Final answer:
People's metamemory often overestimates their own memory abilities, influenced by factors such as cognitive load and the testing effect, along with a range of memory errors. Strategies like the self-reference effect can help improve memory retention by making information personally relevant.
Step-by-step explanation:
People's metamemory, particularly for simple material such as word pairs, often tends to overestimate their memory abilities. Metamemory is the awareness and understanding of one's own memory capabilities and strategies, and how these can be manipulated to improve memory. Many people believe they'll remember more than they actually can, which is not only influenced by the natural optimism of individuals but also by a lack of awareness of the various factors that can affect memory, such as cognitive load and the testing effect. Cognitive load refers to the total amount of mental effort being used in the working memory, which can impair the process of transferring information into long-term memory. On the other hand, the testing effect demonstrates that being tested on material actually improves memory retention over simply studying or reading the material.
Additionally, memory errors such as misattribution, the misinformation effect, and the problem of distinguishing between true memories and false memories (or seeming to remember) further complicate the accuracy of metamemory. The self-reference effect is an example of a technique that can enhance memory, as people are often better able to remember and retrieve information that has personal relevance to them.