Metamemory Accuracy: Effects of Feedback and the Stability of Individual Differences

Abstract

This study addressed two questions about metamemory accuracy: how feedback about recall performance affects confidence-recall accuracy and whether individual differences in confidence-recall accuracy are stable across different sets of test items. College students answered general knowledge questions and made confidence ratings about the correctness of the answers. Half the students were told whether their answers were correct. All students answered half the questions a second time. The results show that feedback did not produce a general improvement in metamemory accuracy; the improvement was specific to the questions for which feedback was provided. Also, individual students' metamemory accuracy showed moderate alternate-forms stability when each test was made up of 250 items. Therefore, researchers studying individual differences in metamemory accuracy on recall tasks should use tests that yield several hundred responses.