Koriat's Cue-Utilization Model
Updated 2026-08-11
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
Asher Koriat proposed the cue-utilization model to explain how people form metamemory judgments. Judgments such as feelings of knowing and judgments of learning are not direct readings of memory strength but inferences from cues. Three classes are distinguished. Intrinsic cues concern the material itself, such as word frequency or associative relatedness. Extrinsic cues concern the conditions of learning, such as the number of study repetitions or the time allowed. Mnemonic cues concern the learner's subjective experience during processing, chiefly fluency and familiarity. The model explains why judgments err: when a cue is not diagnostic of later retention, the inference built on it is wrong.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Use cue identification: name which cue you are relying on when you judge your own learning. - Use fluency suspicion: treat ease of processing as a weak cue rather than evidence of retention. - Use test calibration: check judgments against retrieval and shift weight to more diagnostic cues.
Anchor fast decisions
The mind has no direct sensor for memory strength, so it infers from whatever information is available. Material properties and study conditions are observable and stable, which makes them reasonably useful cues. Subjective fluency is the most available cue during study but the least diagnostic, because ease of processing reflects current conditions rather than the durability of the trace. When judgments rest on fluency, they track how the material feels now rather than how well it will be recalled, which is why they run systematically overconfident.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- doi.orghttps://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.126.4.349verified
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