Abstract
We investigate the mechanisms of ease of learning judgments (EOL); a type of metacognitive monitoring during memory tasks. Assuming that EOL judgments utilize information about a memory item, such as its concreteness and frequency, we predicted that accessing such information from semantic memory would enhance elaboration of the item and, in turn, increase the probabilities of subsequent retrieval. We compared memory performance across EOL judgment and shallow processing (phonological processing) task conditions during incidental learning (Experiments 1 and 2). The results indicated that memory performance was superior in the EOL judgments condition compared to the shallow processing condition. Experiment 3 investigated whether the results for EOL judgments would be observed irrespective of intention to memorize and replicated the enhanced memory performance for intentional learning. These findings indicate that the cue-utilization approach to metacognitive monitoring, previously proposed in relation to judgments of learning (JOL), is also applicable to explaining EOL judgments.
