How often are thoughts metacognitive? Findings from research on self-regulated learning, think-aloud protocols, and mind-wandering

How often are thoughts metacognitive? Findings from research on self-regulated learning,... Metacognitive monitoring refers to how people evaluate their cognitive performance. An extensive literature examines how accurately individuals engage in monitoring. The question of how often individuals engage in metacognitive monitoring has been largely neglected, although one might expect situational, group, and individual variability in monitoring frequency. We argue that this is a critical omission, given that the frequency of metacognitive monitoring might have important implications for monitoring accuracy and task performance. Within this review, we highlight findings from three literatures, that each provide insight into how often individuals engage in monitoring. To clarify the important links and potential overlaps between these separate bodies of research, we begin by summarizing the metacognitive monitoring literature, including age-related patterns in monitoring accuracy. We then connect these questions regarding spontaneous monitoring, including age-related patterns in spontaneous monitoring, to targeted reviews of the self-regulated learning, think-aloud protocol, and mind-wandering literatures. We discuss situational and dispositional factors believed to influence monitoring accuracy, and propose that the same factors could potentially influence the frequency of spontaneous monitoring. Additionally, we propose that age-related increases in spontaneous monitoring (as suggested by age-related increases in TRI) may contribute to older adults’ intact monitoring abilities. It is our hope that this review will encourage increased attention and research on the topic of spontaneous monitoring. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Psychonomic Bulletin & Review Springer Journals

How often are thoughts metacognitive? Findings from research on self-regulated learning, think-aloud protocols, and mind-wandering

18 pages
Read Article

Loading next page...
 
/lp/springer_journal/how-often-are-thoughts-metacognitive-findings-from-research-on-self-gCMSwxWtLx
Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 by Psychonomic Society, Inc.
Subject
Psychology; Cognitive Psychology
ISSN
1069-9384
eISSN
1531-5320
D.O.I.
10.3758/s13423-018-1490-1
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Metacognitive monitoring refers to how people evaluate their cognitive performance. An extensive literature examines how accurately individuals engage in monitoring. The question of how often individuals engage in metacognitive monitoring has been largely neglected, although one might expect situational, group, and individual variability in monitoring frequency. We argue that this is a critical omission, given that the frequency of metacognitive monitoring might have important implications for monitoring accuracy and task performance. Within this review, we highlight findings from three literatures, that each provide insight into how often individuals engage in monitoring. To clarify the important links and potential overlaps between these separate bodies of research, we begin by summarizing the metacognitive monitoring literature, including age-related patterns in monitoring accuracy. We then connect these questions regarding spontaneous monitoring, including age-related patterns in spontaneous monitoring, to targeted reviews of the self-regulated learning, think-aloud protocol, and mind-wandering literatures. We discuss situational and dispositional factors believed to influence monitoring accuracy, and propose that the same factors could potentially influence the frequency of spontaneous monitoring. Additionally, we propose that age-related increases in spontaneous monitoring (as suggested by age-related increases in TRI) may contribute to older adults’ intact monitoring abilities. It is our hope that this review will encourage increased attention and research on the topic of spontaneous monitoring.

Journal

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review – Springer Journals

Published: May 31, 2018

References

  • Predicting short-term stock fluctuations by using processing fluency
    Alter, AL; Oppenheimer, DM
  • Mind wandering and cognitive structure
    Antrobus, JS; Singer, JL; Goldstein, S; Fortgang, M
  • Measuring Cognitive and Metacognitive Regulatory Processes During Hypermedia Learning: Issues and Challenges
    Azevedo, R; Moos, DC; Johnson, AM; Chauncey, AD
  • Discrimination of item strength at time of presentation
    Arbuckle, TY; Cuddy, LL
  • The sensitivity of judgment-of-learning resolution to past test performance, new learning, and forgetting
    Ariel, R; Dunlosky, J
  • Metacognitive training at home: Does it improve older adults’ learning?
    Bailey, H; Dunlowsky, J; Hertzog, C
  • How accurately can older adults evaluate the quality of their text recall? The effect of providing standards on judgment accuracy
    Baker, J; Dunlosky, J; Hertzog, C
  • Think-aloud protocols in research on essay rating: An empirical study of their veridicality and reactivity
    Barkaoui, K
  • Memory predictions are based on ease of processing
    Begg, I; Duft, S; Lalonde, P; Melnick, R; Sanvito, J
  • Does task affordance moderate age-related deficits in strategy production?
    Bottiroli, S; Dunlosky, J; Guerini, K; Cavallini, E; Hertzog, C
  • Cognitive monitoring and strategy choice in younger and older adults
    Brigham, MC; Pressley, M
  • Organismic achievement and environmental probability
    Brunswick, E
  • The brain’s default network: anatomy, function, and relevance to disease
    Buckner, RL; Andrews-Hanna, JR; Schacter, DL
  • First- and second-order metacognitive judgments of semantic memory reports: The influence of personality traits and cognitive styles
    Buratti, S; Allwood, CM; Kleitman, S
  • Developmental aspects of the feeling of knowing
    Butterfield, EC; Nelson, TO; Peck, V
  • Evidence for a life-span theory of socioemotional selectivity
    Carstensen, LL
  • Illusions of competence and overestimation of associative memory for identical items: Evidence from judgments of learning
    Castel, AD; McCabe, DP; Roediger, HL
  • Metamemorial predictors of memory performance in young and older adults
    Cavanaugh, JC; Poon, LW
  • Age-related differences in absolute but not relative metamemory accuracy
    Connor, LT; Dunlosky, J; Hertzog, C
  • Subjective memory beliefs and cognitive performance in normal and mildly impaired older adults
    Cook, SE; Marsiske, M
  • The interplay between uncertainty monitoring and working memory: Can metacognition become automatic?
    Coutinho, M; Redford, J; Church, B; Zakrzewski, A; Couchman, J; Smith, D
  • Associations between evaluation anxiety, cognitive interference and performance on working memory tasks
    Coy, B; O’Brien, WH; Tabaczynski, T; Northern, J; Carels, R
  • On the transfer of information from temporary to permanent memory
    Craik, FIM
  • Aging and cognitive processes
    Craik, FIM; Byrd, M
  • The relation between personality and the realism in confidence judgements in older adults
    Dahl, M; Allwood, CM; Rennemark, M; Hagberg, B
  • Reduced resting-state brain activity in the “default network” in normal aging
    Damoiseaux, J; Beckmann, C; Arigita, E; Barkhof, F; Scheltens, P; Stam, C; Smith, S; Rombouts, S
  • Monitoring and depth of strategy use in computer based learning environments for science and history
    Deekens, VM; Greene, JA; Lobczowski, NG
  • Text-processing differences in adolescent adequate and poor comprehenders reading accessible and challenging narrative and informational text
    Denton, CA; Enos, M; York, MJ; Francis, DJ; Barnes, MA; Kulesz, PA
  • Aging, metamemory, and high-confidence errors: a misrecollection account
    Dodson, CS; Bawa, S; Krueger, LE
  • Children’s spontaneous allocation of study time: Differential and sufficient aspects
    Dufresne, A; Kobasigawa, A
  • Age differences in the allocation of study time account for age differences in memory performance
    Dunlosky, J; Connor, LT
  • Updating knowledge about encoding strategies: A componential analysis of learning about strategy effectiveness from task experience
    Dunlosky, J; Hertzog, C
  • Metacognition
    Dunlosky, J; Metcalfe, J
  • Age invariance in semantic and episodic metamemory: Both younger and older adults provide accurate feeling-of-knowing for names of faces
    Eakin, DK; Hertzog, C; Harris, W
  • Protocol analysis: Verbal reports as data
    Ericsson, KA; Simon, HA
  • Introspection in Second Language Research
    Ericsson, KA; Simon, H
  • Protocol analysis: Verbal reports as data
    Ericsson, KA; Simon, HA
  • Extending the testing effect to self regulated learning
    Fernandez, J; Jamet, E
  • Age differences in using source relevant cues
    Ferguson, SA; Hashtroudi, S; Johnson, MK
  • Analyzing and aiding decision processes
    Fidler, EL
  • Metacognition and cognitive monitoring
    Flavell, JH
  • Attentional capture by entirely irrelevant distractors
    Forster, S; Lavie, N
  • Dispositional mindfulness and the wandering mind: implications for attentional control in older adults
    Fountain-Zaragoza, S; Londerée, A; Whitmoyer, P; Prakash, RS
  • The role of encoding strategy in younger and older adult associative recognition: A think-aloud analysis
    Fox, MC; Baldock, Z; Freeman, SP; Berry, JM
  • Validating older adults’ reports of less mind-wandering: An examination of eye movements and dispositional influences
    Frank, DJ; Nara, B; Zavagnin, M; Touron, DR; Kane, MJ
  • Articulation in automatic mental work
    Fryer, DH
  • The natural frequency of human prospective memory increases with age
    Gardner, RS; Ascoli, GA
  • Monitoring of understanding: An investigation of attentional assistance needs at different grade and reading proficiency level
    Garner, R; Taylor, N
  • Task-unrelated thought frequency as a function of age: A laboratory study
    Giambra, LM
  • A laboratory method for investigating influence on switching attention to task-unrelated imagery and thought
    Giambra, LM
  • Testing and cognition
    Glaser, R
  • Individual differences, rereading, and self explanation: Concurrent processing and cue validity as constraints on metacomprehension accuracy
    Griffin, TD; Wiley, J; Thiede, KW
  • Memory and the feeling-of-knowing experience
    Hart, JT
  • Memory and the memory-monitoring process
    Hart, JT
  • Attention and performance XVII
    Hasher, L; Zacks, RT; May, CP
  • The handbook of aging and cognition
    Hertzog, C; Hultsch, DF
  • Metacognition in later adulthood: Spared monitoring can benefit older adults’ self-regulation
    Hertzog, C; Dunlosky, J
  • Relationships between metamemory, memory predictions, and memory task performance in adults
    Hertzog, C; Dixon, RA; Hultsch, DF
  • Encoding fluency is a cue used for judgments about learning
    Hertzog, C; Dunlosky, J; Robinson, EA; Kidder, DP
  • Judgments of learning are influenced by multiple cues in addition to memory for past test accuracy
    Hertzog, C; Hines, JC; Touron, DR
  • How is knowledge generate about memory encoding strategy effectiveness
    Hertzog, C; Price, J; Dunlosky, J
  • Age differences in the monitoring of learning: Cross-sectional evidence of spared resolution across the adult life span
    Hertzog, C; Sinclair, SM; Dunlosky, J
  • Does a time monitoring deficit influence older adults' delayed retrieval shift during skill acquisition?
    Hertzog, C; Touron, DR; Hines, J
  • Metamemory and aging: Relations between predicted, actual and perceived memory task performance
    Hertzog, C; Saylor, LL; Fleece, AM; Dixon, RA
  • Aging and monitoring associative learning: Is monitoring accuracy spared or impaired?
    Hertzog, C; Kidder, DP; Powell-Moman, A; Dunlosky, J
  • Age differences in metamemory: resolving the inconsistencies
    Hultsch, DF; Hertzog, C; Dixon, RA
  • Correlates and moderators of change in subjective memory and memory performance: Findings from the Health and Retirement Study
    Hülür, G; Hertzog, C; Pearman, AM; Gerstorf, D
  • Literary reading activities of good and weak students: A think aloud study
    Janssen, T; Braaksma, M; Rijlaarsdam, G
  • Priming performance-related concerns induces task related mind-wandering
    Jordano, MJ; Touron, DR
  • For whom the mind wanders, and when: An experience-sampling study of working memory and executive control in daily life
    Kane, MJ; Brown, LH; McVay, JC; Silvia, PJ; Myin-Germeys, I; Kwapil, TR
  • Thinking aloud in human description learning
    Karpf, DA
  • Individual differences in metacognition: evidence against a general metacognitive ability
    Kelemen, WL; Frost, PJ; Weaver, CA
  • Memory, monitoring, and control in the attainment of memory accuracy
    Kelley, CM; Sahakyan, L
  • Naturalistic assessment of everyday memory performance among older adults
    Kempe, M; Kalicinski, M; Memmert, D
  • A wandering mind is an unhappy mind
    Killingsworth, MA; Gilbert, DT
  • Structure and functions of fantasy
    Klinger, E
  • The stream of consciousness: Scientific investigations into the flow of human experience
    Klinger, E
  • Effects of working memory capacity on metacognitive monitoring: A study of group differences using a listening span test
    Komori, M
  • Influencing the occurrence of mind wandering while reading
    Kopp, K; D’Mello, S; Mills, C
  • Monitoring one's knowledge during study: A cue-utilization approach to judgments of learning
    Koriat, A
  • Low perceived control as a risk factor for episodic memory: The mediational role of anxiety and task interference
    Lachman, ME; Agrigoroaei, S
  • Handbook of the psychology of aging
    Lachman, ME; Neupert, SD; Agrigoroaei, S
  • Do different metamemory judgments tap the same underlying aspects of memory?
    Leonesio, RJ; Nelson, TO
  • To think aloud or not to think aloud: The issue of reactivity in SLA research methodology
    Leow, RP; Morgan-Short, K
  • Prediction and evaluation of memory performance by young and old adults
    Lovelace, EA; Marsh, GR
  • Assessing second language writing: The rater’s perspective
    Lumley, T
  • Age-related changes in frequency of mind-wandering and task-related interferences during memory encoding and their impact on retrieval
    Maillet, D; Rajah, MN
  • Metacomprehension of text material
    Maki, RH; Berry, SL
  • Consider it done! Plan making can eliminate the cognitive effects of unfulfilled goals
    Masicampo, EJ; Baumeister, RF
  • Personality psychology in Europe
    Matthews, G; Joyner, L; Gilliland, K; Huggins, J; Falconer, S
  • Adult age differences in predicting memory performance: The effects of normative information and task experience
    McDonald-Miszczak, L; Hunter, MA; Hultsch, DF
  • Effects of aging and task difficulty on divided attention performance
    McDowd, JM; Craik, FIM
  • Conducting the train of thought: Working memory capacity, goal neglect, and mind-wandering in an executive-control task
    McVay, JC; Kane, MJ
  • Does mind wandering reflect executive function or executive failure? Comment on Smallwood and Schooler (2006) and Watkins (2008)
    McVay, JC; Kane, MJ
  • Drifting from slow to “D’oh!”: working memory capacity and mind wander-ing predict extreme reaction times and executive control errors. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning
    McVay, JC; Kane, MJ
  • Dispatching the wandering mind? Toward a laboratory method for cuing “spontaneous” off-task thought
    McVay, JC; Kane, MJ
  • Aging ebbs the flow of thought: Adult age differences in mind wandering, executive control, and self-evaluation
    McVay, JC; Meier, ME; Touron, DR; Kane, MJ
  • Think-aloud protocol analysis: An investigation of reading comprehension strategies in fourth- and fifth-grade students
    Meyers, J; Lytle, S; Palladino, D; Devenpeck, G; Green, M
  • Elementary students' spontaneous metacognitive functions in different types of mathematical problems
    Mokos, E; Kafoussi, S
  • Middle school students’ mathematical problem solving: An analysis of think-aloud protocols
    Montague, M; Applegate, B
  • Threatened to distraction: Mind-wandering as a consequence of stereotype threat
    Mrazek, MD; Chin, JM; Schmader, T; Hartson, KA; Smallwood, J; Schooler, JW
  • Metamemory in the aged
    Murphy, MD; Sanders, RE; Gabriesheski, AS; Schmitt, FA
  • Metamemory in older adults: The role of monitoring in serial recall
    Murphy, MD; Schmitt, FA; Caruso, MJ; Sanders, RE
  • The influence of reading purpose on inference generation and comprehension in reading
    Narvaez, D; Broek, P; Ruiz, AB
  • Consciousness and metacognition
    Nelson, TO
  • Allocation of self-paced study time and the “labor-in-vain effect.”
    Nelson, TO; Leonesio, RJ
  • Overlearning and the feeling of knowing
    Nelson, TO; Leonesio, RJ; Shimamura, AP; Landwehr, RS; Narens, L
  • The psychology of learning and motivation
    Nelson, TO; Narens, L
  • Spontaneous monitoring and regulation of learing: A comparison of successful and less successful fifth-graders
    Owings, R; Petersen, G; Bransford, DD; Morris, CD; Stein, BS
  • The role of individual differences in the accuracy of confidence judgments
    Pallier, G; Wilkinson, R; Danthir, V; Kleitman, S; Knezevic, G; Stankov, L; Roberts, RD
  • Medication adherence in Rheumatoid arthritis patients: Older is wiser
    Park, DC; Hertzog, C; Leventhal, H; Morrell, RW; Leventhal, E; Birchmore, D; Martin, M; Bennett, J
  • Students' aptitudes and their reports of cognitive processes during direct instruction
    Peterson, PL; Swing, SR; Braverman, MT; Buss, RR
  • Aging and metamemory: The roles of relatedness and imagery
    Rabinowitz, JC; Ackerman, BP; Craik, FIM; Hinchley, JL
  • Strategy selection in question answering
    Reder, LM
  • Aging and prospective memory: Differences between naturalistic and laboratory tasks
    Rendell, PG; Thomson, DM
  • Aging, encoding fluency, and metacognitive monitoring
    Robinson, AE; Hertzog, C; Dunlosky, J
  • The validity of verbal protocols
    Russo, JE; Johnson, EJ; Stephens, DL
  • Cognitive interference: Situational determinants and trait-like characteristics
    Sarason, IG; Sarason, BR; Keefe, DE; Hayes, BE; Shearin, EN
  • Mediation of adult age differences in cognition by reductions in working memory and speed of processing
    Salthouse, TA
  • Overconfidence and the Big Five
    Schaefer, PS; Williams, CC; Goodie, AS; Campbell, WK
  • Signaling task awareness in think-aloud protocols from students selecting relevant information from text
    Schellings, GLM; Broekkamp, H
  • An integrated process model of stereotype threat effects on performance
    Schmader, T; Johns, M; Forbes, C
  • Mathematical problem solving
    Schoenfeld, AH
  • Cognitive science and mathematics education
    Schoenfeld, AH
  • How few and far between? Examining the effects of probe rate on self-reported mind wandering
    Seli, P; Carriere, JSA; Levene, M; Smilek, D
  • People use the memory for past test heuristic as an explicit cue for judgments-of-learning
    Serra, MJ; Ariel, R
  • Domain familiarity as a cue for judgments of learning
    Shanks, LL; Serra, MJ
  • Age differences in predictions and performance on a cued recall task
    Shaw, RJ; Craik, FIM
  • Intuitive confidence: Choosing between intuitive and nonintuitive alternatives
    Simmons, JP; Nelson, LD
  • Speaking about writing: Reflections on research methodology
    Smagorinsky, P
  • The restless mind
    Smallwood, J; Schooler, JW
  • Shifting moods, wandering minds: negative moods lead the mind to wander
    Smallwood, J; Fitzgerald, A; Miles, LK; Phillips, LH
  • Rumination, dysphoria, and subjective experience
    Smallwood, J; O'Connor, RC; Heim, D
  • Subjective experience and the attentional lapse: Task engagement and disengagement during sustained attention
    Smallwood, J; Davies, JB; Heim, D; Finnigan, F; Sudberry, M; O’Connor, R; Obonsawin, M
  • Executive functioning and judgment-oflearning versus feeling-of knowing in older adults
    Souchay, C; Isingrini, M; Clarys, D; Taconnat, L; Eustache, F
  • The SAGE hand-book of personality theory and assessment
    Stankov, L; Kleitman, S
  • Contending with a stereotype: African-American intellectual test performance and stereotype threat
    Steele, CM; Aronson, J
  • Adult age differences in the effects of goals on self-regulated sentence processing
    Stine-Morrow, EAL; Shake, MC; Miles, JR; Noh, SR
  • Stimulus-independent thought depends on central executive resources
    Teasdale, JD; Dritschel, BH; Taylor, MJ; Proctor, L; Lloyd, CA; Nimmo-Smith, I; Baddeley, AD
  • Conscious understanding during comprehension
    Trabasso, T; Magliano, JP
  • Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases
    Tversky, A; Kahneman, D
  • Lapses in sustained attention and their relation to executive control and fluid abilities: An individual differences investigation
    Unsworth, N; Redick, TS; Lakey, CE; Young, DL
  • Separation of encoding fluency and item difficulty effects on judgements of learning
    Undorf, M; Erdfelder, E
  • Mind wandering and reading comprehension: Examining the roles of working memory capacity, interest, motivation, and topic experience
    Unsworth, N; McMillan, BD
  • Thinking aloud: Does it affect regulatory processes in learning?
    Veenman, MVJ; Elshout, JJ; Groen, MGM
  • Reconnecting cognition in the lab and cognition in real life: The role of compensatory social and motivational factors in explaining how cognition ages in the wild
    Verhaeghen, P; Martin, M; Sędek, G
  • Interrelationships between subjective health and episodic memory change in Swedish and Canadian samples of older adults
    Wahlin, A; Maitland, SB; Bäckman, L; Dixon, RA
  • Children’s problems in text comprehension
    Yuill, N; Oakhill, J
  • New directions in memory and aging: Proceedings of the George A. Talland Memorial Conference
    Zelinski, EM; Gilewski, MJ; Thompson, LW

You’re reading a free preview. Subscribe to read the entire article.

Try 2 weeks free now

DeepDyve is your
personal research library

It’s your single place to instantly
discover and read the research
that matters to you.

Enjoy affordable access to
over 18 million articles from more than
15,000 peer-reviewed journals.

All for just $49/month

Explore the DeepDyve Library

or browse the journals available

Search

Query the DeepDyve database, plus search all of PubMed and Google Scholar seamlessly

Organize

Save any article or search result from DeepDyve, PubMed, and Google Scholar... all in one place.

Access

Get unlimited, online access to over 18 million full-text articles from more than 15,000 scientific journals.

Your journals are on DeepDyve

Read from thousands of the leading scholarly journals from SpringerNature, Elsevier, Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford University Press and more.

All the latest content is available, no embargo periods.

See the journals in your area

DeepDyve

Freelancer

DeepDyve

Pro

Price

FREE

$49/month
$360/year

Save searches from
Google Scholar,
PubMed

Create lists to
organize your research

Export lists, citations

Read DeepDyve articles

Abstract access only

Unlimited access to over
18 million full-text articles

Print

20 pages / month

PDF Discount

20% off

Sign up
for free
Start 14 day
Free Trial