Segmentation reduces learners' cognitive load by inserting system-controlled pauses into instructional animations and video. However, many previous studies focus on conceptual knowledge, and do not allow users control over the pacing of instruction. This two-part experiment attempted to validate segmentation in the context of procedural software…

Spaced and interleaved practices have been identified as effective learning strategies which sometimes are conflated as a single strategy and at other times treated as distinct. Learning sessions in which studying information or practicing problems are spaced in time with rest-from-deliberate-learning periods between sessions generally result in…

Keystroke logging is used to automatically record writers' unfolding typing process and to get insight into moments when they struggle composing text. However, it is not clear which and how features from the keystroke log map to higher-level cognitive processes, such as planning and revision. This study aims to investigate the sensitivity of…

There is widespread belief in the legal system that alcohol impairs witness testimony. Nevertheless, most laboratory studies examining the effects of alcohol on witness testimony suggest that alcohol may affect the number of correct but not incorrect details recalled. However, it is difficult to draw conclusions because sample sizes, testing…

An ongoing question in second language vocabulary learning is how to optimize the acquisition of words. One approach is the so-called "spaced repetition technique" that uses intervals to repeat words in a given time frame (Balota et al., 2007; Leitner, 1972; Oxford, 1990; Pimsleur, 1967; Roediger & Karpicke, 2010; Schuetze &…

Researchers are exploring innovative technologies to prepare educators. A systematic literature review was conducted to study the role of tactile prompting (i.e., vibratory signals on a schedule) in teacher education. Ten studies meeting inclusion criteria were synthesized and analyzed based on how tactile prompting is utilized, effects of tactile…

Previous in vivo electrophysiological studies suggest that the anterior cingulate cortex (ACgx) is an important substrate of novel object recognition (NOR) memory. However, intervention studies are needed to confirm this conclusion and permanent lesion studies cannot distinguish effects on encoding and retrieval. The interval between encoding and…

Delay-induced forgetting refers to the finding that memory for studied material typically decreases as the delay between study and test is increased. The results of 3 experiments are reported designed to examine whether this form of forgetting is primarily caused by interference effects or contextual drift effects when people engage in neutral…

Sequential effects in conflict processing (postconflict slowing and conflict adaptation) have primarily been studied in stimulus-response compatibility (SRC) tasks. Moreover, results obtained in SRC paradigms are often proposed as a model of higher-level motivational conflicts. The authors present 3 experiments suggesting that motivational…

In the present research, we attempted to manipulate noncontingent processing in reading, that is, mental activities not dependent on processing the words of the text. An important class of noncontingent processing is mind wandering, but noncontingent processing may include other task-related activities as well. In our study, participants read…

Two exploratory studies examine how 12-tone rows are processed cognitively. Tone-rows use each pitch-class once, and were devised by the composer Arnold Schoenberg as a way of structuring music in the absence of tonality, an approach subsequently known as "serialism". One form of "antistructure" implied in the design of tone-rows--eschewal of…

People frequently continue to use inaccurate information in their reasoning even after a credible retraction has been presented. This phenomenon is often referred to as the continued influence effect of misinformation. The repetition of the original misconception within a retraction could contribute to this phenomenon, as it could inadvertently…

Decay of task-set activation, as commonly assumed in models of task switching, has been thought to be indexed by manipulating the response-to-cue interval (RCI) in a task-cuing paradigm. We propose an alternative account for RCI effects suggesting that episodic task retrieval is modulated by temporal distinctiveness, which we define as the ratio…

Previous research has revealed that people choose to aim toward an "optimal" endpoint when faced with a movement task with externally imposed payoffs. This optimal endpoint is modeled based on the magnitude of the payoffs and the probability of hitting the different payoff regions (endpoint variability). Endpoint selection, however, has only been…

The article investigates the mechanisms of selecting and updating representations in declarative and procedural working memory (WM). Declarative WM holds the objects of thought available, whereas procedural WM holds representations of what to do with these objects. Both systems consist of three embedded components: activated long-term memory, a…