Professorship for Metacognitive Development during Childhood and Adolescence
Prof. Dr. Mariëtte van Loon
Welcome!
In our group, we investigate metacognitive monitoring processes, i.e., the judgments people make about how well they know something, and metacognitive control processes, i.e., the decisions they take to improve their knowledge.
By monitoring and controlling their own cognition, people can regulate and optimise how they learn and think. Metacognition is a skill that develops across childhood and adolescence: as people grow, their ability to accurately judge their knowledge and to act on these judgments typically becomes more refined.
With our research, we aim to better understand metacognitive processes and how they develop. We also explore why some children and adolescents develop these skills more effectively than others. Specifically, our research focuses on the following questions:
- How do skills to monitor and control cognition develop during childhood and adolescence?
- How can we reliably measure metacognitive monitoring and control?
- How important are metacognitive skills for learning in school?
- How are metacognitive skills related to working memory and intelligence, and how do these together influence learning performance?
- Why are there individual differences in metacognition?
- How can we identify children at risk of low metacognition or developmental delays?
- How can we improve metacognition?
To address these questions, we use on-task measurement of metacognition and longitudinal research methods. Much of our research takes place in schools so we can study how metacognitive skills develop in authentic learning contexts.