The Effect of Auditory Versus Visual Presentation on Adolescents' Recall Accuracy and Metacognitive Calibration

People constantly encounter information in many different formats, or modalities, and how that information is presented can impact both learning and memory. Prior work suggests that auditory and visual modalities engage memory differently, but the effects of modality on confidence in memory remain unclear. Few studies have examined the effects of presentation modality on both recall accuracy and confidence–accuracy calibration, particularly in adolescent populations. To address this gap, this within-subjects study compared recall accuracy and confidence judgments for words presented auditorily versus visually in a sample of 16 ninth-grade students. Participants had marginally higher recall accuracy in the visual condition, t(15) = −2.13, p = .051, d = −0.53, 95% CI [−1.05, 0.00], and the advantage persisted under lenient scoring, t(15) = −2.17, p = .046, d = −0.54, 95% CI [−1.06, −0.01]. Confidence had a moderate, though nonsignificant, positive relationship with accuracy, auditory r = .44, p = .087; visual r = .45, p = .078. Calibration did not differ significantly between modalities, suggesting that there was no evidence that modality meaningfully affected participants’ metacognitive judgments, t(15) = −0.17, p = .869. The strength of the confidence–accuracy relationship did not differ significantly between modalities, Steiger’s Z = −0.05, p = .959. These findings did not provide statistically reliable evidence that modality affected confidence and accuracy to different degrees. There are implications for how educational materials support both learning and accurate self-assessment.