judgment of learning, JOL), and completed a recognition memory test. Across three experiments, JOLs revealed substantial accuracy. This was due to people basing their JOLs on multiple cues, most of which predicted recognition memory. Identified cues include intrinsic picture attributes (e.g., peacefulness of scenes; scenes with or without persons) and extrinsic aspects of the study situation (e.g., presentation frequency; semantic distinctiveness of scenes with respect to the context). This work provides a better understanding of metamemory for pictures and it demonstrates close parallels between metamemory for naturalistic scenes and verbal materials.

Retrospective metamemory monitoring of semantic memory in community-dwelling older adults with subjective cognitive decline and mild cognitive impairment

ABSTRACT In neurodegenerative conditions, better memory/cognitive awareness, indexed by greater “metamemory monitoring accuracy”, is linked to stronger cognitive remediation outcomes. Differences in metamemory monitoring accuracy in predementia conditions, which could inform treatment effectiveness, have not been systematically investigated. We utilized a retrospective confidence judgment (RCJ) task for general knowledge recognition in community-dwelling older adults: 106 cognitively healthy (HC), 68 subjective cognitive decline (SCD) despite intact neuropsychological function, 14 amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), and 31 non-amnestic mild cognitive impairment (naMCI). Participants gave confidence ratings after making recognition responses to general knowledge questions. Recognition accuracy, confidence levels, and absolute and relative RCJ accuracy (i.e., metamemory monitoring accuracy) were analysed. Compared to HC and SCD, absolute RCJ accuracy was significantly poorer in both MCI groups but relative RCJ accuracy was significantly poorer in naMCI, but not aMCI. This novel result may be driven by lower confidence for correct recognition responses in naMCI and suggests that poorer RCJ accuracy in naMCI may be attributable to poorer performance monitoring. We discuss results in relation to the possibility that individuals in distinct preclinical dementia conditions, who have different levels of memory/cognitive awareness, may differentially benefit from cognitive remediation strategies tailored to their levels of memory/cognitive awareness.

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation over the Prefrontal Cortex Alters Encoding and Judgments of Learning Based on Fluency.

Past research has shown that judgments of learning (JOLs), subjective confidence judgments made at study about later memorability, are inferential in nature and based on cues available during encoding. Participants tend to use fluency as a cue and give higher JOLs to more fluently encoded items, despite having better recognition memory for disfluently encoded items, which leads to poor JOL accuracy. Research has implicated the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and anterior prefrontal cortex (aPFC) in JOL and encoding processes, but no studies to date have tested how the roles of these regions vary with the information on which JOLs are based. We used high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation to test the causal roles of DLPFC and aPFC in encoding success, JOL ratings, and JOL accuracy. Participants studied and made JOLs about words that varied in fluency (i.e., frequency and orientation). High-definition transcranial direct current stimulation over the DLPFC impaired encoding, as evidenced by an increase in subsequent false alarms. For words that were less fluently encoded, aPFC stimulation improved JOL accuracy, perhaps making participants more aware of encoding failures under conditions of disfluency. Conversely, DLPFC and aPFC stimulation decreased JOL accuracy for high-frequency words, suggesting the roles of these regions in JOLs vary with the cognitive bases of the judgments. These results contribute to our understanding of the causal roles of prefrontal regions in objective and subjective memory processes and how their contributions to metamemory accuracy vary with information on which subjective assessments are based.

Predicting Remembering: Judgments of Prospective Memory After Traumatic Brain Injury.

Adults with traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) often struggle with prospective memory (PM), the ability to remember to complete tasks in the future, such as taking medicines on a schedule. Metamemory judgments (or how well we think we will do at remembering) are linked to strategy use and are critical for managing demands of daily living. The current project used an Internet-based virtual reality tool to assess metamemory judgments of PM following TBI. Eighteen adults with moderate to severe TBI and 20 healthy controls (HCs) played Tying the String, a virtual reality game with PM items embedded across the course of a virtual work week. Participants studied PM items and made two judgments of learning about the likelihood of recognizing the CUE, that is, when the task should be done, and of recalling the TASK, that is, what needed to be done. Participants with TBI adjusted their metamemory expectations downward, but not enough to account for poorer recall performance. Absolute difference scores of metamemory accuracy showed that healthy adults were underconfident across PM components, whereas adults with TBI were markedly overconfident about their ability to recall TASKs. Adults with TBI appear to have a general knowledge that PM tasks will be difficult but are poor monitors of actual levels of success. Because metamemory monitoring is linked to strategy use, future work should examine using this link to direct PM intervention approaches.

The Effects of High Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (HD-tDCS) on Memory and Metamemory by Task Difficulty

Sometimes when individuals don’t know the answer to a question, they may nevertheless have a “feeling of knowing” (FOK) that the answer is in their memory. FOK reflects ‘metamemory’, or knowledge of one’s own memory. Previous work showed that high definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) over the dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) enhanced FOK accuracy, whereas HD-tDCS over the anterior temporal lobes (ATL) showed no effect on memory or metamemory. However, other studies show that the effects of tDCS on cognition vary based on task difficulty. We hypothesized that difficulty moderates the effects of HD-tDCS on memory and metamemory. Thirty-six adults completed 3 sessions with DLPFC, ATL, and sham stimulation during 3 tasks: recall, recognition, and an FOK task using 100 general knowledge questions of varying difficulty (easy, medium, and hard). Recall tests showed effects of difficulty. During the medium block, there was greater recall with ATL stimulation compared to sham (p<0.005) and DLPFC stimulation (p<0.02), but no effects of HD-tDCS during easy and hard blocks. In contrast, during recognition, DLPFC stimulation led to better recognition compared to sham (p<0.05) and ATL stimulation (p<0.005), but there was no interaction with difficulty. A similar pattern was seen for metamemory accuracy; DLPFC stimulation led to more accurate FOK judgments compared to sham (p<0.00005) and ATL stimulation (p<0.0003), and no interaction with difficulty. These results indicate that HD-tDCS can dissociate the roles of the ATL and DLPFC, and that the effects of HD-tDCS on behavior can be moderated by task difficulty.

Knowing your heart and your mind: The relationships between metamemory and interoception.

Humans experience a unified self that integrates our mental lives and physical bodies, but many studies focus on isolated domains of self-knowledge. We tested the hypothesis that knowledge of one's mind and body are related by examining metamemory and interoception. We evaluated two dimensions of metamemory and interoception: subjective beliefs and the accuracy of those beliefs compared to objective criteria. We first demonstrated, in two studies, that metamemory beliefs were positively correlated with interoceptive beliefs, and this was not due to domain-general confidence. Finally, we showed that individuals with better metamemory accuracy also had better interoceptive accuracy. Taken together, these findings suggest a common mechanism subserving knowledge of our cognitive and bodily states.

Older Adults’ Perceptions of Memory Aid Use and Meta-Memory Accuracy

The aging literature suggests that there is little to no relationship between older adults’ subjective memory beliefs and their objective memory performance. This suggests that overall, older adults do not necessarily hold accurate perceptions of their own memory abilities or that there is a lot of variability among older adults’ perceptions. In an applied context, the consequences of such mis-calibration may include an overreliance on objective memory measures when designing memory performance aids, and a reduced emphasis on the users’ subjective memory beliefs, which could influence usage and acceptance. Although the effectiveness of memory strategies has been widely studied, little research has been done on the relationship between older adults’ subjective and objective memory and their utilization of memory strategies, specifically, technological aids. We addressed the question of the connection between memory beliefs and memory aid usage and preferences using focus groups with 24 older adults.

Age-Related Differences in Metamemory Accuracy among the Elderly: The Effect of Declining Inhibitory Function

To explore the age-related difference in metamemory accuracy during older adulthood, we measured the metamemory calibration and resolution of older participants. In Study 1, we divided the participants into four groups by age: 60–64, 65–69, 70–74, and above 75 years. We used young adults as a contrast group. The results revealed the inconsistency of age-related differences in calibration and resolution. The young adults had higher calibration in global prediction than the four groups of older adults before the study, whereas there were no differences among the four elderly groups. There were no differences in resolution between the 60- to 64-year, 65- to 69-year and young adult groups, but these three groups had higher resolution than the 70- to 74-year and above 75-year groups for item-by-item prediction. In Study 2, we measured the older participants’ inhibitory function to explore whether impaired inhibitory function led to a decline in metacognitive ability in the elderly. The results showed that the inhibition function was highly correlated with the accuracy of judgments of learning (JOL) and can predict the accuracy of JOL to a certain extent.

Short-term memory predictions across the lifespan: monitoring span before and after conducting a task

ABSTRACTOur objective was to explore metamemory in short-term memory across the lifespan. Five age groups participated in this study: 3 groups of children (4–13 years old), and younger and older adults. We used a three-phase task: prediction–span–postdiction. For prediction and postdiction phases, participants reported with a Yes/No response if they could recall in order a series of images. For the span task, they had to actually recall such series. From 4 years old, children have some ability to monitor their short-term memory and are able to adjust their prediction after experiencing the task. However, accuracy still improves significantly until adolescence. Although the older adults had a lower span, they were as accurate as young adults in their evaluation, suggesting that metamemory is unimpaired for short-term memory tasks in older adults.Highlights:•We investigate metamemory for short-term memory tasks across the lifespan.•We find younger children cannot accurately predict their span length.•Older adults are accurate in predicting their span length.•People’s metamemory accuracy was related to their short-term memory span.