Developmental Improvements and Persisting Difficulties in Children’s Metacognitive Monitoring and Control Skills: Cross‐Sectional and Longitudinal Perspectives

• Published in: Child development Vol. 92; no. 3; pp. 1118 - 1136
• Main Authors: Bayard, Natalie S., Loon, Mariëtte H., Steiner, Martina, Roebers, Claudia M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Wiley 01.05.2021; Blackwell Publishing Ltd; John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Subjects: Age Groups; Associative learning; Child Development; Children; Empirical; Familiarity; Metacognition; Paired Associate Learning; Self Management; Skill Development
• ISSN: 0009-3920; 1467-8624; 1467-8624
• DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13486

This study investigated age‐dependent improvements of monitoring and control in 7/8‐ and 9/10‐year‐old children. We addressed prospective (judgments of learning and restudy selections) and retrospective metacognitive skills (confidence judgments and withdrawal of answers). Children (N = 305) completed a paired‐associate learning task twice, with a 1‐year delay. Results revealed improvements in retrospective, but not in prospective monitoring and control. Furthermore, control remained suboptimal, seemingly a consequence of overoptimistic monitoring. Both age groups showed stronger monitoring‐based control at the second compared to the first assessment. The comparison with a cross‐sectional sample (N = 144) revealed that improvements in retrospective monitoring can be mainly attributed to naturally occurring development, whereas retrospective control seemed to improve due to increased task familiarity.