This proposal investigates the relation between people's metacognitions and their subsequent allocation of study time. On the assumption, that is tested empirically in a series of optimization studies, that there is a region of proximal learning in which items at a particular level of difficulty will benefit most from study time allocated to them, this research seeks to determine if people study so as to optimize their learning or if their study allocation behavior is maladaptive. The specific questions that are addressed are (a) Is there a region of proximal learning? (b) Does people's study time allocation behavior appropriately tap into that region? (c) What is the mechanism underlying people's judgments of learning, and are there constraints imposed by that mechanism that either limit or facilitate appropriate study time allocation? (d) What are the time-dependent dynamics of information uptake? Are people's judgments of learning appropriately sensitive to them? And, finally, (e) are the so-called """"""""illusions of knowing"""""""" that have been widely touted as necessarily implying that people, if guided by their own metacognitions, will exhibit maladaptive time allocation strategies, really responsible for dysfunctional strategies, or might these admittedly faulty predictions nevertheless result in appropriate learning strategies? The long-term goal of this research is to develop a formal model of people's metacognitively-guided study-time allocation behavior.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01MH060637-03
Application #
6655003
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-BBBP-4 (01))
Program Officer
Kurtzman, Howard S
Project Start
2001-09-17
Project End
2005-08-31
Budget Start
2003-09-01
Budget End
2005-08-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2003
Total Cost
$81,750
Indirect Cost
Name
Columbia University (N.Y.)
Department
Psychology
Type
Other Domestic Higher Education
DUNS #
049179401
City
New York
State
NY
Country
United States
Zip Code
10027
Kelly, Karen J; Metcalfe, Janet (2011) Metacognition of emotional face recognition. Emotion 11:896-906
Miele, David B; Finn, Bridgid; Molden, Daniel C (2011) Does easily learned mean easily remembered?: it depends on your beliefs about intelligence. Psychol Sci 22:320-4
Metcalfe, Janet; Finn, Bridgid (2011) People's hypercorrection of high-confidence errors: did they know it all along? J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 37:437-48
Cosentino, Stephanie; Metcalfe, Janet; Cary, Mark S et al. (2011) Memory Awareness Influences Everyday Decision Making Capacity about Medication Management in Alzheimer's Disease. Int J Alzheimers Dis 2011:483897
Schwartz, Bennett L; Metcalfe, Janet (2011) Tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) states: retrieval, behavior, and experience. Mem Cognit 39:737-49
Finn, Bridgid; Metcalfe, Janet (2010) Scaffolding feedback to maximize long-term error correction. Mem Cognit 38:951-61
Metcalfe, Janet; Jacobs, W Jake (2010) People's study time allocation and its relation to animal foraging. Behav Processes 83:213-21
Finn, Bridgid (2010) Ending on a high note: adding a better end to effortful study. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 36:1548-53
Metcalfe, Janet; Eich, Teal S; Castel, Alan D (2010) Metacognition of agency across the lifespan. Cognition 116:267-82
Metcalfe, Janet (2009) Metacognitive Judgments and Control of Study. Curr Dir Psychol Sci 18:159-163

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