Age Differences in the Underconfidence-With-Practice Effect

Abstract

In two verbal learning experiments, the authors examined the accuracy of
memory monitoring and the underconfidence-with-practice (UWP) effect
in younger and older adults. Memory monitoring was operationalized as
judgements of learning (JOL). An open issue is whether UWP can also be
found in older adults. In the first experiment, both younger and older
adults overestimated their memory performance in the first trial, but
the older group differed from the young group in the second trial. The
JOLs given by older participants matched, on average, their recall
performance. In fact, the UWP effect was not observed in any of several
conditions in older participants. In the second experiment involving five
study-test cycles and two age groups, the same basic pattern of results
was present: Older adults did not show an UWP effect. These findings
appear to fit into a framework of dual factors affecting JOLs, which
posits that the magnitude of JOLs derives both from an anchoring point
and from on-line monitoring of items.