Deficits in metacognitive capacity (i.e., the ability to integrate knowledge of oneself and others into a cohesive whole) have been shown to lead to poor functional outcome in psychosis. However, there is a gap in the literature concerning the role of metacognition in typically developing populations, which makes it difficult to define what level of metacognition is normative. Evidence from other models of self-experience such as autobiographical reasoning indicate that self-reflection increases across the lifespan, suggesting that the same may be true for metacognitive capacity. Thus, the current study expands knowledge of the self-concept by establishing a connection between metacognitive capacity and autobiographical reasoning and exploring the developmental course of metacognition in healthy populations. To that end, the following aims were evaluated: 1) Determining the developmental trajectory of metacognitive capacity; 2) Elucidating the relationship between metacognitive capacity and autobiographical reasoning; and 3) Exploring the potential moderating effect of autobiographical reasoning on the proposed relationship between age and metacognitive capacity. Our findings suggest that overall metacognitive capacity is consistent across the lifespan; however, awareness of the experiences of others increases with age. We also found that metacognitive capacity and autobiographical reasoning are separate constructs, with only a trend level negative association between autobiographical reasoning and decentration. This novel study elucidates the role of aging on metacognition and suggests that self-reflectivity is generally intact in the absence of severe psychopathology.

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Metacognition has been identified as a critical skill set for learning in problem solving, conceptual understanding, and studying, all of which are key in any undergraduate engineering curriculum. Though significant research has identified metacognition as critical in learning, most of this research has been conducted in experimental settings and has focused on individual engagement. While experimental settings provide evidence that metacognition is important to learning, these controlled studies do not tell us if students actually engage in metacognition in their own contexts. The purpose of this research study was to describe the metacognitive habits of engineering students in the naturalistic setting of study groups as well as contextual factors that supported this engagement. In order to accomplish this, I developed a methodological approach useful for identifying metacognitive engagement in naturalistic settings. In this ethnographically-inspired qualitative study, I used participant observations as my primary source of data and ethnographic interviews as supplemental data. Three study groups participated in this study and represented a diverse range of strategies for learning and studying. In order to identify the metacognitive behaviors of the study participants, I developed the Naturalistic Observations of Metacognitive Engagement (NOME) coding strategy, a coding scheme that can be used to identify metacognitive engagement in naturalistic settings involving undergraduate engineering students. Through the use of the NOME for coding the observational transcripts, I found that undergraduate engineering students engage in metacognitive engagement in different ways and certain metacognitive behaviors are engaged in at a higher rate than others. From an analysis of the observational fieldnotes, I found that contextual factors such as learning environment, study group schedule, study group purpose, learning resources, and workload potentially impact the way in which engineering students engage in metacognitive practices. The findings of this study provide important implications for researchers in metacognition and engineering education, educational practitioners, students, and the research site and participants from which the data was collected. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this study was to thoroughly review previous work and to create a new experimental paradigm combining recognition memory with value-based incentives and metacognitive confidence judgments, which may provide convergent evidence for the motivation-cognition interface. This paradigm involves a game-like task administering global and local motivational incentives. Furthermore, trial-level metacognitive confidence ratings were gathered to understand the relationship of metacognitive accuracy and value as a function of strategic control of attention and memory and incentive-based motivation. Paired samples t-tests and a repeated measures ANOVA were used to identify differences in recognition performance based on reward incentive, and Goodman-Kruskall gamma correlations between performance confidence estimates were used to measure metacognitive accuracy. The results showed the mean number of recognition hits (correctly remembering previously seen items) were indeed greater for high-value items compared to low-value items. I also report an unanticipated effect of block, such that the hit rate increased for low valued items from Block 1 to Block 2. Unfortunately, I did not find meaningful results for the metacognitive judgments. This study lays important groundwork for subsequent research incorporating physiological testing to provide a much-needed link between mind and brain with respect to motivation and cognition. Moreover, this study provides important evidence about limitations within the current design and of remote experimental testing broadly.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Carleton University, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 277-317). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

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This mixed methods dissertation explores the impact of metacognitive support (reflective journal entries and a think-aloud exercise) in a PBL (problem-based learning) unit. While students are developing a solution for a PBL unit they may become occupied solely in solving the problem or task and not take time to fully consider what and how they have learned. This study examined how a metacognitive reflective component in a problem-based learning curriculum aids the learning process. The problem explored in this dissertation is that though problem-based learning may engage students, it is not known to what extent reflection adds to learners? development and application of critical thinking skills such as problem solving. The participant observer taught a problem-based learning unit concurrently with a poetry unit in three secondary senior-level English/language arts classrooms over a six weeks period. Four data sources were analyzed quantitatively: a pre-test and post-test on poetry terms, students? essay scores, and a survey. To determine differences between groups ANCOVA (Analysis of Covariance) was used to analyze the results of the poetry terms pre-test and post-test of the two experimental groups and the control group. MANCOVA (Multivariate Analysis of Covariance) was used to compare the results of the two experimental groups and the control group on the criteria of the essay. MANCOVA was also conducted to compare survey results between the experimental groups and the control group. The ANCOVA and MANCOVA tests used SPSS software. Additionally, qualitative analysis used a constant comparison method to analyze students? journal entries and a think-aloud exercise to provide insights concerning the research questions. The overall findings of this study fail to lend support for the intervention that was examined. The quantitative analysis results were not statistically significant between the two experimental groups and the control group. While the qualitative data sources provided some insights regarding how students learn, the data did not indicate that this type of metacognitive support greatly impacted student learning over the course of this study.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio State University, 2003. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xii, 139 p.; also includes graphics (some col.). Includes abstract and vita. Advisor: Richard E. Petty, Dept. of Psychology. Includes bibliographical references (p. 101-110).

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