Filippi, R;
Ceccolini, A;
Periche-Tomas, E;
Bright, P;
(2020)
Developmental trajectories of metacognitive processing and executive function from childhood to older age.
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
, 73
(11)
pp. 1757-1773.
10.1177/1747021820931096.
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Abstract
Modern understanding of the term metacognition encompasses two levels of processing: a lower level awareness or knowledge of one's own thoughts and a higher level regulation or control of our thinking (Fleming et al., 2014). Metacognition, therefore, bears conceptual similarity with executive function: both are concerned with top down monitoring and control of cognition in the service of ongoing goaldirected behaviour. Previous studies have shown a possible executive function advantage in multilingual speakers but also a possible disadvantage in metacognitive processing (Folke at al., 2016). In order to progress theory on metacognitive processing and the relationship with executive function and linguistic experience across the lifespan, we conducted a study testing 330 healthy individuals in 4 age groups from 7 to 80 years old. Participants all performed a metacognition task and two measures of executive function, which included the Simon task and the Tower of London task. Half the participants were multilingual speakers since birth. We built developmental trajectories of metacognitive and executive function across the lifespan. Best metacognitive efficiency was observed in mid-adulthood, whereas best executive function processing reached its peak in young adulthood. A steep cognitive decline was observed in older age, whilst metacognitive efficiency was preserved. Exploratory factor analysis indicated that metacognition and executive function are served by different factors across all ages. Contrary to previous findings in the bilingual literature, a multilinguistic experience neither conferred any significant advantage nor disadvantage in both executive function and metacognitive processing across the lifespan.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Developmental trajectories of metacognitive processing and executive function from childhood to older age |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1177/1747021820931096 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1177/1747021820931096 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). |
| Keywords: | Metacognitive processing, metacognition, executive functions, developmental trajectories, cognitive development, bilingualism, bilingual advantage |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Psychology and Human Development |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10097044 |
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