Children and Metamemory

Children and Metamemory
When do the children show evidence if metamemory? Studies show that 3 year olds could use simple memory strategy such as looking at or touching a cup that hid a toy dog, but the children used such strategies only when explicitly told to remember where the dog was. Children told only to walk with the dig until experimenter return did not use memory strategies as often.

Indeed, young children learn a good deal about memory during their preschool year. Still they have much left to learn. For instance e, they do not always know their own memory limitations. In one study preschools, third grades and adults were asked to estimate whether they would be able to recall sets of pictures ranging from small numbers to large numbers of items. Preschooler’s estimates were highly unrealistic, as if to say, “I can remember anything!” Third grades made more realistic estimates after being told of a peer’s average performance on the items, but preschoolers were unfazed by such information, continuing to overestimates their memory capacities.

Much growth in metamemory occurs during school years. For instance, up to about age 7, most children do not seem to realize that related items or those that can be organized into categories are easier to recall than unrelated items. Young elementary schoolchildren are also less aware if which memory strategies are superior.

Are increased in metamemory a major contributor to improved memory performance e over the childhood years? Actually the evidence is mixed. There was only a weak relationship between metamemory and memory performance. Good metamemory apparently is not required for good recall. Moreover, children who know what to do do not always do it, so good memory metamemory is no guarantee of good recall. Still, there seems to at least some link between metamemory and performance, enough to suggest the merits of teaching children more about how memory works and how to make it work more effectively for them.
Children and Metamemory