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Memory and Meta-memory Considerations in the Training of Human Beings
Abstract
Metacognition offers an up-to-date compendium of major scientific issues involved in metacognition. The twelve original contributions provide a concise statement of theoretical and empirical research on self-reflective processes or knowing about what we know.
Self-reflective processes are often thought to be central to what we mean by consciousness and the personal self. Without such processes, one would presumably respond to stimuli in an automatized and environmentally bound manner—that is, without the characteristic patterns of behavior and introspection that are manifested as plans, strategies, reflections, self-control, self-monitoring, and intelligence.
Bradford Books imprint
... Bilingual memory characteristics are influenced by two opposing accounts of language processing: automaticity, and desirable difficulty. The automaticity account proposes that accessing concepts through lexical representation is more automatic in L1, whereas the desirable difficulty account suggests the memory advantages in L2 can be attributed to L2 lexical access requiring more processing effort (Arndt & Beato, 2017;Bjork, 1994). Arndt and Beato (2017) demonstrated that false memories are more frequent in L1 than in L2. ...
... We hypothesized that old and new sentences would be correctly recognized and rejected, respectively, whereas inferred sentences would be falsely recognized. In the Turkish condition, this would be aligned with gist representation in L1 due to the automaticity account (Bjork, 1994). Furthermore, the automatic processing of L2 and DL contexts would be contingent on L2 proficiency. ...
... However, they were the least recognized in DL, suggesting that language switching increased the discriminability of the sentences, and created strong and salient memory traces. An alternative explanation is that the participants attended to the sentences more in the DL condition than the unilingual conditions due to the perceived complexity of the stimuli, possibly benefiting from the desirable difficulty account, a concept initially discussed for L2 (Bjork, 1994). We supported our hypothesis that higher L2 proficiency would predict higher false recognition for the inferred English sentences, but not when both languages were used. ...
Purpose
Inference-making is a critical process in understanding and processing information daily. People synthesize inputs into a whole and retain the whole (gist) instead of specific parts (verbatim). False recognition of inferred information offers evidence for it. We conducted two studies to examine whether memory errors occurred similarly when bilinguals were tested separately and concurrently on two languages, and whether bilinguals remembered the language in which the information was received (language tag).
Methodology
We recruited Turkish native speakers who spoke English as a second language. After inducing spatial inferences about objects, we tested participants on configuration, sentence recognition, and language recognition in Turkish, English, and dual-language conditions. We measured their second language proficiency and executive functioning with standardized assessments.
Data and analysis
We performed within-subjects analyses of covariance to investigate the within-language differences in sentence recognition and the role of individual cognitive differences ( N = 34 in Experiment 1, N = 48 in Experiment 2).
Findings
Experiment 1 showed that inferences were falsely recognized in L1 (Turkish) and L2 (English) conditions, but not in the dual-language. We found no effect of individual cognitive differences. In Experiment 2, we replicated Experiment 1 and found that false recognition of inferred sentences was predicted more by lower executive functions (EF) scores and higher second language proficiency. In both experiments, participants accurately identified the language tag. Higher EF scores predicted higher tag accuracy. We conclude that inferring information in the second language induces memory errors, and inferences are tagged with the language of encoding.
Originality
We used an ecologically valid sentence-level paradigm to test inferences and their connection to bilingual false memories in the second language and dual-language contexts. We explored the individual differences in language and cognitive abilities.
Significance
Bilingual information processing is influenced significantly by exposure to stimuli, task difficulty, the language context, and language proficiency.
... Based on the desirable difficulty framework (Bjork, , 1994Bjork & Bjork, 2014), while the conditions which require more effort to process the information are likely to be slower and prone to more processing errors than the conditions that require less effort, they would potentially enhance long-term outcomes. Presenting definitions after reading can create such effortful conditions. ...
... The lexical inferencing hypothesis posits that learners are encouraged to infer the meanings of the target items in light of the linguistic cues available within the text as well as the learners' general and linguistic knowledge (Haastrup, 1991). Based on this conjecture, lexical inferencing which has been shown as an effective way to promote cognitive engagement and enhance long-term retention (Bjork, 1994) facilitates word learning and (potentially) retention of the target items (Paribakht & Wesche, 1999;Yu & Boers, 2023). Inference making may further act as semantic elaboration which has been shown to lead to durable memory traces (Craik & Tulving, 1975). ...
... However, contextual learning of L2 vocabulary may not be facilitated when the target items are presented in non-supportive contexts where lexical inferencing is particularly difficult or leads to a lot of inference errors. Furthermore, the advantage of presenting definitions after reading, thereby creating desirable difficulty, is likely to be more pronounced when the target words are presented in supportive texts that encourage lexical inferencing (Bjork, 1994;Yu & Boers, 2023) than in less supportive contexts which are prone to erroneous inferences and interfere with later meaning recall and slow down acquisition of L2 words (e.g., Baddeley & Wilson, 1994). ...
Multi-word expressions (MWEs) can be acquired through language input, such as reading and listening. However, this type of learning is slow, especially when access to the target language is limited. Identifying approaches that optimize learning from input, therefore, is an important language learning endeavor. One such approach is having access to definitions of novel vocabulary items to facilitate contextual word learning from reading (AbuSeileek, 2011, Bolger et al., 2008); but whether it is more beneficial to access definitions before or after reading has only recently started to be addressed (Elgort et al. 2020). In addition, it is not clear how definition placement may interact with other interventions that affect attention and memory during contextual word learning such as typographic enhancement, contextual support, and the lag of retrieval practice. In order to address these gaps, three classroom-based experimental studies were conducted to investigate how contextual learning and retention of L2 phrasal verbs (PVs) from context could be made more efficient using these instructional interventions.
Study 1 tested the effects of provision and placement of PV definitions and typographic enhancement on the learning and retention of L2 figurative PVs from reading. One-hundred and ten English as a foreign language (EFL) learners read short texts with 42 PVs (e.g., back up) presented three times. In a counterbalanced experimental design, access to definitions of the target items (before/after the texts or no definition) and typographic enhancement (with/without bolding) were manipulated. Participants’ immediate and delayed knowledge of the PVs was measured using a gap-fill (form recall) and a meaning generation (meaning recall) post-test. The results showed that providing definitions of the target PVs significantly improved learning and retention of these items. It was further found that providing definitions after reading resulted in greater learning outcomes than presenting definitions before reading, in both enhanced and unenhanced conditions, and employing typographic enhancement further increased this advantage.
Study 2 investigated the effects of definition placement (before and after the text) and contextual support (supportive and non-supportive texts) on the contextual learning and retention of L2 figurative PVs from reading. Eighty-five EFL learners read 28 supportive and non-supportive short texts in which definition of the target items were provided either before or after reading. The results of the immediate and delayed form recall and meaning recall post-tests showed that providing definitions after reading resulted in greater learning outcomes than presenting definitions before reading under both supportive and non-supportive conditions and involving students in reading supportive texts further increased this advantage.
Study 3 tested the effects of definition placement (before and after the text) and the lag of retrieval practice (shorter and longer lag) on the contextual learning and retention of L2 figurative PVs from reading. Eighty EFL learners read 28 short texts in which definition of the target PVs were provided either before or after reading. The participants retrieved the target PVs under either short or long lags. The results of the immediate and delayed form recall and meaning recall post-tests showed that providing definitions after reading resulted in greater learning outcomes than presenting definitions before reading under both short and long lag conditions and retrieving the PVs under the long lag increased this advantage. In all three studies, a consistent pattern emerges – providing definitions after the texts significantly enhanced learning and retention of the PVs compared with providing definitions before the texts. It was further found that employing typographic enhancement, contextual support, and long (rather than short) lag of retrieval practice increased the advantage of presenting definitions after reading.
... A relatively straightforward resolution to this seeming contradiction is to recommend constant practice for skds performed under consistent transfer conditions and variable practice for skds performed under varying transfer conditions. However, it has been proposed that variable practice may be superior even for consistent tasks performed in consistent transfer situations (Shea & Kohl, 1990;Schmidt & Bjork, 1992;Bjork, 1994;Ghodsian, Bjork, & Benjamin, 1997). Ghodsian, et al. suggested that the advantages of variable practice far outweigh the benefits of constant practice (and subsequent automatizing of the task) even for consistent tasks. ...
The proposition that variable practice may be superior to constant practice even for consistent transfer situations was tested on a prototypical consistently performed skill, the basketball free throw. 94 participants were matched on free-throw shooting, then randomly assigned to one of four practice conditions, a Constant condition, i.e., at the free-throw line, and three Variable conditions. Under supervision participants practiced shooting free throws four days a week for three weeks. Three substantially different variable practice conditions produced significant improvement similar to that of constant practice on tests during each week of practice and on a delayed retention test. Consistent with the proposition, the most variable practice group performed as well as the other groups on the retention test despite lower practice performance.
... Asimismo, en el marco de este modelo, también se promueve la utilización de estrategias metacognitivas (Djigunovic, 2001), como la planificación, el monitoreo y la evaluación para regular el aprendizaje (Azevedo, 2020) y mejorar la competencia lingüística en L2 (Bialystok, 1990;Bjork, 1988;1999;Mosley, 2017;Zimmerman, 2000;2002). ...
Este artículo presenta un modelo integral y progresivo de desarrollo lingüístico, concebido para facilitar el aprendizaje efectivo de una segunda lengua o lengua extranjera (L2). Este modelo se basa en teorías educativas como el enfoque por tareas, la teoría de la metacognición y la lingüística cognitiva, y tiene como propósito fomentar la participación, la reflexión metacognitiva, la utilización de diversas estrategias de aprendizaje y la aplicación práctica de habilidades lingüísticas en situaciones reales. Estructurado en cinco etapas: Percepción, Focalización, Internalización, Aplicación y Producción (PFIAP), cada una complementada con actividades sugeridas, ofrece una visión concreta de su aplicación. Para demostrar su efectividad, se presentan los resultados de una prueba piloto realizada en un colegio secundario privado en Mar del Plata, donde tres docentes participaron en un grupo focal para evaluar la efectividad del modelo. Los comentarios obtenidos reflejaron tanto los beneficios como los desafíos de su implementación. A partir de estos datos, se destacan algunas implicaciones pedagógicas que subrayan la importancia de adoptar enfoques didácticos dinámicos y centrados en los estudiantes para mejorar el aprendizaje en el aula. Además, se identifican algunas limitaciones y desafíos potenciales en su aplicación. Se sugiere que, con adaptación y revisión continua, este enfoque podría convertirse en una valiosa herramienta pedagógica para la enseñanza de lenguas segundas o extranjeras.
... On the other hand, excessively increasing adversariality tends to degrade performance. This mechanism is analogous to human learning, where providing an appropriate level of challenge enhances long-term skill acquisition [24], [25]. ...
Robotic catching has traditionally focused on single-handed systems, which are limited in their ability to handle larger or more complex objects. In contrast, bimanual catching offers significant potential for improved dexterity and object handling but introduces new challenges in coordination and control. In this paper, we propose a novel framework for learning dexterous bimanual catching skills using Heterogeneous-Agent Reinforcement Learning (HARL). Our approach introduces an adversarial reward scheme, where a throw agent increases the difficulty of throws-adjusting speed-while a catch agent learns to coordinate both hands to catch objects under these evolving conditions. We evaluate the framework in simulated environments using 15 different objects, demonstrating robustness and versatility in handling diverse objects. Our method achieved approximately a 2x increase in catching reward compared to single-agent baselines across 15 diverse objects.
... Additionally, it promotes the use of assorted learning strategies, such as mental manipulation of materials or tasks, planning for learning, monitoring learning, self-evaluating learning outcomes, and leveraging social interactions to assist learning (Hariri et al. 2021). Through these learning strategies, students are likely to gain insight into their linguistic processes and to further develop their L2 proficiency (Bjork, 1988(Bjork, , 1999Bialystok, 1990;Zimmerman, 2000Zimmerman, , 2002Witherby et al. 2023). ...
The purpose of this work is to introduce a comprehensive and sequential ped-agogical model for language teaching, known as PFIAP (perception, focaliza-tion, internalization, application and production). PFIAP aims to promote effective second language learning. Relying on current educational theories and approaches the model comprises five sequential phases. By integrating crucial elements for effective L2 learning, such as active participation, metacognitive reflection and awareness, and practical application of language skills in real-life like contexts, the model exhibits its efficacy and potential. Additionally, a proposal is presented to illustrate how a particular grammatical feature could be integrated with a phonological aspect, thus exemplifying the practical implementation of the model in the EFL (English as a foreign language) classroom. Finally, some pedagogical implications are discussed, along with possible limitations that could arise during its application.
... Several theories have been proposed to explain these distributed effects (see Kim & Webb, 2022 for a review). For example, the desirable difficulty framework states that spacing makes learning more challenging, thereby encouraging learners to exert maximal effort to remember what they have learned, which leads to improved learning and memory retention (Bjork, 1994;Suzuki et al., 2019). Meanwhile, the deficient processing hypothesis suggests that spaced practice can lead to more efficient processing and better memory retention than massed practice (Toppino & Bloom, 2002). ...
Recently, in task repetition research, distributed practice has received considerable attention for its potential impact on learners’ performance (Rogers, 2022). While several studies have begun exploring its effects on oral task repetition, little attention has been paid to the effects of spacing in writing task repetition and its interaction with learners’ emotional states (i.e., enjoyment and anxiety). Focusing on 270 learners studying English as their second language (ESL) in the U.S., the current study examined their writing performance and emotions in the same decision-making task under three different schedules: (1) in one class (massed practice), (2) with a two-day interval (short-spaced practice), and (3) with a one-week interval (long-spaced practice). Following each writing session, learners completed a questionnaire assessing their anxiety and enjoyment during the task. The results showed that the long-spaced group outperformed the other groups after the experiment in general syntactic complexity, phrasal complexity, and lexical diversity, and they also experienced lower anxiety and higher enjoyment. Conversely, the massed group had lower achievements in phrasal complexity and lexical diversity and experienced lower enjoyment and higher anxiety than the other groups. These findings suggest that the interval between task repetitions can significantly influence learners’ writing performance and emotional states.
Exposure therapy is an efficacious treatment for anxiety-related disorders. Yet, fear often returns after treatment. Occasional reinforcement, in which the feared stimulus is intermittently presented during extinction, increases safety learning and slows fear renewal in conditioning paradigms and analogue samples, but no studies to date have examined this strategy in clinical samples. The present study examined the effects of vicarious occasional reinforcement on fear renewal in a snake-phobic sample across multiple levels of analysis. Fear was intermittently reinforced by providing reminders of the feared outcome (a snake bite) throughout a two-session analogue video exposure manipulation. Snake-phobic adults were randomized to one of three conditions: a single-cue [S], multiple-cue [M], or multiple-cue+fear-outcome [M+FO] exposure group. Results showed the three groups did not significantly differ in threat expectancy or attentional bias for threat at follow-up. Despite sustained anxiety, however, the M+FO condition completed significantly more steps on a visual avoidance task at follow-up than the M and S conditions and heightened mean distress during exposure mediated this effect. The M and S groups did not significantly differ in visual avoidance at follow-up. These findings suggest incorporating reminders of the feared outcome into exposure may be an effective strategy for increasing inhibitory retrieval.
An assumption of Schmidt's schema theory is that variable practice will enhance the development of schema which will in turn facilitate transfer to situations requiring novel responses. This assumption has been supported in research with both open and closed tasks as defined by Poulton. In an open task-study the novel response was within the range of responses previously experienced by subjects. The present study using an open task concerned whether acquisition of novel responses outside the range of the subjects' past experience would be facilitated by variability of practice. The results confirmed schema theory. Subjects with variable practice showed greater transfer to a novel speed outside the range of training than subjects trained under constant practice. A generalization gradient was obtained. Further the novel conditions were from training conditions, the poorer the transfer appeared to be. However, generalization decrement was attenuated with variable practice.
72 college students learned 3 motor tasks under a blocked (low interference) or random (high interference) sequence of presentation. Retention was measured after a 10-min or 10-day delay under blocked and random sequences of presentation. Subsequent transfer to a task of either the same complexity or greater complexity than the originally learned tasks was also investigated. Results showed that retention was greater following random acquisition than under changed contextual interference conditions. Likewise, transfer was greater for random acquisition groups than for blocked acquisition groups. This effect was most notable when transfer was measured for the transfer task of greatest complexity. Results are considered as support for W. F. Battig's (1978) conceptualization of contextual interference effects on retention and transfer. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Many decisions are based on beliefs concerning the likelihood of uncertain events such as the outcome of an election, the guilt of a defendant, or the future value of the dollar. Occasionally, beliefs concerning uncertain events are expressed in numerical form as odds or subjective probabilities. In general, the heuristics are quite useful, but sometimes they lead to severe and systematic errors. The subjective assessment of probability resembles the subjective assessment of physical quantities such as distance or size. These judgments are all based on data of limited validity, which are processed according to heuristic rules. However, the reliance on this rule leads to systematic errors in the estimation of distance. This chapter describes three heuristics that are employed in making judgments under uncertainty. The first is representativeness, which is usually employed when people are asked to judge the probability that an object or event belongs to a class or event. The second is the availability of instances or scenarios, which is often employed when people are asked to assess the frequency of a class or the plausibility of a particular development, and the third is adjustment from an anchor, which is usually employed in numerical prediction when a relevant value is available.
The spacing effect would appear to have considerable potential for improving classroom learning, yet there is no evidence of its widespread application. I consider nine possible impediments to the implementation of research findings in the classroom in an effort to determine which, if any, apply to the spacing effect. I conclude that the apparent absence of systematic application may be due, in part, to the ahistorical character of research on the spacing effect and certain gaps in our understanding of both the spacing effect and classroom practice. However, because none of these concerns seems especially discouraging, and in view of what we do know about the spacing effect, classroom application is recommended.
In motor and verbal learning, random practice schedules produce poorer acquisition performance but superior retention relative to blocked practice. We extend this contextual interference effect to the case of learning cognitive procedural skills to be used in problem solving. Subjects in three experiments practiced calculation with Boolean functions. After this acquisition phase, subjects solved problems requiring these procedures. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated superior transfer to problem solving for skills acquired under random schedules. In Experiment 3, subjects practiced component skills in a blocked schedule, with one of four tasks-same-different judgment, mental arithmetic, short-term memory, or long-term memory-intervening between trials. For same-different judgments and mental arithmetic, transfer performance was comparable to that found for random schedules in Experiments 1 and 2. This result suggests that the differences depend on processing rather than storage demands of intertrial activity. Implications for theories of problem solving and part-whole transfer are discussed.