دانلود رایگان مقاله توانایی فراشناختی کودکان و بزرگسالان

Abstract

Metacognition, or the capacity to reflect upon one’s own knowledge, is a key trait in our cognitive repertoire which is developed during childhood. Here, a direct comparison of metacognitive ability in children (N = 188; 6–9 years old) and adults, (N = 47) using a single perceptual task, was made. Results showed that 6–9 years old children have a level of metacognitive access similar to that of adults. Further, a signal detection theory model was applied in order to distinguish metacognitive ability from the propensity towards risk taking, two factors that have so far been confounded in studies. Children presented a suboptimal tendency towards risky decisions and a natural predisposition to overconfidence that can be partially mitigated by imposing a conservative normative strategy.

4. Discussion

In the present work, we compared the metacognitive abilities of children and adults using the same perceptual type I task and type II task. The protocol and tasks were built to be age-appropriate for both groups. This was crucial given that we aimed to measure metacognitive differences between the two groups and not differences in their cognitive performance. In doing so, we strengthen the result that metacognition, as measured through our perceptual metacognitive task, is already developed in young children, as well as the notion that children are overconfident. In addition, we show here that this tendency may not be due to a poor metacognitive access (d’), which is not significantly different from adults, but instead to a difference in the decision criteria (c) employed to make their choices. Our results suggest that when middle childhood begins, metacognitive access is already at an adult level; however, the output of metacognitive monitoring to regulate these operations, metacognitive control, may not be fully developed yet. Furthermore, the results from the adult group seem to indicate that an optimal level of metacognitive control may never be achieved, given that they still present a tendency to be suboptimally overconfident.