Metacognition in Later Adulthood: Spared Monitoring Can Benefit Older Adults' Self-regulation

Abstract

Metacognition includes two key concepts: monitoring of internal states, and adaptive use of control strategies based on that monitoring. We review studies that indicate that aging does not materially affect the accuracy of elementary forms of monitoring encoding and retrieval states in episodic memory tasks, even though it does influence episodic memory itself. Spared monitoring accuracy can therefore serve as a basis for older adults' use of compensatory strategies to achieve learning goals, despite the influence of aging on mechanisms of learning. Metacognitive intervention studies based on this premise show greater effects on learning than traditional strategy-training approaches. Use of strategies for self-regulation, informed by monitoring, may be an important tool for older adults' effective cognitive functioning in everyday life.

Figures

Figure 1

Cross-sectional regression lines for JOL resolution (gamma) as a function of age for all PA items, related items, and unrelated items (from Hertzog et al., 2010). Copyright: American Psychological Association. Adapted with permission.

Figure 2

Resolution of FOKs with recognition accuracy (gamma correlations) for unrecalled items (from Hertzog et al., 2010). Copyright: Psychonomic Society. Reprinted with Permission.

Figure 3

Proportion of correct paired-associate recall performance (error bars represent standard errors of the mean) for older adults given self-regulation training (self-testing), traditional encoding-strategy training, or no training (waiting-list control). Adapted from values in Table 1 of Dunlosky et al. (2003).