Metamemory and processing fluency

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Monika Undorf
• Subject Area: General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology
• Term: from 2014 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 262195733

• Final Report Year: 2023

Final Report Abstract

Assessing one’s own learning and memory processes – metamemory – is essential for effective self-regulated learning and good learning outcomes. The basis of metamemory is a topic of considerable debate: Does metamemory mainly rely on the deliberate use of one’s beliefs about memory (metacognitive beliefs) or is it also based on how easily or fluently information can be processed (fluency)? In this project, experimental, statistical, model-based, and neurophysiological approaches have converged on the conclusion that both conceptual and perceptual fluency critically contribute to people’s predictions of their future memory performance (judgments of learning, JOLs. Moreover, the methods we have developed and used in this project have shaped the development of research strategies for separating the contributions of fluency and metacognitive beliefs. Finally, findings from this project have demonstrated that basing metamemory judgments on fluency supports people’s metacognitive capabilities. Overall, the results and findings obtained in this project (1) have provided support for dual-basis theories of metamemory according to which metamemory is based on both metacognitive beliefs and fluency and (2) have demonstrated how to obtain conclusive evidence for these theories.

Publications

• The relatedness effect on judgments of learning: A closer look at the contribution of processing fluency. Memory & Cognition, 43(4), 647-658.
  Undorf, Monika & Erdfelder, Edgar
  
• Do judgments of learning predict automatic influences of memory?. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 42(6), 882-896.
  Undorf, Monika; Böhm, Simon & Cüpper, Lutz
  
• Intuition and metacognition: The effect of semantic coherence on judgments of learning. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 24(4), 1217-1224.
  Undorf, Monika & Zander, Thea
  
• Perceptual fluency contributes to effects of stimulus size on judgments of learning. Journal of Memory and Language, 92, 293-304.
  Undorf, Monika; Zimdahl, Malte F. & Bernstein, Daniel M.
  
• The puzzle of study time allocation for the most challenging items. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 24(6), 2003-2011.
  Undorf, Monika & Ackerman, Rakefet
  
• Metamemory and memory for a wide range of font sizes: What is the contribution of perceptual fluency?. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 45(1), 97-109.
  Undorf, Monika & Zimdahl, Malte F.
  
• Fluency Illusions in Metamemory. Memory Quirks, 150-174.
  Undorf, Monika
  
• The neurocognitive basis of metamemory: Using the N400 to study the contribution of fluency to judgments of learning. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 169, 107176.
  Undorf, Monika; Amaefule, Chimezie Obioma & Kamp, Siri-Maria
  
• Das Gedächtnis über das Gedächtnis. Gehirn&Geist
  Undorf, M.
  
• Effect of impoverished information on multisensory integration in judgments of learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 47(3), 481-497.
  Tatz, Joshua R.; Undorf, Monika & Peynircioğlu, Zehra F.
  
• Hindsight bias in metamemory: outcome knowledge influences the recollection of judgments of learning. Memory, 29(5), 559-572.
  Zimdahl, Malte F. & Undorf, Monika
  
• On the pervasive effect of word frequency in metamemory. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 75(8), 1411-1427.
  Mendes, Pedro S & Undorf, Monika
  
• Metacognitive illusions. Cognitive Illusions, 307-323.
  Undorf, Monika; Navarro-Báez, Sofia & Zimdahl, Malte F.