Are the contributions of processing experience and prior beliefs to confidence ratings domain-general or domain-specific?

Previous studies on domain generality of metacognition showed inconsistent results about cross-domain correlation of metacognitive resolution, which might result from the varied relationship between actual performance and the information utilized during confidence rating across tasks. The current study investigated metacognitive domain generality using the Bayesian inference model for metamemory (BIM), which suggests that individuals integrate current processing experience and their prior beliefs to construct confidence ratings. Results from three experiments and a series of meta-analyses showed that the correlation between the contribution of processing experience to confidence ratings (parameter in BIM) across perceptual and memory domains was significantly positive, while the cross-domain correlation of metacognitive resolution (-') was relatively weak. Furthermore, ' was related to specific task requirements, which could lead to very low cross-task correlation of even within the same cognitive domain. These results imply that the cross-domain correlation of metacognitive resolution might underestimate metacognitive domain generality, and the cognitive mechanisms underlying confidence rating process itself may be more domain-general. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).