The Gap Between Desired and Expected Performance as Predictor for Judgment Confidence

Publication date: Available online 27 June 2019Source: Journal of Applied Research in Memory and CognitionAuthor(s): Marion Händel, Anne-Katrin BukowskiMetacognitive judgments provide information about one's personal understanding of specific learning content. Their level and accuracy, however, differ depending on performance. Low-performing students provide rather inaccurate and overly optimistic performance judgments but indicate lower confidence in their judgments. This unskilled but subjectively aware effect and its underlying factors are the focus of the present study. Undergraduate students (N = 237) in an exam setting participated in the study. Data were collected on desired performance, performance judged before and after exam completion, and respective confidence in these judgments (second-order judgments, SOJs). We focused on the discrepancy between desired and judged performance before and after an exam and analyzed its influence on SOJs. Regression analyses replicated previous findings and provided further evidence on the influence of desired performance. In particular, the discrepancy between desired and judged performance seems a relevant factor in contributing to the unskilled but subjectively aware effect.
Source: Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition - Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research