Janet Metcalfe
Professor of Psychology

My Contact Info

401B Schermerhorn Hall (Office)
364-365 Schermerhorn Ext (Lab)

Lab Site

Metacognition and Memory Lab at Columbia University

Office Hours

Mon. 1:30?p.m. - 2:30 p.m.



212 854 7971
[email protected]

Download Curriculum Vitae

Janet Metcalfe

Research Interests

Cognitive Psychology
Learning & Memory
Metacognition


Ph.D., University of Toronto, 1982

General Area of Research

Metacognition, evolution of self-reflective consciousness, study time allocation, judgments of learning

Current Research

Current research centers on how people know what they know, that is, their metacognitive abilities, and whether they use this evolutionarily unique ability efficaciously--for effective self-control. We have been studying people's abilities to make judgments of their own learning, focusing on a theoretical perspective that proposes that they are able to hone in on their own Region of Proximal Learning--items on which further study yield maximum learning payoffs. Recent theoretical efforts have been directed at clearly specifying the heuristics underlying how people isolate this region. Thus, we investigate what it is that people choose to study. However, it is also necessary to investigate whether what they choose to study is advantageous or not. Of course, the limitations in human metacognitive judgments figure large in this research program.
We also apply these studies of what people know about what they know and how they use this knowledge to affect their study (including whether they are able to appropriately choose and also to sustain their own attentional resources in a manner that maximizes their learning) to educational ends. Part of our research is directed at enhancing the study skills of at-risk middle school children. We conduct a cognitively and metacognitively guided study enhancement program in an at-risk school in the Bronx.?
We continue to be involved in research investigating the consequences of stress on self-regulation and on memory: the Hot/Cool Framework of memory, self control, and emotion.

Relevant Publications

Metcalfe , J., and Kornell, N. (2005). A Region of Proximal Learning model of study time allocation.?Journal of Memory and Language.
Terrace, H., and Metcalfe, J. (2004)?The missing link in cognition:?Origins of self-reflective consciousness. Oxford University Press.
Metcalfe , J., and Kornell , N. (2003). The dynamics of learning and allocation of study time to a Region of Proximal Learning.?Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. 132, 530-542.
Metcalfe, J. (2002). Is study time allocated selectively to a Region of Proximal Learning??Journal of
Experimental Psychology: General,?131, 349-363.
Metcalfe, J., and Mischel, W. (l999). A hot/cool system analysis of delay of gratification: Dynamics of willpower.Psychological Review, 106, 3-19.

Courses Taught

Fall 2016

Cognition: Memory and Stress

3 pts, UN2220


Fall 2016

Departmental Colloquium

0 pts, GR9999


Fall 2016

Research Seminar in Social & Personality Psychology

1 pts, GR9397


Fall 2016

Supervised Individual Research

0 pts, UN3950

Selected Publications

A Region of Proximal Learning model of study time allocation.

Janet Metcalfe
Nate Kornell

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The Dynamics of Learning and Allocation of Study Time to a Region of Proximal Learning.

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Is study time allocated selectively to a Region of Proximal Learning?

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A hot/cool system analysis of delay of gratification: Dynamics of willpower.

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Voluntary action alters the perception of visual illusions

Matti Vuorre
Janet Metcalfe

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Stress and imaging future selves: resolve in the hot/cool framework

Janet Metcalfe
William James Jacob

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The MAPS model of self-regulation: Integrating metacognition, agency, and possible selves

Janet Metcalfe
Leslie D. Frazier
Bennet L. Schwartz

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Measures of relative metacognitive accuracy are confounded with task performance in tasks that permit guessing

Janet Metcalfe
Matti Vuorre

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