Parent power! Influence of parental metacognitive style on children’s early metacognition and memory

After decades of research suggesting that metacognition did not emerge until late childhood, recent studies have provided evidence that even preverbal infants can access their internal states, raising the question of the variables influencing metacognitive development at such a young age and whether such early skills could predict cognitive performance. This study examined the influence of parental metacognitive talk on toddlers’ metacognition and tested whether early metacognitive skills could predict memory performance. To this end, 72 toddlers (2.5-4.5 years) and their parents were recruited. To assess parental metacognitive style, parent-child dyads participated in a 15-minute session during which they played memory games. Parents’ speech during this session was later coded for metacognitive content. Children’s memory was assessed using free recall, cued-recall, and recognition tests. During one recognition test, participants had the opportunity to ask for a cue to help them decide if their response was correct (i.e., metacognitive measure). Parental metacognitive style predicted both children’s metacognitive accuracy and memory performance. Interestingly, a mediation effect of children’s metacognitive skills on the relation between parental style and memory performance was found. These findings suggest that environmental factors such as parental metacognitive style influence children’s early metacognition which, in turn, influence memory development.