The present field study compared open-book testing and closed-book testing in two (parallel) introductory university courses in cognitive psychology. The critical manipulation concerned seven ...lessons. In these lessons, all students received two to three questions concerning the content of the respective lesson. Half the participants (open-book group) were allowed to use their notes and the course materials, which had been distributed at the beginning of each class; the other half was not allowed to use these materials (closed-book group). A surprise test conducted in the eighth week demonstrated better results for the closed-book group. Further 6 weeks later, the final module exam took place. A number of questions in this exam concerned the learning matters instructed during the critical seven lessons. Even with respect to these questions, the closed-book group performed better than the open-book group. We discuss these results with respect to two possible explanations, retrieval practice and motivational differences.
On tests of verbal short-term memory, performance declines as a function of auditory distraction. The negative impact of to-be-ignored sound on serial recall is known as the irrelevant sound effect. ...It can occur with speech, sine tones, and music. Moreover, sound that changes acoustically from one token to the next (i.e., changing-state sound) is more disruptive to serial recall than repetitive, steady-state sound. We tested manipulations that resulted in changes in (higher levels of) perceptual organization for more complex tonal stimuli. Within a trial, the first two bars of a well-known melody were repeated (a) in the exact same manner, (b) with variations only in tempo, (c) with variations only in mode (e.g., Dorian or Phrygian), or (d) with variations in both tempo and mode. Participants serially recalled digits in each of the irrelevant sound conditions as well as in a silent control condition. In Experiment 1a, we tested non-music students and, to investigate whether musical expertise affected the findings, additionally tested students majoring in music in Experiment 1b. Across both samples, recall in the irrelevant sound conditions was significantly poorer than in the silent control condition, but only the tempo variation caused an additional harmful effect. The mode variation did not affect recall performance, in either music or non-music students. These findings indicate that, at least with music, changes are a matter of degree and not every additional variation impairs recall performance.
One prestudy based on a corpus analysis and four experiments in which participants had to invent novel names for persons or objects (N = 336 participants in total) investigated how the valence of a ...face or an object affects the phonological characteristics of the respective novel name. Based on the articulatory feedback hypothesis, we predicted that /i:/ is included more frequently in fictional names for faces or objects with a positive valence than for those with a negative valence. For /o:/, the pattern should reverse. An analysis of the Berlin Affective Word List - Reloaded (BAWL-R) yielded a higher number of occurrences of /o:/ in German words with negative valence than in words with positive valence; with /i:/ the situation is less clear. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants named persons showing a positive or a negative facial expression. Names for smiling persons included more /i:/s and fewer /o:/s than names for persons with a negative facial expression. In Experiments 3 and 4, participants heard a Swahili narration and invented pseudo-Swahili names for objects with positive, neutral, or negative valence. Names for positive objects included more /i:/s than names for neutral or negative objects, and names for negative objects included more /o:/s than names for neutral or positive objects. These finding indicate a stable vowel-emotion link.
Many principles for the design of multimedia learning materials share the recommendation to facilitate processing. One prominent example is the modality principle, according to which pictures should ...be presented with auditory rather than visual texts. Research on desirable difficulties, however, indicates that – unlike short-term learning – long-term learning benefits when processing is more demanding and therefore more effortful. In a classroom experiment (Experiment 1) and in a laboratory study (Experiment 2), we tested whether the modality principle serves long-term learning. In a multimedia presentation on the formation of lightning, we varied the text modality (oral vs. written) and the delay between learning and test (retention and transfer performance tested immediately after instruction vs. one week later). In the immediate tests, there was either an auditory advantage (Experiment 1) or no difference (Experiment 2). However, when learning was tested after a delay, the combined processing of written text and animations led to better transfer performance than oral text and animations in both experiments. This suggests that written text presentation serves as a desirable difficulty that supports long-term learning.
•We investigate the modality effect in multimedia learning with immediate and delayed tests.•Crucially, the written modality is superior in the delayed test.•This suggests that the modality principle should be reversed for long-term learning.•Studies on multimedia learning should not be restricted to immediate tests.
Cognitive models of multimedia learning such as the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (Mayer 2009) or the Cognitive Load Theory (Sweller 1999) are based on different cognitive models of working ...memory (e.g., Baddeley 1986) and long-term memory. The current paper describes a working memory model that has recently gained popularity in basic research: the embedded-processes model (Cowan 1999). The embeddedprocesses model argues that working memory is not a separate cognitive system but is the activated part of long-term memory. A subset of activated long-term memory is assumed to be particularly highlighted and is termed the "focus of attention." This model thus integrates working memory, long-term memory, and (voluntary and involuntary) attention, and referring to it within multimedia models provides the opportunity to model all these learning-relevant cognitive processes and systems in a unitary way. We make suggestions for incorporating this model into theories of multimedia learning. On this basis, one cannot only reinterpret crucial phenomena in multimedia learning that are attributed to working memory (the split-attention effect, the modality effect, the coherence effect, the signaling effect, the redundancy effect, and the expertise reversal effect) but also derive new predictions.
Zusammenfassung
Testung im Sinne eines aktiven Abrufs von Informationen aus dem Langzeitgedächtnis gilt als eine der effektivsten Möglichkeiten, Wissen zu konsolidieren und so nachhaltiges Lernen zu ...befördern. Der Testungseffekt gilt als robust und wurde für unterschiedlichste Personengruppen und Lernmaterialien gezeigt. Allerdings wird immer wieder kontrovers diskutiert, inwieweit der Testungseffekt auch bei komplexen Lernmaterialien auftritt. Der vorliegende Beitrag reflektiert diese Debatte. Dabei wird zunächst die theoretische Position derer nachvollzogen, die den Testungseffekt vor allem auf wenig komplexe Materialien beschränkt sehen. Diese Position wird anschließend anhand einer Problematisierung des Komplexitätsbegriffs und seiner Operationalisierung kritisch diskutiert. Schließlich wird eine alternative Erklärung für das potenzielle Fehlen des Testungseffekts bei komplexen Materialien skizziert, nach der das Auftreten des Testungseffekts nur indirekt von der Komplexität des Lernstoffs bzw. Lernmaterials abhängt. Gemäß dieser Annahme ist die Voraussetzung für das Auftreten des Testungseffekts, dass der Lernstoff während des initialen Lernens (also der Phase, die der Testung vorausgeht) hinreichend gut verstanden wurde und entsprechend Informationen im Langzeitgedächtnis enkodiert wurden, deren Abruf dann in einer Testungsphase geübt werden kann. Dies kann bei komplexen Materialien eine längere initiale Lernphase oder andere Maßnahmen der Verständnissicherung erfordern als bei einfachen Materialien. Abschließend wird skizziert, wie diese Annahme experimentell überprüft werden kann und welche praktischen Implikationen sich daraus für eine möglichst lernwirksame Umsetzung von Abrufübung selbst mit komplexen Lernmaterialien ergeben.
The present work was conducted to re‐examine the findings of Agarwal et al. (Applied Cognitive Psychology, 22(7), 861–876, 2008), which showed that both closed‐book tests (with feedback) and ...open‐book tests increased learning outcomes after 1 week compared to simple re‐study of the same materials. However, contrary to often found benefits of retrieval practice—which should be more pronounced in closed‐book tests—both test conditions proved to be similarly effective. As retrieval practice benefits increase with retention interval, this pattern may change with a longer delay. Hence, we conducted a laboratory study and applied three within‐participant learning conditions (re‐study, open‐book test, closed‐book test with feedback) with a 2 weeks instead of 1 week delay between studying and the final test. Notably, our results mirrored the findings of Agarwal et al. (Applied Cognitive Psychology, 22(7), 861–876, 2008) showing that open‐book and closed‐book tests outperform re‐study but are similarly effective—even using a slightly changed procedure, new materials, a different sample, and a longer delay.
The present work was conducted to re‐examine the findings of Agarwal et al. (Applied Cognitive Psychology, 22(7), 861–876, 2008), which showed that both closed‐book tests (with feedback) and ...open‐book tests increased learning outcomes after 1 week compared to simple re‐study of the same materials. However, contrary to often found benefits of retrieval practice—which should be more pronounced in closed‐book tests—both test conditions proved to be similarly effective. As retrieval practice benefits increase with retention interval, this pattern may change with a longer delay. Hence, we conducted a laboratory study and applied three within‐participant learning conditions (re‐study, open‐book test, closed‐book test with feedback) with a 2 weeks instead of 1 week delay between studying and the final test. Notably, our results mirrored the findings of Agarwal et al. (Applied Cognitive Psychology, 22(7), 861–876, 2008) showing that open‐book and closed‐book tests outperform re‐study but are similarly effective—even using a slightly changed procedure, new materials, a different sample, and a longer delay.
Any mature field of research in psychology-such as short-term/working memory-is characterized by a wealth of empirical findings. It is currently unrealistic to expect a theory to explain them all; ...theorists must satisfice with explaining a subset of findings. The aim of the present article is to make the choice of that subset less arbitrary and idiosyncratic than is current practice. We propose criteria for identifying benchmark findings that every theory in a field should be able to explain: Benchmarks should be reproducible, generalize across materials and methodological variations, and be theoretically informative. We propose a set of benchmarks for theories and computational models of short-term and working memory. The benchmarks are described in as theory-neutral a way as possible, so that they can serve as empirical common ground for competing theoretical approaches. Benchmarks are rated on three levels according to their priority for explanation. Selection and ratings of the benchmarks is based on consensus among the authors, who jointly represent a broad range of theoretical perspectives on working memory, and they are supported by a survey among other experts on working memory. The article is accompanied by a web page providing an open forum for discussion and for submitting proposals for new benchmarks; and a repository for reference data sets for each benchmark.
Public Significance Statement
Working memory-the system for holding information in mind and working on it-is central for cognition. The authors identify a set of findings about working memory that are well established, general, and theoretically informative. These benchmark findings should be explained with high priority by theories of working memory. The set of benchmark findings will facilitate building theories and comparing competing theories, and thereby advance our understanding of human cognition.
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