title: Updating misconceptions: effects of age and confidence.
abstract: Young adults are more likely to correct an initial higher confidence error than a lower confidence error (Butterfield & Metcalfe, 2001). This hypercorrection effect has never been investigated among older adults, although features of the standard paradigm (free recall, metacognitive judgments) and prior evidence of age-related error resolution deficits (see Clare & Jones, 2008) suggest that they may not show this effect. In Study 1, we used free recall and a 7-point confidence scale; in Study 2, we used multiple-choice questions, and participants indicated how many alternatives they had narrowed their options down to prior to answering. In both studies, younger and older adults showed a hypercorrection effect, and this effect was equivalent between groups in Study 2 when free recall and explicit confidence ratings were not required. These results are consistent with our previous work (Cyr & Anderson, 2012) showing that older adults can successfully resolve learning errors when the learning context provides sufficient support.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada. andreeann.cyr@gmail.com
authors.forename: Andrée-Ann
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Cyr
authors.forename: Nicole D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Anderson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D003463:Cues; D006801:Humans; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D012649:Self Concept; D055815:Young Adult