Growth Is Rarely a Straight Line: Developmental Path of Early Metacognition, Role of Parental Metacognitive Talk and Influence on Children's Memory

Rudimentary metacognitive skills emerge early in infancy. To date, however, little is known about the developmental course of these early skills or the factors involved in their development. To address this gap, the present study aimed to: (a) map the developmental trajectory of metacognitive uncertainty from 18 to 36 months; (b) examine whether parental metacognitive talk during play predicts this development; and (c) test the relations between these two factors and children's later memory performance. Using a longitudinal design, 60 parent‐child dyads were tested every 6 months using an eye‐tracking cue fixation paradigm to estimate metacognitive uncertainty. The frequency of parental metacognitive talk was collected during a play session shared with their child. Children's memory was assessed at 36 months with a cartoon‐recall task. Growth curve analyses revealed a nonlinear trajectory, with a shift in metacognitive functioning around 24 months that was predicted by parental metacognitive talk. Path analyses indicated that parental talk at 30–36 months and metacognitive accuracy at 24–30 months were both related to children's later memory skills. This study documents early changes in metacognition while highlighting the role of parent‐child interactions in this development.