Biomedical subjects

John Dunlosky

Publications and source records attributed to John Dunlosky.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Does aging influence people's metacomprehension? Effects of processing ease on judgments of text learning.

In 2 experiments, the authors investigated whether age-related differences exist in metacomprehension by evaluating predictions based on the ease-of-processing (EOP) hypothesis. According to this hypothesis, judgments of how well a text has been learned are based on how easily each text was processed; easier processing results in higher judgments. Participants read either sentence pairs or longer texts and judged their learning of each immediately afterward. Although an age-related difference in the use of processing ease in judgments was observed with sentence pairs, for longer texts older and younger adults' judgments were similarly related to processing ease. In both experiments, age equivalence was also evident in the accuracy of the judgments at predicting performance on the criterion test. The overall pattern of results suggests that judging text learning remains largely intact with aging.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

The effects of categorical relatedness on judgements of learning (JOLs).

On-line monitoring during study can be influenced by the relatedness shared between the cue and target of a paired associate. We examined the effects on people's judgements of learning (JOLs) of a different kind of relatedness, which occurs in a list organised into sets of categorically related words and unrelated words. In two experiments, participants studied a list of words organised into a series of sets of four categorically related words or four unrelated words. In Experiment 1, JOLs were made immediately after each word had been studied, and JOL magnitude was greater for related than unrelated words. In Experiment 2, JOLs were delayed after study and, as expected, they were substantially greater for related sets of words. Serial position effects (an increase in JOL magnitude across the words of a related set) were evident with immediate JOLs but not with delayed JOLs. The relatedness effect was not present early in the list for immediate JOLs but was present throughout the list for delayed JOLs. We conclude by discussing some preliminary explanations for these new phenomena.

Attention↗

PubMed2006

Does momentary accessibility influence metacomprehension judgments? The influence of study-judgment lags on accessibility effects.

In two experiments, we investigated momentary accessibility as a basis for metacomprehension judgments. Momentary accessibility has been cited as a major contributor to these judgments, yet the only previous investigation on the topic used judgments that were delayed a day after study, which have not been used in any other studies in the field and may be necessary for demonstrating accessibility-based effects. As expected, Experiment 1 demonstrated that the time between study and judgments moderates accessibility effects, with the relationship between judgments and access measures being substantially greater for delayed than for immediate judgments. Experiment 2 ruled out a plausible artifactual interpretation for accessibility effects on delayed judgments. In the discussion, we explore why study-judgment lags moderate accessibility effects.

Comprehension↗

PubMed2005

The contribution of mediator-based deficiencies to age differences in associative learning.

Production, mediational, and utilization deficiencies, which describe how strategy use may contribute to developmental trends in episodic memory, have been intensively investigated. Using a mediator report-and-retrieval method, the authors present evidence concerning the degree to which 2 previously unexplored mediator-based deficits--retrieval and decoding deficiencies--account for age deficits in learning. During study, older and younger adults were instructed to use a strategy (imagery or sentence generation) to associate words within paired associates. They also reported each mediator and later attempted to retrieve each response and the mediator produced at study. Substantial deficits occurred in mediator recall, and small differences were observed in decoding mediators. Mediator recall also accounted for a substantial proportion of the age deficits in criterion recall independently of fluid or crystallized intelligence. Discussion focuses on mediator-based deficiencies and their implications for theories of age deficits in episodic memory.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Does retrieval fluency contribute to the underconfidence-with-practice effect?

Judgments of learning (JOLs) made during multiple study-test trials underestimate increases in recall performance across those trials, an effect that has been dubbed the underconfidence-with-practice (UWP) effect. In 3 experiments, the authors examined the contribution of retrieval fluency to the UWP effect for immediate and delayed JOLs. The UWP effect was demonstrated with reliable underconfidence on Trial 2 occurring for both kinds of JOL. However, in contrast to a retrieval-fluency hypothesis, fine-grained analyses indicated that the reliance of JOLs on retrieval fluency contributed minimally to the UWP effect. Our discussion focuses on the status of the retrieval-fluency hypothesis for the UWP effect.

Humans↗

PubMed2005

Understanding the delayed-keyword effect on metacomprehension accuracy.

The typical finding from research on metacomprehension is that accuracy is quite low. However, recent studies have shown robust accuracy improvements when judgments follow certain generation tasks (summarizing or keyword listing) but only when these tasks are performed at a delay rather than immediately after reading (K. W. Thiede & M. C. M. Anderson, 2003; K. W. Thiede, M. C. M. Anderson, & D. Therriault, 2003). The delayed and immediate conditions in these studies confounded the delay between reading and generation tasks with other task lags, including the lag between multiple generation tasks and the lag between generation tasks and judgments. The first 2 experiments disentangle these confounded manipulations and provide clear evidence that the delay between reading and keyword generation is the only lag critical to improving metacomprehension accuracy. The 3rd and 4th experiments show that not all delayed tasks produce improvements and suggest that delayed generative tasks provide necessary diagnostic cues about comprehension for improving metacomprehension accuracy.

Cognition↗

PubMed2005

Distinctive processing underlies skilled memory.

Research on skilled memory has focused on organizational processes to the exclusion of item-specific processes, although theories of skilled memory do acknowledge the importance of both kinds of processes. Using the isolation methodology, we presented lists of American football team names to participants who had either a high or a low level of knowledge about American football. An isolation effect (greater recall of the target in the isolate list than in a homogeneous control list) was observed only with high-knowledge participants. When standard lists were used, an isolation effect was observed with both groups. These findings empirically validate the importance of both organizational and item-specific processing as the basis of distinctive processing underlying skilled memory performance.

Cognition↗

PubMed2004

A revised methodology for research on metamemory: Pre-judgment Recall and Monitoring (PRAM).

A revised methodology is described for research on metacognitive monitoring, especially judgments of learning (JOLs), to investigate psychological processing that previously has been only hypothetical and unobservable. During data collection a new stage of recall occurs just prior to the JOL, so that during data analysis the items can be partitioned into subcategories to measure the degree of JOL accuracy in ways that are more analytic than was previously possible. A weighted-average combinatorial rule allows the component measures of JOL accuracy to be combined into the usual overall measure of metacognitive accuracy. An example using the revised methodology offers a new explanation for the delayed-JOL effect, in which delayed JOLs are more accurate than immediate JOLs for predicting recall.

Humans↗

PubMed2004

Causes and constraints of the shift-to-easier-materials effect in the control of study.

The shift-to-easier-materials (STEM) effect occurs when individuals adopt a low performance goal and subsequently select to restudy more easier items of a list than the difficult ones. The causes and constraints of the STEM effect were investigated across four experiments in which participants first briefly studied and judged their learning of 30 paired associates. They were then instructed to obtain a low performance goal and were asked to select items for restudy. The STEM effect was present when items were presented for selection simultaneously, but when items were presented for selection sequentially, the participants instead selected the more difficult items. The presence and absence of STEM effects were linked to planning that was triggered by the simultaneous format and to difficulties in executing an appropriate plan under the sequential format, respectively. Moreover, the STEM effect was evident for individuals with high memory spans but not for those with low memory spans. These and other findings highlight the contribution of planning and capacity constraints to the control of study time.

Humans↗

PubMed2003

Encoding fluency is a cue used for judgments about learning.

The authors used paired-associate learning to investigate the hypothesis that the speed of generating an interactive image (encoding fluency) influenced 2 metacognitive judgments: judgments of learning (JOLs) and quality of encoding ratings (QUEs). Results from Experiments 1 and 2 indicated that latency of a keypress indicating successful image formation was negatively related to both JOLs and QUEs even though latency was unrelated to recall. Experiment 3 demonstrated that when concrete and abstract items were mixed in a single list, latency was related to concreteness, judgments, and recall. However, item concreteness and fluency influenced judgments independently of one another. These outcomes suggest an important role of encoding fluency in the formation of metacognitive judgments about learning and future recall.

Cognition↗

PubMed2003

Training monitoring skills improves older adults' self-paced associative learning.

We investigated a memory-enhancement program that involved teaching older adults to regulate study through self-testing. A regulation group was taught standard strategies along with self-testing techniques for identifying less well-learned items that could benefit from extra study. This group was compared with a strategy-control group, which was taught only strategies, and with a waiting-list control group. Greater training gains were shown for the regulation group (effect size, d = 0.72) than for the strategy-control (d = 0.28) and waiting-list control (d = 0.03) groups, indicating that training a monitoring skill--self-testing--can improve older adults' learning.

Age Factors↗

PubMed2003

Effects of aging on the magnitude and accuracy of quality-of-encoding judgments.

Age invariance in monitoring associative learning has been the norm in numerous investigations concerning how accurately people predict future recall, predictions that are based partly on people's beliefs about forgetting. In this study, we obtained a measure of monitoring that is minimally influenced by beliefs about forgetting. Participants made quality-of-encoding (QUE) judgments by rating how well each item had been encoded. In 2 experiments, older and younger adults studied 60 paired-associate items; immediately after studying each one, they made a QUE judgment. Each item was presented at a 4-s or 8-s presentation rate. QUEs from both age groups were sensitive to the production of different strategies, presentation rate, and item characteristics. Reliable age differences in the correlation of QUEs and subsequent recall were found for related items but not for unrelated items. The outcomes indicate similar processes for generating QUE judgments by older and younger adults, but they also suggest the possibility of an age-related deficit in the accuracy of monitoring encoding in some experimental conditions.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Are performance predictions for text based on ease of processing?

In 4 experiments, the authors evaluated the hypothesis that performance predictions for text are based on ease of processing. In each experiment, participants read texts, predicted their performance for each one, and then were tested. Ease of processing was manipulated by having participants read texts that varied in coherence. Coherence was varied by manipulating causal relatedness across sentence pairs (Experiments 1 and 2) and by altering the structure of sentences within paragraphs (Experiment 3). In these experiments, prediction magnitudes increased as coherence increased, suggesting that predictions were based on processing ease. In Experiment 4, prediction magnitudes were greater for intact paragraphs than for paragraphs with letters deleted from some of the words. Discussion focuses on resolving apparent inconsistencies in the literature concerning whether processing ease influences performance predictions.

Attention↗

PubMed2002

Influences of metamemory on performance predictions for text.

When predicting future performance on tests over text material, do individuals estimate retention in addition to assessing comprehension? In Experiment 1, participants either rated their comprehension or predicted performance for each text, with lower ratings indicating lower confidence either in comprehension or in eventual performance. Judgement magnitude was significantly lower for performance predictions than for comprehension ratings, suggesting that predictions were based partly on retention estimates. In Experiment 2, predictions varied with anticipated test delay (15 min or 2 weeks) whereas comprehension ratings did not, providing further evidence that individuals estimate retention when predicting performance. Analyses of individual differences suggest that both good and poor performers incorporate retention estimates when predicting performance, but better performers do so in a more discriminative manner. Implications for theory of metacognitive judgements are discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Aging and monitoring associative learning: is monitoring accuracy spared or impaired?

Mixed lists of associatively related and unrelated paired associates were used to study monitoring of associative learning. Older and younger adults produced above-chance levels of relative accuracy, as measured by intraindividual correlations (gamma) of judgments of learning (JOLs) with item recall. JOLs were strongly influenced by relatedness, and this effect was greater for older adults. Relative accuracy was higher for unrelated than for related pairs. Correlations of JOLs with item recall for a randomly yoked learner indicated that access to one's own encoding experiences increased relative accuracy. Both age groups manifested a contrast effect (lower JOLs for unrelated items when mixed with related items). Aging appears to spare monitoring of encoding, even though it adversely affects associative learning.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Age-related equivalence and deficit in knowledge updating of cue effectiveness.

Knowledge updating involves learning about cue effectiveness based on task experience. Priorresearch has yielded inconsistent conclusions regarding age and knowledge updating. To resolve this inconsistency, the authors analyzed the effects of aging within a single paradigm. Participants studied cue-target associates during 2 study-test trials. Cues included rhyme cues and highly effective category cues. On each study-test trial, different items were presented, and participants predicted recall performance, received a cued recall test, and postdicted performance. Knowledge updating was operationalized as an improvement in the accuracy of predictive judgments across trials. An age deficit was evident in improvements in absolute accuracy, whereas age equivalence was evident in relative accuracy. Evidence suggested that deficient inferential processes contributed to the age deficit in knowledge updating.

Adolescent↗