Three studies examined young children's understanding that, if one "remembers" or "forgets," one must have known something previously. The majority of four-year olds, but not three-year olds, understood that, when two characters currently knew something, the one with prior knowledge remembered and that, when neither character…

The present study was designed to explore what subjects can and will do spontaneously in memory retrieval situations. Subjects were kindergarten, third grade and college students. (SB)

The author considers memory as being composed of four categories. The fourth category--metamemory--refers to the individual's knowledge and awareness of memory or of anything pertinent to information storage and retrieval. It is that aspect of memory that deals with the how and what of memory itself. The paper first presents a model of what could…

This paper explores the concept of metamemory, generally defined as the individual's knowledge of and awareness of memory. The concept of metamemory is compared to three other categories of memory and a model of what the growing child could conceivably acquire in the domain of metamemory is presented. Brief reviews of existing research relations…

Assessed first and third graders' and undergraduates' knowledge of strategies appropriate to comprehension and memory. Also assessed their knowledge of task variables affecting comprehension and memorization tasks. Only undergraduates showed understanding of comprehension-memory distinction. Third graders showed some understanding of differential…