Metamemory judgments have dissociable reactivity effects on item and interitem relational memory.

Abstract

Making metamemory judgments reactively changes item memory itself. Here we report the first investigation of reactive influences of making judgments of learning (JOLs) on interitem relational memoryspecifically, temporal (serial) order memory. Experiment 1 found that making JOLs impaired order reconstruction. Experiment 2 observed minimal reactivity on free recall and negative reactivity on temporal clustering. Experiment 3 demonstrated a positive reactivity effect on recognition memory, and Experiment 4 detected dissociable effects of making JOLs on order reconstruction (negative) and forced-choice recognition (positive) by using the same participants and stimuli. Finally, a meta-analysis was conducted to explore reactivity effects on word list learning and to investigate whether test format moderates these effects. The results show a negative reactivity effect on interitem relational memory (order reconstruction), a modest positive effect on free recall, and a medium-to-large positive effect on recognition. Overall, these findings imply that even though making metacognitive judgments facilitates item-specific processing, it disrupts relational processing, supporting the item-order account of the reactivity effect on word list learning.

Judgments of Learning Reactivity on Item-Specific and Relational Processing

“…The hypothesis that making JOLs enhances item-specific processing received further support from the finding that recall for categorized lists following JOLs was comparable to recall following two other encoding manipulations that are known to induce item-specific processing: pleasantness ratings and mental imagery. Zhao et al (2022) also found supporting evidence for the item-specific processing hypothesis using unrelated word lists. They reported that making JOLs improved performance on forced-choice recognition tests and simultaneously impaired performance on order reconstruction tests (i.e., reconstructing the temporal order in which words were encoded).…”

“…For example, in Experiments 1 and 2 of Chang and Brainerd (2023), it was observed that positive JOL reactivity for related word pairs was tied to dual-retrieval model parameters that index item-specific recollection. Moreover, according to Zhao et al (2022Zhao et al ( , 2023, item-level JOLs disrupt order reconstruction (a measure of relational processing) with unrelated word lists and rhyming pairs whose target words are categorical exemplars. However, it is worth pointing out that those stimuli (word pairs and unrelated lists) naturally trigger greater levels of item-specific processing as compared to the categorized lists we used.…”

“…Making JOLs promotes item-specific processing and thus enhances the distinctiveness of individual items. (Senkova and Otani 2021;Zhao et al 2022Zhao et al , 2023 Attention-reorienting account/enhanced engagement account…”

Judgments of Learning Reactively Improve Memory by Enhancing Learning Engagement and Inducing Elaborative Processing: Evidence from an EEG Study

“…During the process of word encoding, making JOLs increases the metacognitive monitoring process (Lei et al 2020) and thus enhances learning engagement (Shi et al 2023). Additionally, searching for cues to inform JOL formation also enhances item-specific processing (Chang and Brainerd 2024;Senkova and Otani 2021;Zhao et al 2023aZhao et al , 2023b, thus producing more elaborative processing. Cognitive neural activities related to learning engagement (alpha ERD) and those related to elaborative encoding (LPC amplitude and beta ERD) together contribute to the generation of the positive reactivity effect.…”

“…The interaction between reactivity and level of processing suggests that the reactivity effect may result from the fact that making JOLs induces more elaborative processing. Furthermore, it has been shown that making JOLs promotes item-specific processing of study items, in turn producing superior recall or recognition performance (Chang and Brainerd 2024;Senkova and Otani 2021;Zhao et al 2023aZhao et al , 2023b.…”