Monitoring and control processes in mock witnesses in under-represented non-WEIRD samples with high or low educational level

A popular model proposes that metamemory is based on two processes, monitoring and control. The first examines memories and evaluates their quality and the second uses that information to decide on the most appropriate course of action. Monitoring and control processes have been studied mostly with university students, which raises the question of how well do they work in groups of people from under-represented samples such as people with a low educational level. In this research, we tested the monitoring and control processes of three groups of participants from a non-WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic) country (Colombia). Two groups of adults (aged 30–55 years) living in urban or rural areas and with a low educational level and a group of Colombian university students watched a bank robbery video and answered cued recall questions. To measure monitoring ability, participants rated their confidence that they had produced the correct answer, and to measure control they indicated whether they preferred to report or withhold the response were they in a trial. Results showed that the three groups had a functional ability to monitor their memories and control their behaviour, and that university students had better memory and metamemory than the two low education groups. The results support the concept that the basic metamemory processes of monitoring and control are functional in different groups of individuals, but the differences between groups highlight the need to test the generalizability of cognitive processes and phenomena across individuals.