DOES A GENERAL MONITORING SKILL EXIST

Two experiments investigated whether monitoring is better characterize d as a domain-specific or a domain-general phenomenon. In Experiment 1 , college students' performance and discrimination accuracy were not c orrelated across 8 different domains, whereas confidence and judgment bias were. With tests matched on all salient dimensions except content , in Experiment 2, students' performance, confidence, discrimination, and bias were correlated across all or most domains. In addition, conf idence was correlated even after the effect of performance was removed . These findings lend qualified support to the domain-general hypothes is, which states that monitoring within a specific domain is governed by general metacognitive processes in addition to domain-specific know ledge. Theoretical and educational implications are discussed, with pa rticular attention given to the origin and development of the general monitoring skill.