Eugene B. Zechmeister

When you know that you know and when you think that you know but you don’t

College students rated the likelihood of recall of individual words presented for free recall learning. Predictions were made using a 7-point scale immediately following an item’s presentation in the list. To-be-rated items included those presented one time, as well as items presented twice in either a massed (MP) or distributed (DP) manner. Twice-presented items were rated as more likely to be recalled than items presented once, and they were; MP items were judged more likely to be recalled than DP items, but they were not. The finding that subjects think that they know MP items when they do not suggests why processing may be less for massed than for distributed presentations. As such, these results provide support for the attenuation of attention hypothesis of the spacing effect in free recall.

Human Memory: An Introduction to Research and Theory

Introduction. Sensory registers: visual and acoustic stores. Primary memory. The role of rehearsal. Memory consolidation. Principles of forgetting: interference and altered stimulus conditions. Evidence for encoding on multiple dimensions. Memory for frequency of events. Distribution of practice. Recall, recognition and relearning. Metamemory: knowing about knowing. Levels of processing. Mnemonics. Constructive and reconstructive processes in memory. Individual differences in remembering. Appendix. References. Name index. Subject index.

Toward a Meaningful Definition of Vocabulary Size.

Studies using dictionary-sampling methods to estimate vocabulary size have left a bewildering trail of widely differing estimates. We argue that many estimates are misleading (generally too high) principally because the definition of a word is too liberal. For practical purposes (e.g., planning vocabulary instruction), it makes sense to define a word as a base form, resembling what linguists call a lemma, and to disregard certain word forms from estimates of vocabulary size (e.g., proper names and archaic words). By providing a clear rationale for the word source which was sampled, and by using clearly defined operational criteria for what constitutes a word as well as for the procedures used in the estimation task, we found that the average number of different words known by a college student is 16,785. We suggest that vocabulary size, and corresponding rates of vocabulary growth, may not be as great, nor attempts to directly teach vocabulary as futile, as some would suggest.

Growth of a Functionally Important Lexicon

The vocabulary size literature currently provides a rather pessimistic view of the role for direct instruction in increasing vocabulary size. A major reason for this pessimism revolves around estimates of the total number of words that individuals know and, hence, the number of words that would have to be taught in order to affect significantly normal vocabulary growth. When vocabulary size is expressed in terms of the number of functionally important words in the lexicon, however, estimates of vocabulary size are dramatically reduced. We adopted as a definition of functionally important words the list of main entries found in a moderate-sized, yet comprehensive dictionary of the English language. Using a dictionary-sampling method and multiple-choice testing of word knowledge, we estimated the lexicon size of junior-high students, college students, and older adults. The results lead us to suggest that there may yet be a role for direct instruction in affecting lexicon size of functionally important words.

Visual Memory for Place on the Page

Sixty-four Ss were asked to read a lengthy prose passage and were subsequently tested for (a) information recall, (b) memory for location of information answers; and (c) discrimination of information answers in a multiple-choice (MC) task. In aggrement with previous studies, spatial memory was highly reliable and significantly greater for correct than incorrect information answers. However, the present experiments showed that cueing Ss to a spatial test did not raise the level of spatial recall over that for a noncued group. Further, proportion of both item and spatial recall was found to increase directly with degree of visual memory for location as indexed by a five-point subjective knowledge scale. There was also a general trend for multiple-choice performance ot improve as degree of visual knowledge for an answers true location increased. It is apparent that visually mediated spatial memory is a fundamental attribute when text material is encoded, and may be of mnemonic worth when retention of information is required.

Introductory Textbooks and Psychology's Core Concepts

Is there a core set of key concepts that defines a common language for introductory psychology? A content analysis of the glossaries of 10 major introductory psychology textbooks identified 2,505 different terms and concepts. Only 64 items (< 3%) were common to all glossaries; approximately half (49%) appeared in only 1 glossary. Ratings of item importance by a national sample of 191 instructors indicated moderate agreement between instructors and authors as to what constitutes a key concept. These results, and those of previous studies, pose a serious dilemma for those who wish to follow the prescription that “less is more” in content coverage in the introductory course. Just what should that “less” be?

The learning ability paradox in adult metamemory research: Where are the metamemory differences between good and poor learners?

College students’ ability to judge whether a studied item had been learned well enough to be recalled on a later test was examined in three experiments with self-paced learning procedures. Generally, these learners compensated for item difficulty when allocating study time, studying hard items longer than easy items, but they still recalled more easy items than hard items and tended to drop items out too soon. When provided with test opportunities during study or a delay between study and judgment, learners compensated significantly more for item difficulty and recalled substantially more. Paradoxically, good and poor learners compensated similarly for item difficulty and benefited similarly from testing during study and from delayed decision making. Thus, although the ability to make metamemory decisions was shown to be important for effective learning, these decisions were made equally well by good and poor associative learners. An analysis of tasks used to investigate metamemory-memory relationships in adult learning may provide an account for this apparent learning ability paradox.

Memory-monitoring accuracy as influenced by the distribution of retrieval practice

An experiment was done to determine whether retrieval practice improved judgment-of-learning (JOL) accuracy when degree of learning was controlled. Fifty undergraduate students were asked to learn a long list of unrelated facts, with critical items presented either once or four times. The repetitions of critical items were retrieval prompts for half of the subjects (study-test) and additional study presentations (study-only) for the other half of the subjects. The subjects made JOL ratings after the last occurrence of critical items. Immediately after the study list, they were given a cued-recall test. Recall was comparable for once-presented items and repeated items across the two groups, but JOL accuracy was higher for repeated items in the study-test group. These results confirm that retrieval practice enhances JOL accuracy even when degree of learning is controlled.

A Skills-Experience Inventory for the Undergraduate Psychology Major

Psychology majors develop a number of academic skills during their studies that are valuable in future careers and other domains. However, assessment of experiences related to skill development can be quite difficult and resource intense. We present results of 2 studies using a skills-experience inventory to assess academic skill exposure. In the first study, graduating senior psychology majors reported greater exposure than freshmen in 7 skill-experience areas. The second study showed significant differences in exposure to 5 skill areas among graduating seniors in 4 academic areas. A skills-experience inventory may be an efficient tool for documenting the skills and experiences students encounter when majoring in psychology.

Errors in a recognition memory task are a U-shaped function of word frequency

College students rated verbal items for either familiarity or meaningfulness and were then tested for their recognition memory of rated items from four critical classes: nonwords and words appearing less than 1 time, 1–10, and more than 40 times per million words of written text (Thorndike-Lorge, 1944). Following either rating task, recognition errors were found to be a U-shaped function of word frequency and nonwords were recognized least well. Although a U-shaped function was expected on the basis of what is known about word frequency effects in general, there is significant disagreement as to the mechanism(s) responsible for this relationship.