ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to formulate and present evidence for a theoretical approach to metacognitive guessing strategies in source-monitoring experiments. Source monitoring is a type of recognition memory by which one not only has to remember if they have experienced an event in the past but also is required to recognize something about the circumstances under which they encountered the event. An everyday example of source monitoring would be if somebody asked you if you had learned about a particular fact about politics, and if so, whether you heard it on a news program or read it in a daily paper. Another example would be when you have a headache and think that you should take a couple of aspirin. Later in the day, you see the aspirin bottle and wonder if you actually took the aspirin or just thought that you took them (e.g., R. E. Anderson, 1984). This example falls into the subarea of source monitoring called reality monitoring (Johnson & Raye, 1981), by which one has to differentiate memories of actions taken in the world from thoughts in one's mind.
