Individual differences in metacognitive accuracy are generally thought to r
eflect differences in metacognitive ability. If so, memory monitoring perfo
rmance should be consistent across different metacognitive tasks and show h
igh test-retest reliability. Two experiments examined these possibilities,
using four common metacognitive tasks: ease of learning judgments, feeling
of knowing judgments, judgments of learning, and text comprehension monitor
ing. Alternate-forms correlations were computed for metacognitive accuracy
(with a 1-week interval between tests). Although individual differences in
memory and confidence were stable across both sessions and tasks, differenc
es in metacognitive accuracy were not. These results pose considerable prac
tical and theoretical challenges for metacognitive researchers.