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Financial awareness is associated with metamemory in cognitively healthy adults
Author(s) -
Sunderaraman Preeti,
Chapman Silvia,
Barker Megan S,
Cosentino Stephanie
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1002/alz.046066
Subject(s) - metamemory , psychology , metacognition , competence (human resources) , finance , overconfidence effect , cognition , low confidence , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , social psychology , psychiatry , economics
Background Metamemory (i.e., awareness of one’s memory abilities) degrades in individuals with dementia and has been found to be associated with poorer everyday outcomes and decision making. Decades of research have established how to measure and detect metamemory changes that may accompany aging or neurologic disease. In contrast, relatively little is known about how to assess the integrity of financial awareness (i.e., awareness of one’s financial abilities), an important construct with tremendous practical implications for avoiding financial loss in vulnerable older adults. The goal of the current study was to apply established metacognitive frameworks in order to examine financial awareness. Method Data was collected prospectively using a comprehensive battery of tests examining financial and cognitive abilities. Community dwelling individuals (n=93) with mean age=59 years (SD=15.12); mean education=15.70 (SD=2.39); 60% female were recruited. Financial Decision Making was measured using the Financial Competence Assessment Inventory (FCAI). Confidence ratings were integrated into the FCAI in order to derive a metric of financial awareness. Participants rated their confidence on a 3‐point scale following each item. Memory‐awareness was evaluated using an established 20‐item metamemory task. Awareness on each measure was calculated using a calibration score, wherein average performance across the whole test was subtracted from average confidence, to determine the extent to which individuals were over‐ or under‐confident. Result Financial awareness was not associated with age, education or gender. Financial awareness was inversely associated with financial decision making (r = ‐0.38, p < .001), and positively correlated with metamemory (r = 0.36, p < .001). Conclusion Mirroring findings from metamemory studies, overconfidence in financial decision making was associated with lower accuracy on this task in healthy adults. Moreover, financial awareness and metamemory were related, suggesting that this construct taps into metacognitive abilities more broadly. Our findings provide preliminary evidence for how to measure financial awareness in both clinical and research contexts.