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Metacognition in Early Childhood: Fertile Ground to Understand Memory Development?
Author(s) -
Geurten Marie,
Willems Sylvie
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
child development perspectives
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1750-8606
pISSN - 1750-8592
DOI - 10.1111/cdep.12201
Subject(s) - metacognition , psychology , metamemory , cognitive psychology , memory development , heuristics , episodic memory , developmental psychology , childhood memory , introspection , early childhood , inference , cognition , cognitive development , neuroscience , computer science , artificial intelligence , operating system
Metacognition is a critical factor that appears to be involved in improving episodic memory during childhood. However, as metacognitive abilities emerge relatively late in development, they have not been expected to influence children's memory performance before age 7. Nevertheless, in recent studies, as early as age 3, children rely on basic metacognitive abilities to evaluate their memory and use the result of this evaluation to regulate their memory performance. In this article, we consider evidence for the early development of metacognitive skills. We then review studies indicating that children can use inference rules based on the results of their introspection (monitoring) to regulate their memory decisions, demonstrating the early use of several metacognitive heuristics. Finally, we discuss preliminary findings indicating that changes in how children use metacognitive heuristics can account for changes in episodic memory throughout childhood.