Short Communication
The development of metacognitive ability in adolescence

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2013.01.004Get rights and content
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Abstract

Introspection, or metacognition, is the capacity to reflect on our own thoughts and behaviours. Here, we investigated how one specific metacognitive ability (the relationship between task performance and confidence) develops in adolescence, a period of life associated with the emergence of self-concept and enhanced self-awareness. We employed a task that dissociates objective performance on a visual task from metacognitive ability in a group of 56 participants aged between 11 and 41 years. Metacognitive ability improved significantly with age during adolescence, was highest in late adolescence and plateaued going into adulthood. Our results suggest that awareness of one’s own perceptual decisions shows a prolonged developmental trajectory during adolescence.

Highlights

► Metacognition refers to the knowledge we have of our own cognitive processes. ► We investigated the development of metacognition between 11 and 41 years. ► Participants carried out a visual decision task and rated confidence in their decisions. ► While task performance was stable, metacognition improved between 11 and 17. ► Metacognition shows a prolonged developmental trajectory during adolescence.

Keywords

Adolescence
Metacognition
Cognitive development
Self-awareness
Introspection

Cited by (0)

1

Joint first authors.