Abstract
The effect of time pressure on metacognitive control is of theoretical and empirical relevance
and is likely to allow us to tap into developmental differences in performances
which do not become apparent otherwise, as previous studies suggest. In the present study,
we investigated the effect of time pressure on metacognitive control in three age groups
(10-year-olds, 14-year-olds, and adults, n = 183). Using an established study time allocation
paradigm, participants had to study two different sets of picture pairs, in an untimed
and a timed condition. The results showed that metacognitive self-regulation of study time
(monitor-based study time allocation) differed between age groups when studying under
time pressure. Even though metacognitive control is firmly coupled at 10 years of age, the
overall level of self-regulation of adults was higher than that of children and adolescents
across both study time conditions. This suggests that adults might have been more sensitive
to experiential metacognitive cues such as JoL for the control of study time. Moreover,
the timed condition was found to be more effective than the untimed, with regard to study
time allocation. Also, there was an age effect, with adults being more efficient than 10- and
14-year-olds.