Richard A. Monty’s research while affiliated with United States Army and other places

Subjects were presented a page of words containing either two or four words per line. A single word (target) on each line was to be learned. Results showed that, as in an earlier experiment (Perlmuter & Monty, 1982), directing attention to background words by allowing subjects to choose the target words enhanced the learning of background and target items. Moreover, when subjects were permitted to select their targets by rejecting those that they did not wish to learn, overall performance was even better than when choice was permitted. Thus, the earlier observations of the interrelatedness of target and background learning were extended and show that such joint learning can be greatly enhanced by giving the subject the opportunity to choose or reject target words. Possible reasons for these observations were discussed.

The present experiment was designed to determine if a strategy imposed on a memory loaded task by a certain method of presentation of materials would transfer to a different display mode involving basically the same task but in a different format. It was found that, in general, spatial encoding strategies do transfer to different display formats requiring that the same task be performed.

This study demonstrated the generality of the Asch group influence effect to (1) a new task employing auditory rather than visual stimuli, (2) a situation in which the bogus group was not physically present, and (3) a subject population of U. S. Army enlisted personnel.

Subjects were required to tally mentally the frequency of occurrence of a set of letters sequentially presented. In one condition, four different letters were presented repeatedly in a haphazard sequence and were tallied into four groups or categories. In the second, or “combination condition,” the identical four letters were tallied into only two categories. In the third condition, only two distinct letters were tallied into two categories. The poorest performance was observed with the use of four categories, while subjects in both two-category conditions performed nearly identically. The results were discussed in terms of imaginal processes involved in keeping track tasks and were compared with those found in memory organization tasks.

Provides a firm theoretical grounding for the increasing movement of cognitive psychologists, neuropsychologists and their students beyond the laboratory, in an attempt to understand human cognitive abilities as they are manifested in natural contexts. The pros and cons of the laboratory and the real world - the problems of generalizability versus rigor - are thoroughly analyzed, and practical escapes from what has become a false dichotomy are suggested. The authors present relevant data that open up new directions for those studying cognitive aging. Finally, they consider the applications of the new knowledge for clinicians and educators.

This report summarizes several years of research on how offering subjects a choice of task parameters leads to a perception of control over their environment, which in turn can lead to improved task performance. The development of a theoretical explanation of the phenomenon is traced, and implications for the design of displays are deduced and illustrated with hypothetical examples.

Motivational levels are elevated when individuals believe that they have control over tasks and over behavioral outcomes. When individuals are permitted to make choices, their perception of control increases. In addition, by enhancing motivation, the exercise of choice facilitates performance on a variety of cognitive tasks. However, with advancing age or in the presence of a chronic disease such as diabetes, the effectiveness of choice in improving performance is attenuated. Despite these limitations on the effectiveness of choice, cognitive performance can still be improved significantly by the simple expedient of increasing the perception of control. Increased motivation appears to improve performance by suppressing interference from background stimuli. That is, decreased concentration on relevant target stimuli and increased interference from less relevant background stimuli are characteristics of the decline in cognitive function in the aged. This reflects a decrease in differentiation, a putative cognitive process that identifies target and background stimuli and appropriately proportions cognitive resources to them. When differentiation is effective, interference from background stimuli decreases. Because differentiation is an effort demanding process, its effectiveness depends upon an adequate level of motivation. Research indicates that the degree to which an individual differentiates predicts performance on a variety of cognitive tasks. Overall, these findings are hopeful in demonstrating that choice can serve as an effective motivational intervention for decreasing the rate of cognitive decline and improving the quality of life in vulnerable older individuals.

While it has been widely speculated that the mensuration process may have reactive features, little systematic research has examined its effects on behavior. Empirical findings appear to be in dispute. In studies reported in the present paper, the effects of the measurement of depression on subsequent behaviors were examined in order to help clarify this issue. Specifically, subjects completed a self-report depression inventory prior to performing a chance-determined task. The results showed that the measurement of depression was associated with both improved and degraded performance, depending upon the level of depression measured. These findings appear to support the notion that the refutation (nonendorsement) of depression-related statements alters motivation and performance. The methodological implications of these results are discussed.

The purpose of this experiment was to examine the effects of choice and environmental control on the development of the perception of control. The results showed that the perception of control develops from an opportunity to make choices. More deliberate (slower) decisions resulted in an increase in the perception of control, and these perceptual effects generalized to a dice-throwing task over which no choice was possible. A model was examined which assumes that subjects monitor their own behavior with the result that more thoughtful decisions lead subjects to infer higher levels of control.

Subjects were given a page of words containing either two or four words per line. A single word (target) on each line was to be learned. Results showed that directing attention to background words by allowing subjects to choose the target word enhanced the incidental learning of those background items and learning of the target items as well. Possible reasons for these observations were discussed.