Test anxiety and metamemory: general preference for external over internal information storage

Substantial evidence suggests that test anxiety is associated with poor memory performance. The relationship between test anxiety and metamemory, however, has remained largely unexplored. The present study examines test anxiety and metamemory from the perspective of storage selection in extended memory systems. A sample of 56 university students with scores in the upper or lower thirds of the distribution for the Test Anxiety Inventory were presented with sentences describing everyday tasks under conditions where low and high importance was attached to future remembering. For each sentence, participants indicated whether they would choose internal memory storage (neurophysiological memory) or external storage (external memory aids) to remember the information. Results showed that test-anxious participants displayed a general preference for external over internal storage, independent of the importance attached to remembering. Low estimated success of internal storage emerged as a potential reason for this preference. Implications of these findings for research on test anxiety, metamemory, and storage selection in extended memory systems are discussed.