From Uncertainty to Performance Optimization: Longitudinal Insights Into Metacognitive Development

ABSTRACT This longitudinal study investigates metacognitive development in children aged four to six (N = 148; 74 girls; 106 White, 21 multiracial, 17 Black, 3 Asian, 1 Latino; collected in 2017–2019) compared to adults (N = 26, 13 women; collected in 2022). We assessed metacognitive monitoring and control using experimenter‐elicited and self‐generated responses in decision‐making tasks. Children demonstrated reliable task monitoring by age five and performance monitoring by age six, only on self‐generated measures. Children's choice patterns were driven by uncertainty until age six, when performance‐optimizing patterns emerged. Cross‐lagged panel analysis showed early monitoring abilities predicted later control, supporting the monitoring‐drives‐control theory. These findings illuminate the early metacognitive development trajectory, notably the transition from uncertainty‐based to performance‐oriented decision‐making.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  Child Development

• Publication date

  2025-08-19

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Psychology

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1111/cdev.70029PMID 40827619PMCID 12598454
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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