Jennifer A. McCabe

Metacognitive awareness of learning strategies in undergraduates

Two studies examined undergraduates’ metacognitive awareness of six empirically-supported learning strategies. Study 1 results overall suggested an inability to predict the learning outcomes of educational scenarios describing the strategies of dual-coding, static-media presentations, low-interest extraneous details, testing, and spacing; there was, however, weak endorsement of the strategy of generating one’s own study materials. In addition, an independent measure of metacognitive self-regulation was correlated with scenario performance. Study 2 demonstrated higher prediction accuracy for students who had received targeted instruction on applied memory topics in their psychology courses, and the best performance for those students directly exposed to the original empirical studies from which the scenarios were derived. In sum, this research suggests that undergraduates are largely unaware of several specific strategies that could benefit memory for course information; further, training in applied learning and memory topics has the potential to improve metacognitive judgments in these domains.

Examining the locus of age effects on complex span tasks

To investigate the locus of age effects on complex span tasks, the authors evaluated the contributions of working memory functions and processing speed. Age differences were found in measures of storage capacity, language processing speed, and lower level speed. Statistically controlling for each of these in hierarchical regressions substantially reduced, but did not eliminate, the complex span age effect. Accounting for lower level speed and storage, however, removed essentially the entire age effect, suggesting that both functions play important and independent roles. Additional evidence for the role of storage capacity was the absence of complex span age differences with span size calibrated to individual word span performance. Explanations for age differences based on inhibition and concurrent task performamce were not supported.

Brain-Training Pessimism, but Applied-Memory Optimism

As is convincingly demonstrated in the target article (Simons et al., 2016, this issue), despite the numerous forms of brain training that have been tested and touted in the past 15 years, there’s little to no evidence that currently existing programs produce lasting, meaningful change in the performance of cognitive tasks that differ from the trained tasks. As detailed by Simons et al., numerous methodological issues cloud the interpretation of many studies claiming successful far transfer. These limitations include small sample sizes, passive control groups, single tests of outcomes, unblinded informantand self-report measures of functioning, and hypothesisinconsistent significant effects. (However, note that, with older adults, a successful result of the intervention could be to prevent decline in the training group, such that they stay at their pretest level while the control group declines.) These issues are separate from problems related to publication bias, selective reporting of significant and nonsignificant outcomes, use of unjustified one-tailed t tests, and failure to explicitly note shared data across publications. So, considering that the literature contains such potential false-positive publications (Simmons, Nelson, & Simonsohn, 2011), it may be surprising and disheartening to many that some descriptive reviews (Chacko et al., 2013; Salthouse, 2006; Simons et al., 2016) and meta-analyses (Melby-Lervåg, Redick, & Hulme, 2016; Rapport, Orban, Kofler, & Friedman, 2013) have concluded that existing cognitive-training methods are relatively ineffective, despite their popularity and increasing market share. For example, a recent working-memory-training metaanalysis (Melby-Lervåg et al., 2016) evaluated 87 studies examining transfer to working memory, intelligence, and various educationally relevant outcomes (e.g., reading comprehension, math, word decoding). The studies varied considerably in terms of the sample composition (age; typical vs. atypical functioning) and the nature of the working-memory training (verbal, nonverbal, or both verbal and nonverbal stimuli; n-back vs. span task methodology; few vs. many training sessions). Despite the diversity in the design and administration of the training, the results were quite clear. Following training, there were reliable improvements in performance on verbal and nonverbal working-memory tasks identical or similar to the trained tasks. However, in terms of far transfer, there was no convincing evidence of improvements, especially when working-memory training was compared to an active-control condition. The meta-analysis also demonstrated that, in the working-memory-training literature, the largest nonverbal-intelligence far-transfer effects are statistically more likely to come from studies with small sample sizes and passive control groups. This finding is not particularly surprising, given other work showing that most working-memory training studies are dramatically underpowered (Bogg & Lasecki, 2015) and that underpowered studies with small sample sizes are more likely to produce inflated effect sizes (Button et al., 2013). In addition, small samples are predominantly the reason irregular pretest-posttest patterns have been observed in the control groups in various working-memory and video-game intervention studies (for review, see Redick, 2015; Redick & Webster, 2014). In these studies, inferential statistics and effect-size metrics provide evidence that the training “worked,” but investigation of the descriptive statistics tells a different story. Specifically, a number of studies with children and young adult samples have examined intelligence or other academic achievement outcomes before and after training. Closer inspection indicates that training “improved” intelligence or academic achievement relative to the control condition because the control group declined from pretest to posttest—that is, the training group did not significantly change from pretest to posttest. 664716 PSIXXX10.1177/1529100616664716McCabe et al.Brain-Training Pessimism research-article2016

Student and Faculty Perceptions of E-Feedback

This article presents student and faculty ratings of electronic editing (EE) functions (i.e., track changes, insert comments, highlighting) as used for e-feedback on written assignments. Students reported increased convenience, clarity of expectations, amount of feedback, and writing ability as well as substantial improvement in EE skills compared to paper-based methods. Also, ratings and use of e-feedback were positively correlated with final report grades. To further explore the role of e-feedback in psychology education, a survey indicated that faculty rated e-feedback as similar to paper-based methods for time and effort but potentially more beneficial for learning. In addition, faculty with more e-feedback experience reported higher educational value for EE skills. Advantages and disadvantages from the student and instructor perspectives are discussed.

Psychology Students' Knowledge and Use of Mnemonics

Mnemonics are strategies that can enhance learning and memory of course material. An online survey examined psychology students’ metacognitive awareness and self-reported behaviors regarding mnemonics. Results showed that most participants could define mnemonics, but only a minority could describe the cognitive mechanisms involved. Participants were more familiar with some mnemonics (acronyms and acrostics) compared to others (pegword); further, the most common sources of mnemonics were those created by the students themselves and those provided by the instructors. Usefulness of mnemonics was rated at a moderate level compared to other common study strategies. Finally, the ratings for mnemonics were positive and correlated with independent measures of metacognition as well as psychology course experience. Findings are discussed in the context of increasing mnemonics in psychology education.

Location, Location, Location! Demonstrating the Mnemonic Benefit of the Method of Loci.

Classroom demonstrations of empirically supported learning and memory strategies have the potential to boost students’ knowledge about their own memory and convince them to change the way they approach memory tasks in and beyond the classroom. Students in a Human Learning and Memory course learned about the Method of Loci (MoL) mnemonic technique, then created and used their own Memory Palaces based on campus locations to remember a grocery list. Pretest to posttest improvements in memory for the serially recalled list, along with significant increases in self-reported use of MoL in daily life, suggest that this activity may improve knowledge and application of this powerful memory strategy. More broadly, these types of activities can strengthen undergraduates’ metacognitive sophistication.

Learning the Brain in Introductory Psychology: Examining the Generation Effect for Mnemonics and Examples.

The goal of this research was to determine whether there is a generation effect for learner-created keyword mnemonics and real-life examples, compared to instructor-provided materials, when learning neurophysiological terms and definitions in introductory psychology. Students participated in an individual (Study 1) or small-group (Study 2) in-class activity during which they used three strategies: generate new keyword mnemonics, generate new real-life examples, and read instructor-provided mnemonics and examples. Immediate and delayed quiz results showed that the keyword-mnemonic-generation strategy was superior for definitional quiz performance across both time points. Questionnaire data indicated that students overall felt “generating” was more helpful than “reading,” generating mnemonics was more helpful than generating examples, and a substantial portion would plan to use the mnemonic-generation strategy in the future. Results are discussed in the context of mnemonics training, specifically mnemonics-creation assignments, in the introductory-level psychology classroom and beyond.

An analysis of age differences in perceptual speed

Tests of the generalized slowing hypothesis have demonstrated the strong predictive power of tests of perceptual comparison speed in accounting for age differences across a range of cognitive domains. The goals of this study were to determine whether short-term memory (STM) and perceptual demands contribute to age differences on two commonly used tests of perceptual comparison speed, the letter and pattern comparison tests, and to test whether these task components account for unique variance in predicting age differences in working memory and reasoning. Results showed that, after controlling for visual contrast sensitivity and a general slowing factor, age differences increased with increases in both STM load and perceptual degradation. Only STM load, however, accounted for a significant portion of the relationship of age with higher level cognition. We concluded that perceptual comparison tests are dependent on multiple age-sensitive abilities, not all of which are related to age differences in higher level cognition.

Why and how do undergraduates study in groups

The goal of this survey study was to examine various aspects of group study in undergraduates across multiple institutions and demographic categories. Results from 463 participants showed the majority (78%) reported studying in a group at least once per semester, with younger students engaging in more frequent group sessions. Reasons for choosing group study included both learning and social factors. The majority experienced higher motivation and learning from group study, but the majority also generally prefer individual over group study. Regarding self-regulated learning choices in a group setting, these did vary by discipline, but the most commonly used strategies overall were active, empirically supported ones such as practice problems, discussion, quizzing/testing, questioning, and making flashcards. In addition, several group study strategies were correlated with GPA, including making mnemonics, making flashcards, and distributed (spaced) study sessions. More advanced students tended to use discussion-based strategies during group study, and lower-level students were more likely to report content-driven strategies such as quizzing/testing and flashcards. Also, frequency of group study was correlated with using more evidence-supported strategies, more efficient use of time, perceived improvements in learning, and preference for group study. Given that group study appears to be a common part of the undergraduate educational experience, we conclude with implications and future directions for learning scientists and educators.

Lyrical Memory: Mnemonic Effects of Music for Musicians and Nonmusicians

The goal of this study was to examine the mnemonic effects of music on lyric recall, and to determine the role of musical expertise in the degree of memory benefit from information presented in a song. The experiment used a mixed-factor design to compare recall performance in music and nonmusic presentations, in addition to comparing performance of musicians and nonmusicians. Participants were presented with a set of lyrics in one of two encoding conditions: music (delivered as part of a song) or nonmusic (read aloud without music), followed by a free recall test. This process repeated 3 times, with a distractor task before the third recall test. One week later, participants were given an identical series of encoding and recall tasks in the other encoding condition, followed by a recall test for lyrics presented in the first session. Results showed significantly higher recall in the music condition during Session 1 as measured by words (verbatim), lines (gist), and clusters (chunking), ps < .05; for delayed recall, there was a music advantage as measured by words and clusters, ps < .05. Musicians showed significantly higher 1-week-delayed word and line recall, regardless of encoding condition, ps < .05. Several significant differences were found in relation to task load, suggesting that music-based learning may affect subjective experience, specifically task success and time pressure; further, musicians reported lower mental activity required when learning through music. Further applications of the study are discussed in an educational context. https://doi.org/10.24839/2325-7342.JN22.2.141