New information that is compatible with pre-existing knowledge can be learned faster. Such schema memory effect has been reported in declarative memory and in explicit motor sequence learning (MSL). Here, we investigated if sequences of key presses that were compatible to previously trained ones, could be learned faster in an implicit MSL task.…

Being able to notice that a cause-effect relation is getting stronger or weaker is important for adapting to one's environment and deciding how to use the cause in the future. We conducted an experiment in which participants learned about a cause-effect relation that either got stronger or weaker over time. The experiment was conducted with a…

Self-derivation through integration is the process of integrating novel facts and producing new knowledge never directly taught. Knowledge integration has been studied with the presentation of two novel facts. However, in educational settings, individuals are required to integrate new information with prior knowledge learned days, months, or years…

Recent evidence has shown that eliciting confidence ratings can affect cognitive performance--a so-called reactivity effect. Several mechanisms have been proposed to account for reactivity, but currently there is only indirect evidence about why confidence ratings are reactive. Here, we explore the strategic changes in cognitive processes that…

The modality effect refers to the robust finding that memory performance differs for items presented aurally, as compared with visually. Whereas auditory presentation leads to stronger recency performance in immediate recall, visual presentation often produces better primacy performance (the inverse modality effect). To investigate and model these…

Pearson's Learning Foundations describe the optimal conditions for learning and reflect the learner experience Pearson hopes their products will create. Pearson does this by incorporating the Learning Design Principles. Each of the Learning Design Principles goes into detail about a key principle, supporting product design and marketing by…

Numerous studies have found better memory for multimodal than unimodal stimuli. In these studies, however, multimodal stimuli consist not only of multiple modalities, but also of more varied information than unimodal. Therefore, in the present study, we investigated encoding variability as an explanation for the multisensory benefit. Written words…

Successful active learning has often been quantified with respect to either the efficiency of information search or the accuracy of subsequent recall. In this article, we explored the hypothesis that children's memory is influenced by the types of information search strategies they implement, which may emphasize different aspects of the task…

Throughout prolonged tasks, visual attention fluctuates temporally in response to the present stimuli, task demands, and changes in available attentional resources. This temporal fluctuation has downstream effects on memory for stimuli presented during the task. Researchers have established that detection of a target (e.g., a square of a color to…

It is a truth universally acknowledged that pupils do not learn all that they are taught. They may learn something, they may even learn a lot, but it may not be a lot of what we think we have taught them or they may struggle to apply knowledge successfully. In this book, bestselling author Alex Quigley characterises how the long and winding road…

Item memory (e.g., recall or recognition of specific items) can reactively change when metacognitively monitored via judgments of learning (JOLs). The current research explores whether memory for inter-item relations (e.g., semantic relations among list items) is reactively influenced by JOLs. Participants in Experiment 1 studied rhyming word…

This study investigated the effects of multisensory memory strategies of pairing visual and aural learning strategies of aural lexical advance organizers (LAO) and read-alouds on 146 Korean high school students learning the meaning and pronunciation of 18 unfamiliar English words. In this quasi-experimental design, the control group learned the…

Learners' acquisition of pragmatic competence in additional languages has received mounting attention since the 1990s. However, although studies on general learning strategies have proliferated since Oxford's (1990) influential inventory was published, studies on pragmatic-specific learning strategies contributing to the acquisition of this…

The adult participants in this study range in age from 20 to 50 years. They describe their remembered experiences of learning mathematics in both primary and secondary education. None of the participants achieved the qualifications in mathematics which would allow them access to higher education. They are now studying mathematics after many years…

As a teacher in the San Antonio Independent School District, Addison Davis encountered a significant challenge--maintaining student engagement during the last periods of the school day. These periods often felt like a battle between his students' growing restlessness and his efforts to keep them focused on the content. Initially, he relied heavily…