Contribution of Metamemory Beliefs to Age-Related Differences in the Effect of Emotion on Judgments of Learning

With the global aging of the population, the importance of understanding the characteristics and mechanisms of developmental changes in later life has grown. The present study explored age-related differences in the effect of emotion on judgments of learning (JOLs) in Chinese participants and delved deeper into the mechanisms underlying this effect. Experiment 1 observed that older participants showed a positivity effect on JOLs, whereas young participants demonstrated an emotional salience effect on JOLs, reflecting age-related differences in the effect of emotion on JOLs. To investigate the mechanisms underlying these age-related differences, Experiment 2 measured participants' metamemory beliefs about the effect of emotion on memory and found that older participants held a belief of the positivity effect, whereas young participants possessed a belief of the emotional salience effect. Experiment 3 collected data of beliefs and JOLs from the same participants and provided further evidence highlighting the contribution of metamemory beliefs to age-related differences in the effect of emotion on JOLs. These findings are essential for advancing the theoretical framework of metamemory and for extending lifespan theory of socioemotional selectivity.