Metamemory refers to knowledge and awareness of our own memory processes. Research focuses on why metamemory is accurate or inaccurate, what are the underlying cognitive mechanisms responsible for metamemory, what are its implications for learning, and what are the neural underpinnings of metamemory. We focus on judgments of learning (JOLs), tip-of-the-tongue states (TOTs), and the neural underpinnings of metamemory. JOLs and TOTs are derived from inferences that are based on heuristic information. The resultant judgments usually have above-chance accuracy, although they sometimes reflect biases that affect accuracy. In this chapter, we review the literature that leads to these conclusions.
