Effects of age on metacognitive efficiency
Effects of age on metacognitive efficiency
Abstract
Humans have a capacity to become aware of thoughts and behaviours known as metacognition. Metacognitive efficiency refers to the relationship between subjective reports and objective behaviour. Understanding how this efficiency changes as we age is important because poor metacognition can lead to negative consequences, such as believing one is a good driver despite a recent spate of accidents. We quantified metacognition in two cognitive domains, perception and memory, in healthy adults between 18 and 84 years old, employing measures that dissociate objective task performance from metacognitive efficiency. We identified a marked decrease in perceptual metacognitive efficiency with age and a non-significant decrease in memory metacognitive efficiency. No significant relationship was identified between executive function and metacognition in either domain. Annual decline in metacognitive efficiency after controlling for executive function was ∼0.6%. Decreases in metacognitive efficiency may explain why dissociations between behaviour and beliefs become more marked as we age.
151-160
Palmer, Emma C.
e96e8cb6-2221-4dc7-b556-603f2cf6b086
David, Antony S.
76a923c4-a382-4c45-ab2f-71a0e54df153
Fleming, Stephen M.
a6ee2698-e47e-4a98-9955-35d8d4fe4108
August 2014
Palmer, Emma C.
e96e8cb6-2221-4dc7-b556-603f2cf6b086
David, Antony S.
76a923c4-a382-4c45-ab2f-71a0e54df153
Fleming, Stephen M.
a6ee2698-e47e-4a98-9955-35d8d4fe4108
Palmer, Emma C., David, Antony S. and Fleming, Stephen M.
(2014)
Effects of age on metacognitive efficiency.
Consciousness and Cognition, 28, .
(doi:10.1016/j.concog.2014.06.007).
Abstract
Abstract
Humans have a capacity to become aware of thoughts and behaviours known as metacognition. Metacognitive efficiency refers to the relationship between subjective reports and objective behaviour. Understanding how this efficiency changes as we age is important because poor metacognition can lead to negative consequences, such as believing one is a good driver despite a recent spate of accidents. We quantified metacognition in two cognitive domains, perception and memory, in healthy adults between 18 and 84 years old, employing measures that dissociate objective task performance from metacognitive efficiency. We identified a marked decrease in perceptual metacognitive efficiency with age and a non-significant decrease in memory metacognitive efficiency. No significant relationship was identified between executive function and metacognition in either domain. Annual decline in metacognitive efficiency after controlling for executive function was ∼0.6%. Decreases in metacognitive efficiency may explain why dissociations between behaviour and beliefs become more marked as we age.
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e-pub ahead of print date: 26 July 2014
Published date: August 2014
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Local EPrints ID: 420560
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/420560
ISSN: 1053-8100
PURE UUID: efbc760e-60c9-4c75-b928-1465fc009984
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Date deposited: 10 May 2018 16:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 04:36
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Author:
Antony S. David
Author:
Stephen M. Fleming
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