The Origin of Exemplar Effects in Rule-Driven Categorization.

S. W. Allen and L. R. Brooks (1991) have shown that exemplar memory can affect categorization even when participants are provided with a classification rule. G. Regehr and L. R. Brooks (1993) argued that stimuli must be individuated for such effects to occur. In this study, the authors further analyze the conditions that yield exemplar effects in this rule application paradigm. The results of Experiments 1-3 show that interchangeable attributes, which are not part of the rule, influence categorization only when attention is explicitly drawn on them. Experiment 4 shows that exemplar effects can occur in an incidental learning condition, whether stimulus individuation is preserved or not. The authors conclude that the influence of exemplar learning in rule-driven categorization stems from the attributes specified in the rule or in the instructions, not from the stimulus gestalts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Meta-Analytic Review of Behavior Modeling Training.

A meta-analysis of 117 studies evaluated the effects of behavior modeling training (BMT) on 6 training outcomes, across characteristics of training design. BMT effects were largest for learning outcomes, smaller for job behavior, and smaller still for results outcomes. Although BMT effects on declarative knowledge decayed over time, training effects on skills and job behavior remained stable or even increased. Skill development was greatest when learning points were used and presented as rule codes and when training time was longest. Transfer was greatest when mixed (negative and positive) models were presented, when practice included trainee-generated scenarios, when trainees were instructed to set goals, when trainees' superiors were also trained, and when rewards and sanctions were instituted in trainees' work environments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

When training with a partner is inferior to training alone: The importance of dyad type and interaction quality.

Dyad training, where trainees learn in pairs but ultimately perform individually, has been shown to be an effective method for training some skills. The effectiveness of this approach, however, may be tied to the type of task to be trained and the quality of the interaction in the dyad. We report two studies on the effectiveness of dyad training and the role of metacognitive activity for learning a software program. In Study 1, participants completed training alone or with a partner. Performance was assessed individually immediately after training and again after a 1-week nonuse interval. Results of Study 1 suggested that learning retention is superior when people are trained individually. Study 2 examined performance for individuals, task-switching dyads, and interdependent dyads. Results also showed that performance for individuals was superior to dyads and that the type of dyad collaboration did not affect performance. However, partner-prompted metacognitive activity was helpful for interdependent dyads and harmful for task-switching dyads, suggesting that the quality of collaboration varies by dyad type. Our findings suggest that dyad training may not be effective for all types of tasks. Possible boundary conditions for effective dyad training are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A meta-analysis of self-regulated learning in work-related training and educational attainment: What we know and where we need to go.

Researchers have been applying their knowledge of goal-oriented behavior to the self-regulated learning domain for more than 30 years. This review examines the current state of research on self-regulated learning and gaps in the field's understanding of how adults regulate their learning of work-related knowledge and skills. Self-regulation theory was used as a conceptual lens for deriving a heuristic framework of 16 fundamental constructs that constitute self-regulated learning. Meta-analytic findings (k = 430, N = 90,380) support theoretical propositions that self-regulation constructs are interrelated—30% of the corrected correlations among constructs were .50 or greater. Goal level, persistence, effort, and self-efficacy were the self-regulation constructs with the strongest effects on learning. Together these constructs accounted for 17% of the variance in learning, after controlling for cognitive ability and pretraining knowledge. However, 4 self-regulatory processes—planning, monitoring, help seeking, and emotion control—did not exhibit significant relationships with learning. Thus, a parsimonious framework of the self-regulated learning domain is presented that focuses on a subset of self-regulatory processes that have both limited overlap with other core processes and meaningful effects on learning. Research is needed to advance the field's understanding of how adults regulate their learning in an increasingly complex and knowledge-centric work environment. Such investigations should capture the dynamic nature of self-regulated learning, address the role of self-regulation in informal learning, and investigate how trainees regulate their transfer of training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Helping skills training for undergraduates: Outcomes and prediction of outcomes.

The authors examined outcomes and predictors of outcomes for 85 undergraduates in 3 helping skills classes. After training, trainees used more exploration skills in helping sessions with classmates (as assessed by perceptions of helpees and helpers/trainees as well as behavioral counts of skills), were perceived by helpees as more empathic, talked less in sessions, conducted better sessions (from helpee and helper/trainee perspectives), and reported higher self-efficacy for using helping skills. In addition, trainees' confidence increased while learning exploration skills, dropped while learning insight skills, and then increased again while learning action skills. The authors were not able to predict outcome from the variables used (grade-point average, empathic concern and perspective taking, perfectionism). Suggestions for training and future research on training are included. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The impact of error training and individual differences on training outcomes: An attribute-treatment interaction perspective.

The authors examined the effectiveness of error training for trainees with different levels of cognitive ability, openness to experience, or conscientiousness. Participants (N=181) were randomly assigned to control, error-encouragement, or error-avoidance conditions and trained to perform a decision-making simulation. Declarative knowledge, task performance, and self-efficacy were measured posttraining. Findings suggest the effectiveness of error training is dependent on the cognitive ability or dispositional traits of trainees. High cognitive ability or more open individuals benefit more from error-encouragernent training than low cognitive ability or less open individuals. Conscientiousness has a negative effect on self-efficacy when trainees are encouraged to make errors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of technical difficulties on learning and attrition during online training.

Although online instruction has many potential benefits, technical difficulties are one drawback to the increased use of this medium. A repeated measures design was used to examine the effect that technical difficulties have on learning and attrition from voluntary online training. Adult learners (N = 530) were recruited online and volunteered to participate in a 4-hr training program on using computer spreadsheets. Technical difficulties were inserted in some of the training modules in the form of error messages. Using multilevel modeling, the results indicated that the presence of these technical difficulties impaired learning, such that test scores were lower in modules where trainees encountered technical difficulties than in modules where they did not encounter technical difficulties. Furthermore, the effect on learning was greater among trainees who eventually withdrew from the course than among trainees who completed the course. With regards to attrition, pretraining motivation provided a buffer against dropping out, especially when trainees encountered technical difficulties. Learning also predicted attrition from the subsequent module, such that attrition was higher among trainees with low test scores in the previous module. The current study disentangles some of the implications of technical difficulties and suggests that organizations should provide trainees with the technical support required to overcome technical difficulties in training. Furthermore, the findings contribute to our theoretical understanding of the implications of interruptions on performance in online training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

General and multicultural case conceptualization skills: A cross-sectional analysis of psychotherapy trainees.

The general and multicultural case conceptualization skills of 91 psychotherapy trainees were evaluated for complexity and expertness across 3 case scenarios. The cases varied in the extent to which culture was presented in the demographic information and presenting concerns. Whereas general case conceptualization skills were found to relate to clinical training, multicultural case conceptualization skills were found to relate to multicultural training. Across cases, advanced trainees demonstrated significantly greater complexity and expertness than beginners. Trainees consistently included more culturally relevant ideas when culture was explicitly stated in the case as a presenting problem, versus when culture was implied. Last, consistently significant differences in the case conceptualizations of White trainees and trainees of color were not found. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Design of a short-term training program in group facilitation skills.

Describes the program's 3 goals: having trainees develop as a group and examine their own group process, acquiring knowledge about issues in group dynamics, and learning group leadership skills. Feedback exercises to help trainees develop as a group and exercises that focus on conceptual issues in group dynamics are described briefly. The leadership skill, which is emphasized in training, is making interventions in an ongoing group. In a 4-stage process, trainees practice intervening in situations that successively approximate an actual group. A 3-dimensional model for viewing and evaluating interventions is also presented. The training program is intended for use with paraprofessionals or with prepracticum students in professional training programs. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Becoming psychotherapists: Experiences of novice trainees in a beginning graduate class.

The authors investigated the experiences related to becoming psychotherapists for 5 counseling psychology doctoral trainees in their first prepracticum course. Qualitative analyses of weekly journals indicated that trainees discussed challenges related to becoming psychotherapists (e.g., being self-critical, having troubling reactions to clients, learning to use helping skills), gains made during the semester related to becoming psychotherapists (e.g., using helping skills more effectively, becoming less self-critical, being able to connect with clients), as well as experiences in supervision and activities that helped them cope with their anxieties. Results are discussed in 5 broad areas: feelings about self in role of psychotherapist, awareness of reactions to clients, learning and using helping skills, reactions to supervision, and experiences that fostered growth. Implications for training and research are provided. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Category Representation for Classification and Feature Inference.

This research's purpose was to contrast the representations resulting from learning of the same categories by either classifying instances or inferring instance features. Prior inference learning research, particularly T. Yamauchi and A. B. Markman (1998), has suggested that feature inference learning fosters prototype representation, whereas classification learning encourages exemplar representation. Experiment 1 supported this hypothesis. Averaged and individual participant data from transfer after inference training were better fit by a prototype than by an exemplar model. However, Experiment 2, with contrasting inference learning conditions, indicated that the prototype model was mimicking a set of label-based bidirectional rules, as determined by the inference learning task demands in Experiment 1. Only the set of rules model accounted for all the inference learning conditions in these experiments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Exemplar effects in the context of a categorization rule: Featural and holistic influences.

Brooks and colleagues (S. W. Allen & L. R. Brooks, 1991; G. Regehr & L. R. Brooks, 1993) have shown that the classification of transfer stimuli is influenced by their similarity to training stimuli, even when a perfect classification rule is available. It is argued that the original effect obtained by Brooks and colleagues might have resulted from two potential confounding variables. Once these confounds were controlled, the current authors did not replicate Brooks and colleagues' results in Experiment 1. Exemplar effects appeared in Experiment 2 when transfer stimuli were perceptually more similar to training stimuli than in Experiment 1. In Experiment 3, the authors obtained exemplar effects with separated stimuli, a finding that was not predicted by Brooks and colleagues' model. The authors suggest that a close perceptual match between training and transfer stimuli is necessary for the effect to occur, for both integrated and separated stimuli. The nature of this perceptual match, holistic or featural, is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learning in an increasingly multitheoretical psychoanalytic culture: Impact on the development of analytic identity.

The purpose of this study is to examine the analytic trainee's increasingly complicated learning experiences, the environmental and contextual challenges candidates face, and the unique internal battles often engaged throughout the development of professional identity. The method aims to chart the internal and external learning processes of the trainee as they interact and remain distinct. Students of psychoanalysis face a culture of exploding theoretical growth, ongoing intense debate, and decreasing popularity within the community at large. Furthermore, trainees are immersed within specific training contexts that inevitably shape their advancing understanding of analytic theory and technique. Clinical vignettes, developmental theory, and an examination of conviction are offered to further understanding of the current stressors influencing the trainee's pursuit for analytic identity. It is suggested that analysts need to better understand the ongoing nature of developing an analytic identity within specific contexts, and become more aware of how they affect this process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Thirty categorization results in search of a model.

One category structure dominated in the shift toward exemplar-based theories of categorization. Given the theoretical burden on this category structure, the authors reanalyzed 30 of its uses over 20 years in 8 articles. The authors suggest 4 conclusions. (1) This category structure may encourage exemplar-memorization processes because of its poor structure, the learning difficulties it causes, and its small, memorizable exemplar sets. Its results may only generalize narrowly. (2) Exemplar models have an advantage in fitting these 30 data sets only because they reproduce a performance advantage for training items. Other models fit equally well if granted this capacity. (3) A simpler exemplar process than assumed by exemplar models suffices to explain these data sets. (4) An important qualitative result predicted by exemplar theory is not found overall and possibly should not even be expected. The authors conclude that the data produced by this category structure do not clearly support exemplar theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The utility of interdisciplinary training and service: Psychology training on a psychiatry consultation-liaison service.

Increasing numbers of psychologists work in medical settings because of the growing acceptance of a biopsychosocial approach to illness. Do training programs prepare sufficient numbers of graduates to function effectively in medical settings? The authors describe the process of adding an inpatient medical-surgical consultation-liaison (C-L) service to a psychology internship's training rotations, the learning objectives used, and issues in the preparation of trainees for work in medical settings. Psychology trainees added significant capacity to the C-L service. These data may help facilitate the development of C-L training experiences for other programs (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mentoring in research: A developmental approach.

Psychologists are frequently called on to mentor students, trainees, and early faculty in various aspects associated with research. Little formal training is provided to mentors on how to effectively and successfully mentor trainees at the various developmental levels of the training process. The authors apply a developmental focus to the mentoring relationship. The literature on research mentoring is reviewed, including a review of mentorship with women and ethnic minorities. The multiple roles and functions of mentorship for clinical researchers and research scientists also are explored. Finally, the authors provide a list of the top 6 skills and behaviors that enable successful mentoring. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Decision making and learning while taking sequential risks.

A sequential risk-taking paradigm used to identify real-world risk takers invokes both learning and decision processes. This article expands the paradigm to a larger class of tasks with different stochastic environments and different learning requirements. Generalizing a Bayesian sequential risk-taking model to the larger set of tasks clarifies the roles of learning and decision making during sequential risky choice. Results show that respondents adapt their learning processes and associated mental representations of the task to the stochastic environment. Furthermore, their Bayesian learning processes are shown to interfere with the paradigm's identification of risky drug use, whereas the decision-making process facilitates its diagnosticity. Theoretical implications of the results in terms of both understanding risk-taking behavior and improving risk-taking assessment methods are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Information-Integration Category Learning in Patients With Striatal Dysfunction.

Information-integration category learning was examined in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and in healthy control participants in 2 different conditions. In the linear condition, optimal categorization required a nonverbalizable linear integration of information from the 2 stimulus dimensions, whereas in the nonlinear condition, a nonlinear integration of information was required. Each participant completed 600 trials in each condition and was given corrective feedback following each trial. Results indicated that PD patients were not impaired in the linear condition across all trials, whereas the same patients were impaired in the nonlinear condition, but only later in training. The authors conducted model-based analyses to identify participants who used an information-integration approach, and a comparison of the accuracy rates of those individuals further revealed a specific deficit in information-integration category learning in patients with PD. These findings suggest that the striatum may be particularly involved in information-integration category learning when the rule is highly complex. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Criterion-based training for Rorschach scoring.

This study addresses the effects of structured training on the development of Rorschach coding skills of graduate trainees and broadens the empirical base regarding student acquisition of these coding skills. A course outline for criterion based training in Rorschach scoring is reviewed. A training approach will be described that emphasizes a progressive "vertical" or "response segment" sequence to scoring training. The effects of this structured training protocol for graduate students Rorschach coding of Exner Comprehensive System criterion-scored protocols resulted in good to excellent levels of interrater reliability. The implications of these findings for training in Rorschach coding skills are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Methods of skill selection in social skills training: A review.

32 social skills training studies utilizing a social learning or social-cognitive approach and published between 1980 and 1984 were reviewed with respect to methods used to select skills targeted for training. Operational definitions of social skills selection methods were used to classify studies on 2 dimensions—type of social validity and degree of individualization. A gap between recommended methods for selecting skills for inclusion in social skills training programs and actual research practices was found. Of the 32 studies reviewed, 18 reported no prior empirical evidence that the targeted skills were socially valid and 20 did not report an attempt to verify that trainees were deficient in the targeted skills prior to treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)