Metacognitive monitoring in Kenyan, Chinese, and U.S. children

Theories of cognitive development propose that cultural values shape metacognitive skills. However, cross-cultural research on metacognition remains limited and often relies on verbal assessments that may lack validity across cultural contexts. The present study examined metacognitive monitoring in Kenyan, Chinese, and U.S. children ( N = 95; 6–10-year-olds; 46% female) using a non-verbal problem-solving task in which children assembled objects according to a model. Across all three cultural contexts, children exhibited various monitoring behaviors (e.g., checking the model), and the frequency of these behaviors increased with age. Cross-cultural differences emerged in the specific monitoring strategies children used: Chinese children engaged in more thorough monitoring than Kenyan and U.S. children. These findings highlight both culturally-recurrent and culturally-variable patterns in children’s metacognitive monitoring.