Cognitive failures, metacognitive beliefs and aging

A sample of 1826 Italian participants (age range: 16–85 years) was administered the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire to verify the effect of aging on the self-report of cognitive lapses. Elderly people reported a lower frequency of cognitive failures than young participants. A subgroup of participants (N = 165; age range: 18–85 years) was administered the Meta-Cognitions Questionnaire and Thought Control Questionnaire to assess the relationship between the self-evaluation of cognitive abilities and the metacognitive monitoring-control as a function of aging. People with a self-reported high frequency of cognitive failures stated that they carefully monitor their cognitive activities, but this result was independent of age. Paradoxically, elderly people claimed to have remarkable worries about their own cognitive abilities, but they did not seem to be able to record the cognitive lapses that are known to become more frequent with aging.