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Feeling of Retrieval in Autobiographical Memory: Exploring Pre-retrieval Metacognitive Awareness in Younger and Older Adults / FABIEN CARRERAS

Swansea University Author: FABIEN CARRERAS

  • E-Thesis under embargo until: 30th November 2026

DOI (Published version): 10.23889/SUThesis.71530

Abstract

Many studies have documented the processes by which specific past episodes are retrieved from autobiographical memory. This thesis focuses on a key cognitive process so far rarely measured in relation with autobiographical memory retrieval: metacognition.The metacognitive literature has suggested th...

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Published: Swansea University 2025
Institution: Swansea University
Degree level: Doctoral
Degree name: Ph.D
Supervisor: Souchay, C., Tales, A., and Barnes, C.
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa71530
first_indexed 2026-03-03T16:38:03Z
last_indexed 2026-03-04T05:32:56Z
id cronfa71530
recordtype RisThesis
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The aim of this thesis was to extend such results to the study of autobiographical memory.We conducted a series of experiments that investigated whether metacognitive feelings, such as familiarity, and their monitoring, guide autobiographical memory retrieval.To do so, we created new experimental designs that provided evidence regarding the involvement of metacognition in autobiographical memory the pre-retrieval stage.We first carried out two studies investigating whether individuals could distinguish cues that would allow fluent access to their autobiographical memory from cues that would limit it by using a new procedure inspired by Feeling of knowing paradigms: the Feeling of Retrieval (Chapter 4). Participants metacognitive judgements were performed in a short time frame aiming at preventing complete retrieval. These studies revealed that participants' metacognitive judgements were diagnostic of their subsequent autobiographical memory retrieval, meaning that they have a pre retrieval metacognitive access to their memory.We then explored the basis of the participants' metacognitive judgements in the Feeling of Retrieval by testing respectively the use of feeling of familiarity, quick access to partial autobiographical memory information, and how objective stimuli characteristics influence the efficiency of autobiographical memory retrieval (Chapter 5). We found that each of these metacognitive cues contributed to the metacognitive judgements but were not always diagnostic of subsequent AM retrieval fluency.We also investigated the influence of ageing on the metacognitive abilities assessed by the Feeling of Retrieval (Chapter 6). Finally, we explored whether older adults were able to monitor the ease with which they could retrieve autobiographical memory from different periods of their lives (Chapter 7). While our findings suggest that older adults' metacognitive abilities do not differ from that of young adults in the Feeling of Retrieval, they also show that older adults failed to monitor their retrieval when they were about broader life periods.This thesis bridges the autobiographical memory and metacognitive literatures.Multiple methodological innovations are described, which allow paradigmatic research in this domain. We showed that individuals have pre-retrieval metacognitive access to their autobiographical memory when metacognitive judgements are about specific stimuli in relation with the retrieval of specific memories. However, broader metacognitive judgements seem inaccurate. 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spelling 2026-03-03T16:45:09.5015651 v2 71530 2026-03-03 Feeling of Retrieval in Autobiographical Memory: Exploring Pre-retrieval Metacognitive Awareness in Younger and Older Adults ade4b756f7c5dd7864905d7ad034b2c7 FABIEN CARRERAS FABIEN CARRERAS true false 2026-03-03 Many studies have documented the processes by which specific past episodes are retrieved from autobiographical memory. This thesis focuses on a key cognitive process so far rarely measured in relation with autobiographical memory retrieval: metacognition.The metacognitive literature has suggested that early feelings of familiarity could act as signals and guide subsequent retrieval attempts in episodic and semantic memory. The aim of this thesis was to extend such results to the study of autobiographical memory.We conducted a series of experiments that investigated whether metacognitive feelings, such as familiarity, and their monitoring, guide autobiographical memory retrieval.To do so, we created new experimental designs that provided evidence regarding the involvement of metacognition in autobiographical memory the pre-retrieval stage.We first carried out two studies investigating whether individuals could distinguish cues that would allow fluent access to their autobiographical memory from cues that would limit it by using a new procedure inspired by Feeling of knowing paradigms: the Feeling of Retrieval (Chapter 4). Participants metacognitive judgements were performed in a short time frame aiming at preventing complete retrieval. These studies revealed that participants' metacognitive judgements were diagnostic of their subsequent autobiographical memory retrieval, meaning that they have a pre retrieval metacognitive access to their memory.We then explored the basis of the participants' metacognitive judgements in the Feeling of Retrieval by testing respectively the use of feeling of familiarity, quick access to partial autobiographical memory information, and how objective stimuli characteristics influence the efficiency of autobiographical memory retrieval (Chapter 5). We found that each of these metacognitive cues contributed to the metacognitive judgements but were not always diagnostic of subsequent AM retrieval fluency.We also investigated the influence of ageing on the metacognitive abilities assessed by the Feeling of Retrieval (Chapter 6). Finally, we explored whether older adults were able to monitor the ease with which they could retrieve autobiographical memory from different periods of their lives (Chapter 7). While our findings suggest that older adults' metacognitive abilities do not differ from that of young adults in the Feeling of Retrieval, they also show that older adults failed to monitor their retrieval when they were about broader life periods.This thesis bridges the autobiographical memory and metacognitive literatures.Multiple methodological innovations are described, which allow paradigmatic research in this domain. We showed that individuals have pre-retrieval metacognitive access to their autobiographical memory when metacognitive judgements are about specific stimuli in relation with the retrieval of specific memories. However, broader metacognitive judgements seem inaccurate. We explore how such evidence offers perspectives for various fields of cognitive psychology. E-Thesis Swansea University Autobiographical Memory, Metacognition, Feeling of Retrieval, Ageing 23 10 2025 2025-10-23 10.23889/SUThesis.71530 COLLEGE NANME COLLEGE CODE Swansea University Souchay, C., Tales, A., and Barnes, C. Doctoral Ph.D SUSPRS, IRGA “METASTORY” project SUSPRS, IRGA “METASTORY” project 2026-03-03T16:45:09.5015651 2026-03-03T16:07:11.0776308 Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences School of Psychology FABIEN CARRERAS 1 Under embargo Under embargo 2026-03-03T16:33:17.7430360 Output 5238307 application/pdf E-Thesis true 2026-11-30T00:00:00.0000000 Copyright: the author, Fabien Carreras, 2026 true eng, fr.
title Feeling of Retrieval in Autobiographical Memory: Exploring Pre-retrieval Metacognitive Awareness in Younger and Older Adults
spellingShingle Feeling of Retrieval in Autobiographical Memory: Exploring Pre-retrieval Metacognitive Awareness in Younger and Older Adults
FABIEN CARRERAS
title_short Feeling of Retrieval in Autobiographical Memory: Exploring Pre-retrieval Metacognitive Awareness in Younger and Older Adults
title_full Feeling of Retrieval in Autobiographical Memory: Exploring Pre-retrieval Metacognitive Awareness in Younger and Older Adults
title_fullStr Feeling of Retrieval in Autobiographical Memory: Exploring Pre-retrieval Metacognitive Awareness in Younger and Older Adults
title_full_unstemmed Feeling of Retrieval in Autobiographical Memory: Exploring Pre-retrieval Metacognitive Awareness in Younger and Older Adults
title_sort Feeling of Retrieval in Autobiographical Memory: Exploring Pre-retrieval Metacognitive Awareness in Younger and Older Adults
author_id_str_mv ade4b756f7c5dd7864905d7ad034b2c7
author_id_fullname_str_mv ade4b756f7c5dd7864905d7ad034b2c7_***_FABIEN CARRERAS
author FABIEN CARRERAS
author2 FABIEN CARRERAS
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publishDate 2025
institution Swansea University
doi_str_mv 10.23889/SUThesis.71530
college_str Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofmedicinehealthandlifesciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofmedicinehealthandlifesciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
department_str School of Psychology{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Psychology
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description Many studies have documented the processes by which specific past episodes are retrieved from autobiographical memory. This thesis focuses on a key cognitive process so far rarely measured in relation with autobiographical memory retrieval: metacognition.The metacognitive literature has suggested that early feelings of familiarity could act as signals and guide subsequent retrieval attempts in episodic and semantic memory. The aim of this thesis was to extend such results to the study of autobiographical memory.We conducted a series of experiments that investigated whether metacognitive feelings, such as familiarity, and their monitoring, guide autobiographical memory retrieval.To do so, we created new experimental designs that provided evidence regarding the involvement of metacognition in autobiographical memory the pre-retrieval stage.We first carried out two studies investigating whether individuals could distinguish cues that would allow fluent access to their autobiographical memory from cues that would limit it by using a new procedure inspired by Feeling of knowing paradigms: the Feeling of Retrieval (Chapter 4). Participants metacognitive judgements were performed in a short time frame aiming at preventing complete retrieval. These studies revealed that participants' metacognitive judgements were diagnostic of their subsequent autobiographical memory retrieval, meaning that they have a pre retrieval metacognitive access to their memory.We then explored the basis of the participants' metacognitive judgements in the Feeling of Retrieval by testing respectively the use of feeling of familiarity, quick access to partial autobiographical memory information, and how objective stimuli characteristics influence the efficiency of autobiographical memory retrieval (Chapter 5). We found that each of these metacognitive cues contributed to the metacognitive judgements but were not always diagnostic of subsequent AM retrieval fluency.We also investigated the influence of ageing on the metacognitive abilities assessed by the Feeling of Retrieval (Chapter 6). Finally, we explored whether older adults were able to monitor the ease with which they could retrieve autobiographical memory from different periods of their lives (Chapter 7). While our findings suggest that older adults' metacognitive abilities do not differ from that of young adults in the Feeling of Retrieval, they also show that older adults failed to monitor their retrieval when they were about broader life periods.This thesis bridges the autobiographical memory and metacognitive literatures.Multiple methodological innovations are described, which allow paradigmatic research in this domain. We showed that individuals have pre-retrieval metacognitive access to their autobiographical memory when metacognitive judgements are about specific stimuli in relation with the retrieval of specific memories. However, broader metacognitive judgements seem inaccurate. We explore how such evidence offers perspectives for various fields of cognitive psychology.
published_date 2025-10-23T06:59:29Z
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score 11.098581

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