How META is Your Memory?
By Celeste Mazur
Have you ever needed to remember someone’s name, and you know you know it, but it’s just not coming to your memory? You might have even said it’s “at the tip of your tongue” …
Have you ever read something for a class, and after a short time you realize that you aren’t getting what it’s saying, so you go back and reread, take notes, slow down, or think more about it?
Have you ever studied for test and thought you had the material solidly in your memory, but the test came and you realized you didn’t actually know it that well?
If you answered “YES” to any of these then, welcome to metamemory!
Metamemory is the awareness and knowledge you have about your own memory, such as experiencing a feeling of knowing, being in a “tip of the tongue” state, and judging how confidently you learned something. It’s part of the larger concept of metacognition, which is often described as “thinking about your own thinking”. In a Psychology Today blog, Marilyn Price-Mitchell describes metacognition as an inner dialogue, and three important activities we’re dialoguing about are planning, monitoring, and evaluation. Metacognition and metamemory are involved when we control and direct our own learning.
Metamemory is a growing area of research with applications across a wide spectrum – from effective learning/studying, to problem solving, to aging and Alzheimer’s disease (Schwartz & Metcalfe, 2017). Even though it may not be accurate all the time, your metamemory helps and guides you in many aspects of life. In her book The Memory Illusion (2016), memory expert Julia Shaw says metamemory helps us distinguish real from imagined things. Without the “check” of our metamemory, we would be wandering between reality and imagination all the time!
A place in your life where metamemory plays a super important role is when you’re studying. If you’re not aware of how well you’re learning and remembering something, you can see where that might interfere with (or prevent) success in school. Your metamemory is working effectively for you when…
You’re aware of which concepts you have confident knowledge in, and which concepts you don’t know as well and need to practice or learn.
You can accurately predict if you’ll be able to recall concepts on a test or other future assessment.
You know and use proven, effective, and efficient ways to study to grow confident memory of concepts.
Memory researchers compare studying to bike riding. If you’re studying but not working efficiently, it’s like you’re riding a stationary bike – you’re exerting yourself but going nowhere.
So how can you “get moving” and become more efficient and effective in your studying? How can you utilize your metamemory to its full potential? Here are some research-proven tips from memory researchers (Soderstrom, Yue, & Bjork, 2017):
Test yourself. Don’t just look at the answers of a practice test or end-of-chapter question and decide that you know them or could have figured them out. Instead simulate testing conditions and quiz yourself to see if you really know the answers. This is also called retrieval practice, and it’s a well-proven way to boost learning and memory. When you retrieve previously learned material, you are assessing if you know something, and how well you know it – metamemory in action!
Challenge yourself. Studying inefficiently through methods like simply rereading and highlighting can feel comfortable – because it’s easy! Making things easy while studying can lead to overconfidence – in other words an inaccurate judgment of your knowledge and memory. It can lead you to stop studying too soon.
Space out your studying. By scheduling your studying sessions over time and spacing repeated study sessions apart in time, you’re allowing yourself multiple opportunities to “forget”, and then recall concepts and get feedback on your own learning.
These practices lead to increased amounts of retrieval, along with reflection and monitoring of what you’re learning and remembering. In addition, you’re also gaining more control over your own learning and memory-building (Son, Brittingham Furlonge, & Agarwal, 2020). You absolutely have power to control your learning, and strategies like these can grow your metamemory and increase your academic success!
References
Price-Mitchell, M. (2020, October 9). What is metacognition? How does it help us think? Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-moment-youth/202010/what-is-metacognition-how-does-it-help-us-think
Schwartz, & Metcalfe, J. (2017). 2.23 - Metamemory: An Update of Critical Findings. In Learning and Memory: A Comprehensive Reference (Second Edition, pp. 423–432). Elsevier Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-809324-5.21056-0
Shaw, J. (2016). The Memory Illusion. Random House Books. https://www.drjuliashaw.com/thememoryillusion
Soderstrom, Yue, & Bjork. (2016). Metamemory and Education. In J. Dunlosky & S. K. Tauber (Eds). Oxford Handbook of Metamemory. Oxford University Press.
Son, L.K., Brittingham Furlonge, N., & Agarwal, P.K. (2020). Metacognition: How to Improve Students’ Reflections on Learning. Retrievalpractice.org. http://pdf.retrievalpractice.org/MetacognitionGuide.pdf