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Metacognition: self-judgments, self-regulation, and cognitive management
How you know what you know
Metacognition refers to “the beliefs and knowledge about one’s own cognitive processes” (Eysenck & Keane, 2005, p. 446). This seemingly simple definition does not do justice to the complex and relatively ambiguous processes of the active monitoring and regulation of cognitive processes, which includes attention management, contemplative assessment, strategy selection and insightful reflection. While these processes are paramount in ensuring one’s success at cognitive tasks, early researchers Nisbett and Wilson (1977) concluded that most people have relatively little awareness or direct access to their own thought processes. They argue that while we may be fully conscious of the products of our thought processes (i.e., information brought to mind to answer a question or solve a problem, we are generally not aware of or in control of the processes that occur to create these products (i.e., memory mechanisms) (Matlin, 2002).
Metamemory is an aspect of metacognition which refers to self-knowledge about one’s memory, including how it works and when/how it fails to work. An important aspect of metamemory is the identification and evaluation of effective memory strategies to implement when learning new material or recalling previously learned material…
