ABSTRACT
From its sketchy beginning in 1971 to its more elaborate contemporary formulations (Pressley, Borkowski, & O'Sullivan, 1985), metamemory theory has steadfastly maintained a key assumption that has proved difficult to verify: Components of metamemory are the precursors, and perhaps determinants, of a wide variety of strategic-based performance. This chapter reviews the 15-year search for the elusive connections between memory behavior and memory knowledge that are necessary to give plausibility to metamemory theory. First, we summarize research from the decade of the 1970s, suggesting reasons why early research on metamemory failed to produce theoretical advancements. Next, recent models of metamemory, developed by Pressley et al. (1985) and revised by Borkowski, Johnston, and Reid (1987), are used to integrate extant data on metamemory and to point the way toward new research issues. Finally, reflections on the origins and dynamics of various components of metamemory are offered as a way of integrating metamemory theory with various attributional and contextual theories of cognition.
