Baike Li

An emerging body of research has shown that requiring participants to make concurrent JOLs during learning can reactively influence memory performance, a phenomenon known as the reactivity effect. However, it remains unclear whether making JOLs can also reactively alter metacognitive control. The present study addressed this question across three types of materials: unrelated word pairs, general knowledge questions, and related word pairs. After studying each item, participants decided whether they would choose to restudy it. In JOL conditions, participants made an item-by-item JOL during learning, while in no-JOL conditions, no such judgment was required. Across all materials, making JOLs reliably increased the proportion of items selected for restudy, indicating a robust reactivity effect on metacognitive control. These findings suggest that JOL reactivity should be considered not only in relation to memory performance but also in relation to metacognitive control.

JOLs are widely used to measure metacognitive monitoring, yet their elicitation can reactively enhance memory—a phenomenon known as the positive reactivity effect. The enhanced engagement theory posits that JOLs improve memory by increasing attentional and cognitive engagement during encoding, but direct experimental evidence remains scarce. Across three experiments, we directly manipulated key components of learning engagement—attentional focus (via silent vs. aloud production), cognitive effort (via massed vs. spaced repetition), and motivational involvement (via standard vs. time-saving instructions)—while assessing their impact on the JOL reactivity effect in word recognition memory. Results consistently demonstrated robust positive reactivity effects, critically, the magnitude of these effects was significantly attenuated under high-engagement conditions (aloud reading, spaced learning, and heightened motivation). These converging findings provide the first direct, multi-method experimental support for the enhanced engagement theory, specifying that making JOLs benefit memory most when baseline engagement is low. The results delineate boundary conditions under which making JOLs yield beneficial effects and provide practical insights into leveraging JOLs to regulate engagement in real-world learning environments.