August Flammer

Towards a theory of question asking

SummaryAn outline of a theory of question asking is presented. Explicit information questions are conceived as possible means used by a questioner to reach actual goals. The information sought by the question is fundamentally related, and even dependent upon, knowledge already available to the person. Contradictory knowledge and knowledge about which the person is not sufficiently confident are seen as special cases of missing knowledge. Experimental evidence in support of these and related postulates is presented. Intrinsic to the theory is the conception of the psychological aspects involved in the asking of a question: the perceived need to ask in relation to the concurrent goals of the person, the alternative means of inferring rather than asking, knowing whom to ask, and tolerance for not (yet) asking.

Text structure and title—effects on comprehension and recall

A coherent text normally requires the reader to construct a sense of the total text. So we expected a thematic title to relieve the reader of most of this task. Experiment 1 confirmed this idea by showing that the thematic title significantly increased free recall if the text structure was regular or slightly disturbed, but did not affect recall of an unstructured text. Experiment 2 showed that prolonged reading time allowed the thematic title to raise free recall of a text with random structure. Furthermore, the two experiments demonstrated the comprehensibility ratings to be affected by the text structure and the reading time, but not by the title. Thus, comprehensibility ratings do not seem to be interchangeable with free recall.

Encoding and retrieval processes in memory for prose

The present study was concerned with an exploration of the relative influence of encoding and retrieval effects in memory for discourse. Memory for a passage of prose read under either of two experimenter‐provided perspectives was tested using recognition memory, and both total recall and selective recall, to the reading perspective as well as to the alternative perspective. The results show a small recognition effect for importance at reading and replicated findings of facilitation of alternative perspective information recall by cueing at the point of recall. Interactions between recall variables and perspective were interpreted in terms of a model of an extra encoding effect when the reading perspective material can be effectively integrated with the texts own perspective.

Changing the Reader's Perspective1

College students read a 748 word text either from the perspective of a potential homebuyer or from the perspective of a potential burglar. The text was an enlarged version of the one used in the Anderson and Pichert (1978) experiment. A free recall test was given either immediately or after a 20 minute delay, either from the original reading perspective or from the later introduced alternative perspective Recall from the shifted perspective was significantly lower than from the reading perspective. Yet, contrary to the hypothesis, which was based on the assumption of differential forgetting, this recall difference was not bigger in the delay condition than in the immediate condition. In comparing several interpretations most additional evidence was found in favor of the interpretation that suggests that the texťs own perspective overrode the special perspectives as instructed.

Predicting what questions people ask

SummaryA rewrite-rule text grammar was used to predict question asking. Subjects were instructed to write a text according to a known format, i.e., a police report calling for witnesses to an accident, but first they had to find out what had occurred by asking questions. Each question was answered immediately. The results indicate that the established text grammar predicted the content of the questions well, but did not predict their sequence. Deviations from the predictions are discussed in terms of question-asking strategies as evolved from a text grammar.

Attribution of Conditions for School Performance.

Abstract210 children (110 girls and 100 boys) were interviewed individually about causes that lead to success or to failure in school tests. They were presented fictitious scenarios about an unknown peer who had either success or failure in a dictation task and a sums task. The free answers were taken as mirroring means-ends beliefs of the interviewed persons. A content analysis of the answers led to the differentiation of 30 different categories. Practice, specific abilities, and concentration were mentioned most frequently both in success and in failure situations. The gender differences were more pronounced in failure than in success situations: For boys, it was rather the (lack of) instant effort that counted, whereas girls stressed more the (lack of) lasting effort, e.g., preceding practice. As compared to children, adolescents mentioned more often specific abilities, fast understanding, practice, and didactical presentation, and less often extrinsic motivation. A cluster analysis and a principal components analysis proved that the 30 basic categories overlap partially and can be combined into eight groups of categories.Résumé210 enfants (110 filles et 100 garçons) furent interrogés individuellement sur les causes du succès ou de l’échec en ce qui concerne les performances scolaires. Nous leur avons présenté des scénarios fictifs traitant d’un pair dont ils ne connaissaient rien qu’il avait fait une dictée ou des exercices de calcul, les uns avec succès, les autres sans succès. Les réponses libres ont été interprétées comme reflétant des relations moyen-but (means-ends). Une analyse de contenu a abouti à trente différentes catégories. Exercise, capacités spéciales, et concentration étaient mentionnés le plus fréquemment, en cas de succès comme en cas de faillite. Des différences entre les sexe étaient plus marques en cas de faillite qu’en cas de succès: Pour le garçons c’était surtout l’absence d’effort immédiat qui comptait, tandis que les filles mentionnaient plus souvent l’absence d’effort continue, c’est-à-dire d’exercice précédant.Les adolescents mettaient plus fréquemment que les enfants le doigt sur des capacités spéciales, la compréhension rapide, les exercices et la présentation didactique et moins fréquemment sur la motivation intrinsèque. Une analyse de clusters (cluster analysis) et une analyse factorielle ont démontré que les trente catégories de base se chevauchaient partiellement et peuvent finalement être réduites à huit catégories superordonnées.

Text memory: Recalling Twice, using different perspectives

Three hundred College students read a 760 word text under one of two instructed perspectives. After full recall, an additional recall (squeeze) was requested under either the same (unchanged) or the alternative perspective. The first recall confirmed earlier results: a strong bias towards perspective related ideas. The second recall yielded substantial additional material. It was expecially effective in recalling alternative perspective related ideas and this most markedly so if the instructions were to recall using the alternative perspective. These results confirm and complement the results of Anderson & Pichert (1978) in so far as it is both the chance of a second recall as well as the change in perspective that raises the amount of recalled material.RésuméTrois cent étudiants avaient á lire un texte de 760 mots, la moitié d’entre aux avec consigne de le comprendre dans une perspective donnée et l’autre moitié de le comprendre dans une rappel écrit du texte complet puis un rappel des idées oubliées lors du premier rappel, avec indication soit de la perspective de lecture, soit de la perspective complémentaire. Le premier rappel a confirmé le résultat d’études antérieures, c’est à dire la prépondérance des idées liées à la perspective donnée pour la lecture. Les idées additionnelles lors du second rappel ont été surtout liées à la perspective non présentée lors de la lecture, ce fait étant plus marqué lorsque cette perspective (complémentaire) était explicitement indiquée. Ces résultats complètent ceux de Anderson & Pichert (1978) concernant l’effet du rappel additionnel sur les idées supplémentaires non seulement après changement de perspective mais même quand la perspective est inchangée.

Possum, ergo Sum—Nequeo, ergo Sum qui Sum

Highly competent people have more success in life, both actively because they are able to act in ways which secure attainment of their goals, and passively, because they are attractive to other people. Typically, highly competent people are also proud of themselves.

The Mental Representation of the Text* Relationship between Text Characteristics and Characteristrics of Mental Representation

Publisher Summary This chapter consists in gathering a series of experimental facts about the relationship between text format and format of mental representation. The chapter discusses the format of a certain type of text to the format of the mental representation helping to produce the text. The comparison of a text is read and its mental representation is being used to recall items chosen selectively. The format of a text has been read to the reaction time patterns for the verification of chosen items. There are three following basic assumptions underlying the experimentations with the recognition method of primed activation: The first assumption is that(1) the information represented in the memory is vast, and for a determined selection to be recalled it is necessary to activate the representation concerned. The second assumption is that a punctual activation spreads out through the adjacent memory structures. The third assumption is that activation is derived from the free choice by presenting a stimulus that corresponds to the chosen memory element.

A model relating transfer of learning and correlation

The theoretical and practical importance of a double undertaking is discussed: the development of learning and transfer taxonomies with psychometric relevance and the building of psychometric classificatory systems with implications for learning and instruction. Psychometric classifications of human performances are most often based on the covariation of individual differences. The model presented justifies the expectation that the transfer from learning one task to learning another is linearly dependent on the coefficient of intercorrelation between the two tasks when the coefficient is corrected for attenuation. Two studies so far have explicitly confirmed the main deductions from this model. Contrary to the predictions, however, the regression curves yielded negative intercepts. Two empirically testable explanations are offered, one of which would be in full accordance with the model, while the other would call for a further assumption.