Retrieval practice typically benefits later memory more than restudy (i.e., the testing effect). The benefits of retrieval-based learning generalize across a range of materials and contexts, leading many cognitive scientists to advocate for broad educational implementation. However, educators and practitioners call for more research on factors…

This study explored ways to foster generative learning during a narrated video lesson about the human kidney. In a 2 × 3 between-subjects design, 196 college students were randomly assigned to a video format condition and a learning strategy condition. Students listened to oral explanations from the instructor as they viewed either a series of…

Testing (having students recall material) and worked examples (having students study a completed problem) are both recommended as effective methods for improving learning. The two strategies rely on different underlying cognitive processes and thus may strengthen different types of learning in different ways. Across three experiments, we examine…

Whereas some evidence exists that math anxiety may interfere with math performance from the very beginning of primary school, no study to date has attempted to investigate whether math anxiety may also interfere with early math learning (i.e., the encoding of new math knowledge) and not only with recalling already mastered contents in test…

The development of reading-related phonological processing abilities represents an important developmental milestone in the process of learning to read. In this cross-sectional study, confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the structure of phonological processing abilities in 129 younger preschoolers (M = 40.88 months, SD = 4.65) and 304…

The purpose of this experiment was to develop a more explicit conceptual model regarding how learning goals influence learning from text than is currently available. (Author/DEP)

This monograph analyzes theoretical and methodological problems that may have prevented previous research from detecting retroactive inhibition with meaningful discourse and reports on two experiments based on the analysis. (Author/TA)

Thirty graduate students were asked to produce a type of semantic information; they named psychologists who satisfied certain restrictions. Not only was the speed in responding influenced by the speed in which restrictions were given, but the effect of order differed for advanced and beginning students. (Author/RC)

This study examines the utility of an elaboration hypothesis as a means of predicting the recall of major ideas from text through the manipulation of paragraphs and via the use of inserted questions requiring different levels of elaboration. (PN)

This study supported the hypothesis that the same prose passage would be stored in different memory locations as a function of its relationship to previous knowledge. Subjects told that a reading passage was about a famous person before reading the passage made more false positive errors in a recognition test. (Author/BH)

Examines the relationship between sentence meaning and paired-associate recall. (AG)

In two experiments, instruction in a hierarchical summarization study strategy focusing on the organization of ideas in a text was compared with the procedure of answering questions after reading. Fifth-grade student comprehension and memory were enhanced but were found to be affected by mastery of the strategy. (Author/CM)

Examines metamemory for categorized lists of items among college students. Judgments of learning (JOLs) were obtained either immediately after study or following a brief delay. Results indicate that delayed JOLs were more accurate than immediate JOLs only when knowledge based cues were used. Indicates that the phrasing of metamemory cues can have…

In this study on the interactive effects of advance organizers and reasoning skills, 112 undergraduates read a literature text preceded by either a comparative advance organizer or a placebo introduction. Results suggest that instructional organizers produce neither serious loss nor substantial benefits for many purposes of communication. (BS)