3. Cognitive Psychology (Learning Strategies 1)

What is a theory?

An idea or system of ideas intended to explain something

What characteristic of a good theory refers to the theory being able to predict future outcomes?

Predictive

What characteristic of a good theory refers to the theory being concise and not complex?

Parisomonious

What characteristic of a good theory refers to the theory being usable to make specific predictions?

Precise

What characteristic of a good theory refers to the theory being useful for explaining a lot of human experience?

Explanatorily broad

What characteristic of a good theory refers to leading to a testable hypotheses that can invalidate the perspective?

Falsifiable

What are two additional characteristics of a good theory?

• Consistent with empirical observations

• Promotes scientific progress

What is a hypothesis?

A prediction based on a theory

In research, what is the term for results from data that can support or refute a theory?

Effect

What is the concept of the quality of studying being MUCH more important than the quantity (amount of time) spent studying?

Total Time Hypothesis

What refers to how well information is encoded and stored in memory?

Storage strength

What refers to the accessibility of information at a given time?

Retrieval strength

What combination of Storage Strength and Retrieval Strength typically leads to the “most learning?” during studying?

Low Storage Strength, Low Retrieval Strength

What combination of Storage Strength and Retrieval Strength typically leads to “little learning” during studying?

Low Storage Strength, High Retrieval Strength

What is the goal regarding Storage Strength and Retrieval Strength for optimal learning?

To achieve High Storage, High Retrieval

What is an example of High Storage, High Retrieval Strength (You know it well and can easily recall it)?

Your phone number

What is an example of High Storage, Low Retrieval Strength (You just saw it, so it’s fresh, but not deeply learned, leading to little learning)?

A new theory of disease

What is an example of Storage Strength and Retrieval Strength being Low (this is also the "start" point of learning)?

Room number for a course you took last year

What is an example of High Storage Strength, Low Retrieval Strength (You know it well, but might not recall it instantly at all times)?

Childhood phone number

When does most learning begin?

Low Storage, Low Retrieval (starting point)

How does Connectionism relate to memory?

More connections/strong connections lead to better memory and increase storage & retrieval strength

What are common, but often ineffective study habits observed in students?

Re-reading, highlighting, distributed practice (rarely used), and practice testing (occasionally used)

Why does highlighting help participants?

Helps participants identify what they should try to remember

Who created the Storage vs Retrieval model and what did they call it?

Bjork & Bjork (1992), New Theory of Disuse

Which quadrants in the Storage vs. Retrieval model do you learn the information well?

Upper quadrants

Which quadrants in the Storage vs. Retrieval model show you just saw the information you are studying?

Lower quadrants

What was the Castel and Zitch (1970) highlighting study method?

Participants read Scientific American passages and were tested on them

What were the participants in the Castel and Zitch (1970) procedure’s control group instructed to do?

The participants read plain text

What were the participants in the Castel and Zitch (1970) procedure’s underlined group instructed to do?

Read passages with the 5 more important sentences already underlined

What was the finding of the Castel and Zitch (1970) study on highlighting?

Performance was better when important information was already highlighted

Why did underlining/highlighting help in the Castel and Zitch highlighting study?

It helped participants identity what to remember

What is the 1996 study by McDaniel & Donnelly with the method of participants reading 12 texts from books?

Elaborative Interrogation study

What were the participants in the McDaniel and Donnelly (1996) study’s control group instructed to do?

No extra tasks

What were the participants in the McDaniel and Donnelly (1996) study’s modified group instructed to do?

Received extra background information about the 12 texts they were reading

What were the participants in the McDaniel and Donnelly (1996) study’s elaborative interrogation group instructed to do?

Answered “Why" questions right after each text

What are questions that you can recall information directly from the text?

Factual questions

What are questions that require you going beyond the given information?

Inference questions

In regards to the levels of processing, why is elaborative interrogation effective?

• It promotes deeper processing

• Integrates prior knowledge with new info.

• Leads to better organization

• Helps process similarities and differences among concepts

Which Level of Processing by Craig and Tulving’s (1975) study asks “Is there a word present?”

Level 1: Perception

Which Level of Processing by Craig and Tulving’s (1975) study asks “Is the word in capital letters?”

Level 2: Appearance

Which Level of Processing by Craig and Tulving’s (1975) study asks “Does this word rhyme with this word?”

Level 3: Sound

Which Level of Processing by Craig and Tulving’s (1975) study asks “Is this word in this specific category?”

Level 4: Category

Which Level of Processing by Craig and Tulving’s (1975) study asks “Would the word fit in this sentence?”

Level 5: Meaning

What is the conclusion of Craik and Tulving’s Levels of Processing?

Memory is better with deep or distinctive processing

Which form of Shallow Processing focuses on appearance (“Is the font of this word blue?”)

Structural Processing

Which form of Shallow Processing focuses on sound (“Does it have a ‘ba’ sound like a sheep?”)

Phonetic Processing

Which form of Deep Processing focuses on relating words to oneself (“How does this word relate to me?”)

Self-Reference Processing

Which form of Deep Processing focuses on the meaning of the word (“Does this word fit in this sentence?”)

Semantic Processing

What is the key difference between deep and shallow processing?

Deep processing has meaningful cues in the mind; shallow processing doesn’t

What cognitive process is in elaborative interrogation?

Integration of new information with prior knowledge

What was the method used in Craik and Tulving’s Level of Processing (1975)?

• Answer questions about a list of words shown one-at-a-time

• Then, they are given a surprise memory test