title: Doubly blessed: older adults know more vocabulary and know better what they know.
abstract: This study examined age-related differences in the ability to judge one's vocabulary. Young, middle-age, and older adults completed a multiple-choice test of vocabulary, judged their confidence in each answer, and estimated their overall performance. Older adults performed better and were more confident in their knowledge than were the other 2 groups. Importantly, relative to young adults, older adults demonstrated better calibration both on item-by-item confidence judgments and on global estimates. Resolution, as defined by correlations between item-by-item performance and confidence judgments, was age-invariant. We suggest that age-related accumulation of vocabulary is accompanied by enhanced perception of mastery in one's knowledge.
authors.affiliation: Department of Education and Psychology, The Open University.
authors.forename: Gitit
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kavé
authors.affiliation: School of Psychological Sciences, Tel Aviv University.
authors.forename: Vered
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Halamish
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D019359:Knowledge; D008875:Middle Aged; D012649:Self Concept; D014825:Vocabulary; D055815:Young Adult