Why children learn color and size words so differently: Evidence from adults' learning of artificial terms.

An adult simulation study examined why children's learning of color and size terms follow different developmental patterns, one in which word comprehension precedes success in nonlinguistic matching tasks versus one in which matching precedes word comprehension. In 4 experiments, adults learned artificial labels for values on novel dimensions. Training mimicked that characteristic for children learning either color words or size words. The results suggest that the learning trajectories arise from the different frames in which different dimensions are trained: Using a comparison (size-like) training regimen helps learners pick out the relevant dimension, and using a categorization (color-like) training regimen helps the learner correctly comprehend and produce dimension terms. The results indicate that the training regimen, not the meanings of the terms or the specific dimensions, determines the pattern of learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Training monitoring skills improves older adults' self-paced associative learning.

We investigated a memory-enhancement program that involved teaching older adults to regulate study through self-testing. A regulation group was taught standard strategies along with self-testing techniques for identifying less well-learned items that could benefit from extra study. This group was compared with a strategy-control group, which was taught only strategies, and with a waiting-list control group. Greater training gains were shown for the regulation group (effect size, d = 0.72) than for the strategy-control (d = 0.28) and waiting-list control (d = 0.03) groups, indicating that training a monitoring skill--self-testing--can improve older adults' learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Making a silk purse out of two sow's ears: Young children's use of comparison in category learning.

Comparison mechanisms have been implicated in the development of abstract, relational thought, including object categorization. D. Gentner and L. L. Namy (1999) found that comparing 2 perceptually similar category members yielded taxonomic categorization, whereas viewing a single member of the target category elicited shallower perceptual responding. The present experiments tested 2 predictions that follow from Gentner and Namy's (1999) model: (a) Comparison facilitates categorization only when the targets to be compared share relational commonalities, and (b) providing common labels for targets invites comparison, whereas providing conflicting labels deters it. Four-yr-olds participated in a forced-choice task. They viewed 2 perceptually similar target objects and were asked to "find another one." Results suggest an important role for comparison in lexical and conceptual development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pattern and process in the evolution of learning.

A century after E. L. Thomdike's (1898) dissertation on the comparative psychology of learning, the field seems ready for a reassessment of its metatheoretical foundations. The stability of learning phenotypes across species is shown to be similar to that of other biological characters, both genotypic (e.g., Hox genes) and phenotypic (e.g., vertebrate brain structure). Moreover, an analysis of some current lines of comparative research indicates that researchers use similar strategies when approaching problems from either an ecological view (emphasizing adaptive significance) or a general-process view (emphasizing commonality across species). An integration of learning and evolution requires the development of criteria for recognizing and studying the divergence, homology, and homoplasy of learning mechanisms, much as it is done in other branches of biological research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Computerized instruction and the learning process: Erratum.

Reports an error in the original article by Richard C. Atkinson (American Psychologist, 1968[Apr]). The last sentence of the first column on page 231 should read as follows: (b) Items for which the correct answer is an adjective are more difficult to comprehend than items in which the correct answer is a noun or verb; similarly, verbs are more difficult than nouns. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 2005-10451-001). Discusses developments in the field of computer assisted instruction (CAI), focusing on the Stanford Project, initiated in 1964 under a grant from the Office of Education to develop and implement a CAI program in initial reading and mathematics. A progress report deals with the reading program with particular reference to the past school year, when for the first time a sizable group of students received a major portion of their daily reading instruction under computer control. The first year's operation must be considered essentially as an extended debugging of both the computer system and the curriculum materials. Nevertheless, some interesting comments can be made on the basis of this experience regarding both the feasibility of CAI and the impact of such instruction on the overall learning process. Parts of the project addressed include the CAI reading curriculum, problems in implementing the curriculum, and some results from the first year of operation with first grade students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ability mindsets influence the quality of mothers' involvement in children's learning: An experimental investigation.

This research examined the role of mothers' mindsets about the malleability of children's ability in the quality of their involvement in children's learning. Mothers (N = 79) of early elementary school children (mean age = 7.65 years) were induced to hold either an entity mindset, in which children's ability is seen as unchangeable, or an incremental mindset, in which children's ability is seen as changeable. Mothers and children were then observed as they worked on a set of challenging problems for 15 min. Unconstructive involvement (i.e., performance-oriented teaching, control, and negative affect) was more frequent among mothers induced to hold an entity mindset than those induced to hold an incremental mindset. Mothers with an entity (vs. incremental) mindset also responded to children's helplessness more unconstructively. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Computerized instruction and the learning process.

Discusses developments in the field of computer assisted instruction (CAI), focusing on the Stanford Project, initiated in 1964 under a grant from the Office of Education to develop and implement a CAI program in initial reading and mathematics. A progress report deals with the reading program with particular reference to the past school year, when for the first time a sizable group of students received a major portion of their daily reading instruction under computer control. The first year's operation must be considered essentially as an extended debugging of both the computer system and the curriculum materials. Nevertheless, some interesting comments can be made on the basis of this experience regarding both the feasibility of CAI and the impact of such instruction on the overall learning process. Parts of the project addressed include the CAI reading curriculum, problems in implementing the curriculum, and some results from the first year of operation with first grade students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in math performance: The role of children's approach to schoolwork.

This research examined whether the tendency for girls to outperform boys in the classroom is due to differences in how girls and boys approach schoolwork. In 5th grade and then again in 7th grade, children (N=518) reported on how they approach schoolwork (i.e., achievement goals and classroom behavior), their learning strategies, and their self-efficacy in math; math grades and achievement test scores were also collected. Girls were more likely than boys to hold mastery over performance goals and to refrain from disruptive classroom behavior, which predicted girls' greater effortful learning over time. The sex difference in learning strategies accounted for girls' edge over boys in terms of grades. Girls did not do better on achievement tests, possibly because self-efficacy, for which there was also no sex difference, was the central predictor of performance on achievement tests. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

From recurrent choice to skill learning: A reinforcement-learning model.

The authors propose a reinforcement-learning mechanism as a model for recurrent choice and extend it to account for skill learning. The model was inspired by recent research in neurophysiological studies of the basal ganglia and provides an integrated explanation of recurrent choice behavior and skill learning. The behavior includes effects of differential probabilities, magnitudes, variabilities, and delay of reinforcement. The model can also produce the violation of independence, preference reversals, and the goal gradient of reinforcement in maze learning. An experiment was conducted to study learning of action sequences in a multistep task. The fit of the model to the data demonstrated its ability to account for complex skill learning. The advantages of incorporating the mechanism into a larger cognitive architecture are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Metacognitive control and strategy selection: Deciding to practice retrieval during learning.

Retrieval practice is a potent technique for enhancing learning, but how often do students practice retrieval when they regulate their own learning? In 4 experiments the subjects learned foreign-language items across multiple study and test periods. When items were assigned to be repeatedly tested, repeatedly studied, or removed after they were recalled, repeated retrieval produced powerful effects on learning and retention. However, when subjects were given control over their own learning and could choose to test, study, or remove items, many subjects chose to remove items rather than practice retrieval, leading to poor retention. In addition, when tests were inserted in the learning phase, attempting retrieval improved learning by enhancing subsequent encoding during study. But when students were given control over their learning they did not attempt retrieval as early or as often as they should to promote the best learning. The experiments identify a compelling metacognitive illusion that occurs during self-regulated learning: Once students can recall an item they tend to believe they have “learned” it. This leads students to terminate practice rather than practice retrieval, a strategy choice that ultimately results in poor retention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Making children gesture brings out implicit knowledge and leads to learning.

Speakers routinely gesture with their hands when they talk, and those gestures often convey information not found anywhere in their speech. This information is typically not consciously accessible, yet it provides an early sign that the speaker is ready to learn a particular task (S. Goldin-Meadow, 2003). In this sense, the unwitting gestures that speakers produce reveal their implicit knowledge. But what if a learner was forced to gesture? Would those elicited gestures also reveal implicit knowledge and, in so doing, enhance learning? To address these questions, the authors told children to gesture while explaining their solutions to novel math problems and examined the effect of this manipulation on the expression of implicit knowledge in gesture and on learning. The authors found that, when told to gesture, children who were unable to solve the math problems often added new and correct problem-solving strategies, expressed only in gesture, to their repertoires. The authors also found that when these children were given instruction on the math problems later, they were more likely to succeed on the problems than children told not to gesture. Telling children to gesture thus encourages them to convey previously unexpressed, implicit ideas, which, in turn, makes them receptive to instruction that leads to learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Applying the science of learning: Evidence-based principles for the design of multimedia instruction.

During the last 100 years, a major accomplishment of psychology has been the development of a science of learning aimed at understanding how people learn. In attempting to apply the science of learning, a central challenge of psychology and education is the development of a science of instruction aimed at understanding how to present material in ways that help people learn. The author provides an overview of how the design of multimedia instruction can be informed by the science of learning and the science of instruction, which yields 10 principles of multimedia instructional design that are grounded in theory and based on evidence. Overall, the relationship between the science of learning and the science of instruction is reciprocal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Elementary School Children's Ability to Distinguish Hypothetical Beliefs From Statements of Preference.

The authors examined students' understanding of hypotheses as beliefs that can be empirically verified. Thirty second graders and 30 sixth graders considered cases of disagreement about foods and colors that reflected either alternative hypotheses or different preferences. Their task was to decide whether the validity of each expressed belief could be determined and to justify their decision. Younger students considered both hypotheses and preferences as empirically verifiable, whereas older students were better able to recognize in some cases that preferences are legitimately variable. This lack of distinction may reflect limited metaconceptual ability or a deterministic epistemological view, both of which might interfere with the understanding of the hypothesis-testing process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Penetrating the geometric module: Catalyzing children's use of landmarks.

We used a reference memory paradigm to examine whether 4- and 5-year-old children could be trained to use landmark features to relocate targets after disorientation. In Experiment 1, half of the children were pretrained in a small equilateral triangle-shaped room. Each of the three walls was a different color, and the target was always in the middle of the yellow wall. These children and a control group were tested in a small rectangular room with three white walls and one yellow wall; the target was placed in one of the corners. Children with pretraining responded more frequently to the correct corner than to the diagonally congruent corner on their first set of four trials in the rectangular room, whereas the children in the control group used geometric cues exclusively. Three additional groups of children (Experiment 2) showed that the use of landmark features--both salient and subtle--can be learned in as few as four practice trials in a small rectangular room. The data support the view that both geometry and landmark features are adaptively combined in the same representation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Helping students soar to success on computers: An investigation of the SOAR study method for computer-based learning.

This study used self-report and observation techniques to investigate how students study computer-based materials. In addition, it examined if a study method called SOAR can facilitate computer-based learning. SOAR is an acronym that stands for the method's 4 theoretically driven and empirically supported components: select (S), organize (O), associate (A), and regulate (R). There were 2 experiments. In Experiment 1, 114 undergraduates completed a questionnaire about how they study computer-based materials. Students reported using more ineffective study strategies than effective SOAR strategies. In Experiment 2, 108 different undergraduates read an online text about wildcats and then created materials that reflected their preferred study method, the full SOAR method, or parts of the SOAR method. Specifically, the control group created their preferred study notes; the S group created a complete set of linear notes; the SO group created graphically organized matrix notes; the SOA group created a matrix and associations; and the SOAR group created a matrix, associations, and practice questions that aid self-regulation. The SOAR materials were also created in line with four theoretical principles for technology design (Mayer, 2009). Students studied their materials in preparation for fact and relationship tests. Results from both tests showed that those using the full SOAR method outscored the control group and most other groups using parts of the SOAR method. In addition, observations of students' preferred study methods confirmed the Experiment 1 self-reports that unaided students use ineffective study strategies. Study limitations, suggestions for future research, and instructional implications are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A study of anxiety and learning in children.

"A general anxiety scale and a test anxiety scale were administered to 747 grade school children. Out of this group, 24 HA-LA pairs of subjects were given 2 modified paired-associate learning tasks, separated by neutral, failure, and success instructions. The results showed no differences due to instructions, but LA Ss performed better than HA Ss in the second task. Alternative explanations for the lack of differences on the first task were offered. The study was interpreted as positive evidence for the validity of the anxiety scales." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

New directions in children's mental health policy: Psychology's role.

The policies that influence the practice of children's mental health affect psychologists across the nation. Major recent events have brought this topic to the attention of national policymakers at the highest level and have created opportunities for psychologists to present information regarding recent scientific advances in the treatment of childhood disorders and to be involved in the development of solutions to address the needs of our nation's children. This article reviews these recent events, summarizes current knowledge in the field, and addresses specific issues and critical gaps in current national policies on children's mental health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A statistical learning perspective on children's learning about graphotactic and morphological regularities in spelling.

We put forward our view on how children learn to spell through a review of recent research on English and French children's spelling development. We examine children's learning of graphotactic conventions (legal combinations of letters), followed by a more in-depth treatment of how children learn the place of morphemes (smallest units of meaning in language) in spelling. We contrast findings from recent research with those of traditional models that suggest that children use both graphotactic and morphological information relatively late in their spelling careers and that the end-point of development, particularly for morphological conventions, lies in rule-based performance. Instead, it seems that quite young children's spellings are influenced by both graphotactic and morphological patterns and that writers do not rely (at least exclusively) on rules. We consider the possibility that children might use statistical learning to gain knowledge of both graphotactic and morphological features of the orthography. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social class and the nature of the incentive in discrimination learning.

"… it… [was] predicted that an interaction exists between social class and the nature of the incentive. Supecifically, it was believed that a nonmaterial incentive is as effective as a material incentive for middle-class Ss, whereas, for lower-class Ss a material incentive is more effective than a nonmaterial one." This belief was tested and results indicate that middle-class "children learn more quickly when given a nonmaterial incentive than when given a material incentive, while the reverse [was] true of lower-class children." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)