Behavioral regulation versus explicit reports: Implicit metacognition in a lifespan perspective

Humans have the ability to estimate the success of their cognitive processes, a capacity that is known as metacognition. Generally, researchers assume that metacognitive regulation is achieved through deliberate inferences in which various pieces of information are consulted and weighed before making decisions. These explicit metacognitive skills emerge at a relatively late stage of child development (Fritz, Howie, & Kleitman, 2010) and are quite easily impaired in pathological aging (Cosentino, 2014). However, recent findings suggest that, despite an inability to explicitly estimate their own cognitive functioning, young children and patients with a neurodegenerative disease might demonstrate some implicit recognition of difficulties. Here, evidence showing that a behavioral dissociation between explicit and implicit measures of metacognition can be found in young children, AD patients, and healthy older controls will be presented (Geurten & Bastin, 2019; Geurten, Salmon, & Bastin, 2021). Data suggesting that implicit metacognition may be more resistant than explicit metacognition to the effect of pathological aging will also be discussed.