Age Differences in the Reactivity Effect of Judgments of Learning on Recognition Memory

Recent studies established that engaging metacognitive monitoring via making judgments of learning (JOLs) can directly enhance young adults' recognition memory, a phenomenon termed the reactivity effect of JOLs. The present study explored the reactive influence of making JOLs on older adults' recognition memory and probed the potential age-related differences in this effect. In three experiments, participants were instructed to study four lists of words, with two lists studied with concurrent JOLs and the other two without, followed by a recognition test. The results provided strong evidence that making JOLs improves older adults' recognition performance (Experiments 1-3) through enhancing both recollection- and familiarity-based recognition (Experiment 3). But the positive reactivity effect on recognition memory for older adults was weaker than that for young adults (Experiments 2 and 3). To elucidate potential mechanisms underlying age-related differences in the reactivity effect, the present study also measured participants' learning engagement and cognitive abilities. The model results substantiated the mediating role of learning engagement, supporting the enhanced learning engagement theory, rather than the dual-task hypothesis, as an account for the reactivity effect on recognition memory.