Time’s up! Involvement of metamemory knowledge, executive functions, and time monitoring in children’s prospective memory performance

Geurten, Marie; Lejeune, Caroline; Meulemans, Thierry · 2015 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.1080/09297049.2014.998642

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Summary

This study investigates the mechanisms underlying time-based prospective memory (PM) in children, specifically examining how metamemory knowledge, executive functions, and time monitoring strategies interact to influence performance. While the relationship between metamemory knowledge and retrospective memory is well-established, its role in PM remains underexplored, particularly in developmental contexts. The researchers aimed to determine whether metamemory knowledge predicts PM performance through strategic time monitoring and whether this relationship depends on the cognitive resources required for an ongoing task. The study involved 72 typically developing children aged 4, 6, and 9 years, divided into "expert" and "novice" groups. Participants performed a time-based PM task involving a cartoon character climbing a ladder, requiring them to press a key when the character reached a specific height. Simultaneously, they engaged in an ongoing perceptuomotor task using an inverted mouse. The expert group received prior training on this ongoing task to reduce its cognitive demand, while the novice group did not. Strategic time monitoring was measured by the frequency of time checks, with a strategic pattern defined as fewer checks early in the interval and more checks later. Metamemory knowledge and executive functions (inhibition, flexibility, and monitoring) were assessed using standardized scales and tasks. Results indicated that PM performance improved with age and was better in the expert group, confirming that reduced cognitive load on the ongoing task enhances PM. Crucially, the predictors of strategic time monitoring differed by group. In the expert group, metamemory knowledge significantly predicted the use of strategic time monitoring, which in turn mediated the relationship between metamemory knowledge and PM performance. This mediation was partial, suggesting metamemory also directly influences PM. In contrast, for the novice group, executive functions (specifically error rates) predicted strategic time monitoring, which fully mediated the relationship between executive functions and PM performance. Metamemory knowledge did not predict strategy use in the novice group. These findings demonstrate that the implementation of effective PM strategies depends on available cognitive resources. When children have sufficient resources (expert group), their knowledge of memory functioning drives strategic behavior. When resources are constrained by a demanding ongoing task (novice group), executive functions become the primary driver of strategy use. This supports the view that metamemory knowledge is only effective when children possess the cognitive capacity to apply it, extending models of retrospective memory strategy use to prospective memory in childhood.

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• prospective memory interruptions