The role of metacognition and schematic support in younger and older adults' episodic memory. 2022

Mary C Whatley, and Alan D Castel
Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Psychology Building 1285, 502 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA. mcwhatley@ucla.edu.

Older adults experience deficits in associative memory. However, age-related differences are reduced when information is consistent with prior knowledge (i.e., schematic support), suggesting that episodic and semantic memory are interrelated. It is unclear what role metacognitive processes play in schematic support. Prior knowledge may reduce encoding demands, but older adults may allocate cognitive resources to schema-consistent information because it is more meaningful. We examined metacognitive awareness of and control over associative information that was consistent or inconsistent with prior knowledge. In Experiment 1, participants self-paced their study of grocery items paired with either market prices or unusually high prices and were tested on the exact price of each item over four study-test lists with new items on each list. In Experiment 2, participants studied items for a fixed time but made judgments of learning (JOLs) at encoding. Older adults better remembered the prices of market-value items than overpriced items. In Experiment 1, younger and older adults studied overpriced items longer than market-priced items, consistent with a discrepancy reduction model of self-regulated learning, but study time did not relate to later recall accuracy, suggesting a labor-in-vain effect. In Experiment 2, participants gave higher JOLs to market-priced items than overpriced items and were generally metacognitively aware of the benefits of schematic support. Together, these results suggest that the benefits of schematic support may not be dependent on or influenced by metacognitive control processes, supporting the hypothesis that episodic memory may be less distinct from semantic memory in younger and older adults.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D007858 Learning Relatively permanent change in behavior that is the result of past experience or practice. The concept includes the acquisition of knowledge. Phenomenography
D011939 Mental Recall The process whereby a representation of past experience is elicited. Recall, Mental
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000067489 Metacognition Awareness and understanding of one's own thought processes. Meta-cognition,Meta-cognitive Awareness,Meta-cognitive Control,Meta-cognitive Monitoring,Meta-emotion,Meta-memory,Metacognitive Awareness,Metacognitive Control,Metacognitive Knowledge,Metacognitive Monitoring,Metaemotion,Metamemory,Awareness, Meta-cognitive,Awareness, Metacognitive,Knowledge, Metacognitive,Meta cognition,Meta cognitive Awareness,Meta cognitive Control,Meta cognitive Monitoring,Meta emotion,Meta memory,Meta-cognitive Awarenesses,Meta-cognitive Controls,Meta-cognitive Monitorings,Meta-memories,Metacognitive Awarenesses,Metacognitive Controls,Metacognitive Knowledges,Metaemotions,Metamemories,Monitoring, Metacognitive
D000368 Aged A person 65 years of age or older. For a person older than 79 years, AGED, 80 AND OVER is available. Elderly
D000375 Aging The gradual irreversible changes in structure and function of an organism that occur as a result of the passage of time. Senescence,Aging, Biological,Biological Aging
D061212 Memory, Episodic Type of declarative memory, consisting of personal memory in contrast to general knowledge. Episodic Memory,Autobiographical Memory,Memory, Prospective,Prospective Memory,Autobiographical Memories,Episodic Memories,Memories, Autobiographical,Memories, Episodic,Memories, Prospective,Memory, Autobiographical,Prospective Memories

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