Abstract:

As the essential component of metacognition, metacognitive monitoring refers to people’s ability to know and control their own mental functioning. It is a kind of psychological action which possess deep implicit, which composed of monitoring processes and control processes. Many methods for the assessment of metacognition monitoring have their pros and cons. At present, on-line methods appear to be much suited to measure it, but it is difficult to design the task. Master Mind game has been extensively used in psychological and educational research. The present study aimed to analyse the usefulness of different kinds of Master Mind game and obtain valid scores that adequately reflected metacognitive monitoring. Using multi-method designs such as interview, a dynamic assessment format of Master Mind game was developed in order to investigate metacognitive monitoring. Thirty four university students participated in the study. First, participants were asked to complete Raven’s Progressive Matrices, and then they were required to complete four groups of Master mind game in possible moves. The four groups game were different from numbers of colors （choose three colors from five colors possible, choose four colors from six colors possible ) and whether required to put them in right order four from corrected place. After each attempt, feedback was give to inform participants of how many colors were correct and how many were placed in the correct location. Interview followed every group of game. The results showed that：（1）Only when the task was rather difficult and strategies were searched, metacognitive monitoring can be triggered, such as in Game 4 (choose four colors from six colors possible, and put them in right order )；(2) As for metacognitive monitoring indexes recorded on computer, the proportion of feedback time represented university students’ metacognitive monitoring level, while the frequency of violation of feedback well reflected college students’ metacognitive control level. At present, multi-method designs is scarcely available in the literature on metacognitive monitoring. The use of Master Mind which provides valid and reliable assessment is a meaningful attempt.

Key words: metacognitive monitoring, metacognitive control, MasterMind game

摘要：

元认知监控是元认知的核心成分，而且是内隐程度较高的心理活动。研究采用认知操作法，对经典的Mastermind游戏任务加以改编，结合访谈分析，探讨了适合考察元认知监控的任务难度和有效的元认知监控指标。研究结果发现：（1）对于大学生来说，在游戏4（要求从六种颜色中选出四种正确的颜色，且排列位置也要正确）中当知觉难度最大且又可以经过努力选择策略、根据反馈进行有效选择时，才会在最大程度上激发元认知监控，使得游戏成绩提高；（2）“监测时间”是元认知监测的有效测量指标，而“违背反馈次数”是元认知控制的有效测量指标。

关键词: 元认知监测, 元认知控制, MasterMind 任务