Adult Age Differences in Metamemory

Abstract

Metamemory abilities were compared among three age groups, 18 to 31, 60 to 69, and 70 to 19 years. These groups were compared with respect to their memory knowledge tabouthe relative difficulty of memorizing low-and high-imagery and low-and high-frequency words. The three age groups were similar in their predictions of the number of words they could recall but differed in the number they actually did recall. Increased age was associated with overestimation. It was concluded that accurate memory knowledge of these word types declines with age.