The effect of instructor clarity on student learning has been explained using cognitive load theory, which stipulates that students have limited mental resources to devote to activities pertaining to learning. To date, the effect of teacher clarity on students' cognitive burden has been studied in reference to students' extraneous cognitive load…

This study examined the effectiveness of online English learning among college students by integrating data from multiple learning behavior sources. The research revealed a bidirectional regulatory relationship between device environment and cognitive strategies, clarified the critical threshold for the regulation of metacognitive strategies, and…

The 2019 coronavirus disease pandemic and distrust for popular media have highlighted the need for effective methods of direct communication of biomedical science to the public. It is presently unclear how well nonexperts can learn from primary scientific sources and what factors predict such learning in the general public. The present study…

Immersive learning plays a crucial role in effective second language (L2) acquisition, but many learners face limited opportunities to interact with native speakers. While existing research highlights the importance of immersion in L2 learning, there is still a gap in understanding how Generative AI (GenAI) can provide greater access to such…

Generative learning strategies are intended to improve students' learning by prompting them to actively make sense of the material to be learned. But are they effective for all students? This review provides an overview of six popular generative learning strategies: concept mapping, explaining, predicting, questioning, testing, and drawing. Its…

Comprehension substantially benefits from attending to, thinking about, and mentally representing the sources of any presented information. Such processes require mental effort and unfortunately people do not always engage in such activities. The current article presents a nascent, evolving model of discourse comprehension that formalizes…

It is generally assumed that bare numerals (e.g., "three") have two readings: the "exactly" and the "at least" reading. It has been a matter of debate whether one of these two readings is derived from the other pragmatically. To shed light on this question research has aimed at characterizing the processing demands…

As evidence for the discriminant validity of SCT continues to emerge, researchers must further examine the ways in which SCT affects functioning in order to eventually tailor treatments to this population. The current study examined whether SCT symptoms in college students are predictive of social functioning and risky behavior, particularly…

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…

Events consist of diverse elements, each processed in specialized neocortical networks, with temporal lobe memory systems binding these elements to form coherent event memories. We provide a novel theoretical analysis of an unexplored consequence of the independence of memory systems for elements and their bindings, 1 that raises the paradoxical…

How does orthographic distinctiveness affect recall of structured (categorized) word lists? On one theory, enhanced item-specific information (e.g., more distinct encoding) in concert with robust relational information (e.g., categorical information) optimally supports free recall. This predicts that for categorically structured lists,…

We investigate the relationship between Need for Cognition (NFC), attitude towards and self-reported application of different desirable difficulties in self-regulated learning. Students with a higher NFC should be more appreciative and prone to use desirable difficulties because of a match between the learner's attributes and the learning task…

In experiments with univalent target stimuli, task-switching costs can be eliminated if participants are unaware of the task rules and apply cue-target-response associations. However, in experiments with bivalent target stimuli, participants show task-switching costs. Participants may exhibit switch costs even when no task rules are provided in…

We report an experiment designed to provide a qualitative contrast between knowledge-limited versions of mixed-state and variable-resources (VR) models of visual change detection. The key data pattern is that observers often respond "same" on big-change trials, while simultaneously being able to discriminate between same and small-change…

The goal of this study was to investigate whether single executive function (EF) tests were predictive for learning performance in mainly young and middle-aged adults. The tests measured shifting and updating. Processing speed was also measured. In an observational study, cognitive performance and learning performance were measured objectively in…