James F. Voss

Acquisition of Domain-Related Information in Relation to High and Low Domain Knowledge.

This research was concerned with how knowledge of a given topic influences the acquisition of topic-related information. The knowledge domain studied was baseball, and a knowledge structure was postulated which included the goal structure as well as the states and actions of the game. In each of five experiments, passages of domain-related information were presented and performance was compared for individuals with high (HK) or low (LK) baseball knowledge. Experiment 1 indicated that HK recognition performance was superior to LK, and that this difference was greater for changes in “New” material that were more important in terms of the game. Experiment 2 showed that HK individuals need less information to make recognition judgments than LK individuals. Experiment 4 showed that HK individuals anticipated a greater percentage of high-level goal state outcomes than LK individuals. Experiments 3 and 5 indicated that HK individuals are superior at recalling event sequences, a finding attributed to the greater ability of HK individuals to relate successive segments of input information. The results are considered in relation to a conceptual framework and to related literature.

Problem-Solving Skill in the Social Sciences

Publisher Summary This chapter presents a model of problem-solving skill in the social sciences. Many social-science problems involve the existence of an undesirable state of affairs that requires improvement ( solutions). In general, problem solving consists of isolating the cause(s) of a problem and eliminating or at least reducing the effects. In social sciences, however, problem solving is often made quite difficult by two factors: the lack of agreed-upon solutions and delay in implementing solutions. The chapter discusses the processes involved in learning the skill of social-science problem solving and emphasizes the importance of experience in providing ways of organizing information so that it may subsequently be utilized in further processing. Ideas regarding the way a social-science problem-solving skill is acquired and the way it is related to a more general problem-solving research are discussed in the chapter. Testing hypotheses in social sciences tends to be a much more protracted process. Thus, the relatively large amount of argumentation found in social sciences may be attributed to the fact that problems do not have agreed-upon solutions, whereas the problems studied so far in natural sciences have well-formulated solutions.

Text generation and recall by high-knowledge and low-knowledge individuals

Text generation and recall within a particular subject matter domain (baseball) was studied in relation to domain knowledge. A problem-solving model for text generation and comprehension was developed. The model assumes a PLAN and two major PLAN components, a PROBLEM REPRESENTATION and a CONTENT REPRESENTATION. In Experiment 1, each high-knowledge (HK) and low-knowledge (LK) individual generated a domain-related text and recalled its contents 2 weeks later. Results indicated: (a) HK individuals generate text that is more detailed in CONTENT REPRESENTATION than do LK individuals; (b) HK recall was superior on measures related to the sequential “flow” of actions and changes in game states. This finding was attributed to the more extensive generation of detailed information by HK individuals, with such information making the problem solution path more discriminable. In Experiment 2, HK recall was shown to be superior to LK recall for HK-generated text while HK recall was superior to LK recall for LK-generated text on relatively few measures. The findings support the idea that domain-related knowledge has a similar influence upon the processes of text generation and comprehension, that such processes may be viewed in terms of a problem-solving framework, and that HK—LK performance differences are due to differences in the respective problem spaces and to differences in the ability to monitor the selected solution path.

Learning to reason via instruction in argumentation

Abstract In this paper we argue that argumentation, defined as the generation and evaluation of arguments, is at the core of reasoning and that instruction in argumentation is therefore critical to the development of reasoning skill. Argumentation and its relation to informal reasoning is discussed, followed by consideration of factors that influence argumentation performance, with an account of an expert student reasoner provided. Instruction in argumentation is then considered, with suggestions presented based upon our attempts at such instruction.

Images in International Relations: An Experimental Test of Cognitive Schemata

We build on the tradition of studying images in international relations by developing a theory of perceived relationships and their associated images. The psychological theory is connected to a set of assumptions drawn from international relations theory that suggest perceived strategic relationships can be conceived of as a function of perceived relative power, perceived culture, and the perceived threat or perceived opportunity that a subject believes another actor represents. We hypothesize that perceived relationships evoke both cognitive and affective processes that lead to at least four ideal typical images. We further hypothesize that enemy, ally, colony, and degenerate images have identifiable and interrelated components. We test to see if the component parts of these images are related to each other, if the overall image affects the processing and interpretation of new information, and if strategic foreign policy choices follow from the cognitive and affective aspects of the image. The findings indicate that three of the four images are unified schemata, used even by inexperienced analysts. We find further that affect in combination with cognition does predict policy choice in the case of the enemy image. We suggest that image theory is a promising means by which foreign policy and international relations may be fruitfully studied.

Learning and transfer in subject-matter learning: A problem-solving model

Abstract This paper points out that the growth of the cognitive movement, with its emphasis upon perception and memory, has been accompanied by a decrease in the study of learning, retention, and transfer as found in the traditional associationistic framework. Moreover, some critics have argued that the contribution of learning and memory research over the past century has been minimal. The present paper presents a general reconceptualization of learning and retention, making these concepts subordinate to the concept of transfer. This reconceptualization thus places emphasis upon prior knowledge, skills, attitudes, and other characteristics of the individual. In addition, it is argued that the general information-processing model of problem solving, especially as applied to ill-structured problems, provides a general conceptual framework for the study of learning, the model being especially useful when considering learning in academic subject-matter domains.

On the role of prior knowledge and task demands in the processing of text

Abstract Two experiments addressed the question of whether demands produced by the processing of domain-related information varied as a function of a persons domain knowledge. The M. Daneman and P. A. Carpenter (1980 , Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior , 19, 450–466) reading span task was employed in both experiments with subjects recalling the final words of sets of sentences. In Experiment 2 subjects also recalled the sentence contents. In both experiments each sentence set had baseball or neutral contents and sentences within a set were or were not sequentially related. Results indicated that processing base-ball material produced greater processing demands upon low than upon high knowledge individuals, but only when sentence recall was required (Experiment 2). The results, taken with other findings, indicate that domain knowledge influences processing at a situational model or mental model level but not at a microlevel or propositional level. In addition, the results suggested that a motivational component influences the processing of high knowledge individuals yielding greater concentration. The results also supported the use of the reading span measure as an index of processing efficiency.

The Effects of ‘Playing Historian’ on Learning in History

The present study investigates conditions under which undergraduates may adopt a view of history more similar to that of historians and how learning and understanding may be affected under such conditions. Two manipulations, one of the reading material and the other of writing task, were introduced within the standard ‘read-to-write’ approach of history instruction. Undergraduates were either given a textbook chapter about Ireland between 1800 and 1850, or the same information in the form of separate sources. After reading the presented material they were instructed to write a history, a narrative or an argument regarding what produced the significant changes in Irelands population between 1846 and 1850. It was expected that the separate source/argument writing condition would yield the most historian-like behaviour. Indeed, students in this condition learned the material as well as, or better than, students in any other condition, but had the best understanding of the material, especially of causal and explanatory relationships.

Knowledge of one's own responding and the relation of such knowledge to learning ☆: A developmental study

Abstract First-, third-, fifth-grade children, and college students (ages 6, 8, 10, and 19 years) acquired a paired-associate list under the study-test procedure to a one error-less trial criterion. In addition, as each pair was presented the individual indicated whether he/she had that pair correct on the immediately preceding trial (postdiction responses). The data were interpreted in terms of a discrimination-utilization hypothesis which postulates that individuals discriminate their own correct and incorrect responses on a given trial and use this information for distributing processing effort on the subsequent trial. Analyses involving the accuracy of postdiction responses, the relation of postdiction accuracy to acquisition, and the consideration of the acquisition data in terms of a two-stage model led to the conclusion that older children and adults may use the discrimination-utilization strategy but younger children tend not to use it, probably because of both mediation and production deficiencies.

On the ability to predict one's own responses while learning ☆

Abstract In a multiple-trial, paired associate procedure, subjects predicted “Yes” or “No” on each trial. Significant prediction accuracy was attributed (a) to knowledge of items correctly recalled on Trial N-1, leading to “Yes” predictions and correct recall on Trial N, and (b) to estimates of item difficulty. In Experiment 2, subjects served in triads. The Learner received 48 sentences in a four-trial, study-test paradigm, predicting his own recall on each trial for each sentence. The Listener predicted and heard the Learners recall. The Observer predicted but did not hear the Learners recall. The Learner had virtually no advantage in predicting his own recall compared to the Listener, with both performing better than the Observer. The results were related to “feeling-of-knowing” research, to self-responding as the basis of self-knowledge, and to the concept of privileged access.