Metacognitive processes are important in enhancing the efficiency of one’s learning. However, the results of previous studies have shown that, under certain conditions, metacognitive processes are susceptible to the influence of heuristics. The aim of this study was to examine whether the same or similar processes are involved in the process of making judgments of learning for self and others. There were 65 participants in the study. Participants were randomly placed into one of two independent groups. All participants went through two experimental conditions: self condition and other condition, but groups differed in order of conditions. In self condition, participants were presented with word pairs, and their task was to try to learn these words as quickly as possible. After each trial, they were asked to make judgments of learning. After they completed all trials, they started with a retrieval test. In other condition, participants were presented with video clips of a person learning word pairs, which differed in duration. Participants were asked, after each trial, to make judgment of learning for other person. The expected significant negative correlation between study time and judgments of learning has been obtained in self condition. Furthermore, there was a significant main effect of video duration on judgments of learning and the interaction between order of conditions and video duration. Namely, there was a difference in judgments of learning for others, but only in the group that first went through self condition. In this group, participants made higher judgments of learning for shorter video duration. In the group that first went through other condition there was no difference in judgments of learning considering video duration. Results of this study indicate that different processes mediate making judgments of learning for self and others, but that metacognitive processes can help in understanding others’ minds.

metamemory, judgments of learning, memorizing effort heuristic, metacognition