Metacognition

Metacognition means different things to different people and is generally acknowledged to include a wide range of phenomena. Nonetheless, there are two core meanings of the term metacognition to which most researchers using that label often refer: monitoring and control of cognitive processes. Monitoring of cognitive processes can include awareness of the component steps in cognitive processes as well as awareness of various features of these steps including their duration and their successfulness. For example, one might be aware of the steps one goes through in serving a tennis ball, as well as the successfulness of the serve.

Monitoring typically refers to awareness of the features of the current behavior. In contrast, control of cognitive processes refers to the processes that modify behavior, such as the selection of a strategy for performing a task. For example, deciding whether to search for a phone number in memory or search for it in a phone book, as well as deciding how long to search memory before giving up, are instances of control processes. In this chapter we focus on the relationship between monitoring and control of cognition in a special way: We argue that some aspects of metacognition typically called monitoring, and therefore implying awareness, actually operate without much awareness. Moreover, the control processes that operate to affect strategy choice are frequently influenced by implicit processes.

Further, this view has been clearly articulated by several of the main researchers of metacognitive behavior. For example, Nelson and Narens described people as "systems containing self-reflective mechanisms for evaluating (and reevaluating) their progress and for changing their ongoing processing". Similarly, Metcalfe noted that, "Most researchers agree that the human episodic memory system requires, for its optimal functioning, a subsidiary monitoring and control system" (p. 137). These assumptions can also be found in more developmentally oriented work on metacognition. For example, Davidson, Deuser, and Sternberg ( 1994) stated that, "Metacognition, or knowledge of one's own cognitive processes, guides the problem-solving process and improves the efficiency of this goal-oriented behavior".

The domain of metacognition is loosely defined as those aspects of knowledge and cognition that are about cognition. According to Brown (1987), "Knowledge about cognition [metaknowledge] refers to the stable, statable, often fallible, and often late developing information that human thinkers have about their own cognitive processes" or about the cognitions of others. In his seminal writings on the topic, Flavell (1987) explained that metaknowledge can be about different things, most notably about tasks and strategies. Task knowledge includes an understanding of how attributes such as familiarity of materials, availability of cues, or speed instructions influence the manner in which a task might be carried out, or knowledge about the likelihood of being successful on the task.

Only a small number of previous investigations on implicit versus explicit memory test performance have been directly concerned with metacognitive issues, and in several recent reviews metacognition was mentioned only a few times and was never the main topic of discussion.