Effects of knowledge of ability test results on academic performance and test anxiety.

Administered the School and College Ability Test to 222 freshmen during the 2nd wk. of the spring semester. Ss were then assigned to groups receiving detailed, limited, or no knowledge of their test performance. Ss completed the Test Anxiety Scale during the final examination period and GPAs were collected at the end of the semester. It was hypothesized that Ss with detailed knowledge would obtain higher GPAs and have a lower level of test anxiety. No significant differences in GPAs were found among the groups. Test anxiety was higher for the detailed knowledge group (p     

Goal orientation and ability: Interactive effects on self-efficacy, performance, and knowledge.

This study examined the direct relationship of goal orientation--and the interaction of goal orientation and cognitive ability--with self-efficacy, performance, and knowledge in a learning context. The authors argue that whether a particular type of goal orientation is adaptive or not adaptive depends on individuals' cognitive ability. Consistent with previous research, learning orientation was positively related to self-efficacy, performance, and knowledge, whereas performance orientation was negatively related to performance only. The interactions between goal orientation and ability also supported several hypotheses. As expected, learning orientation was generally adaptive for high-ability individuals but had no effect for low-ability individuals. In contrast, the effects of performance orientation were contingent on both individuals' level of cognitive ability and the outcome examined. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Category learning with minimal prior knowledge.

In 6 experiments, the authors examined the use of prior knowledge in category learning. Previous studies of the effects of knowledge on category learning have used categories in which knowledge was related to all of the category's features. However, people's knowledge of real-world categories often consists of many "rote" features that are not related to their prior knowledge. Five experiments found that even minimal prior knowledge (1 knowledge-relevant feature and 5 rote features per exemplar) can facilitate category learning. Posttests revealed that although the knowledge aided learning, subjects also acquired the rote features that were not related to knowledge, contradicting predictions of an attentional explanation of the knowledge effect. The results of Experiment 6 suggested that subjects attempt to link even rote features to their knowledge. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does prior knowledge of the compensation rule increase susceptibility to conservation training?

Viewed an earlier experiment as demonstrating a general relationship between prior understanding of the compensation rule and children's tendency to benefit from conservation training. However, the finding on which this conclusion was based, a correlation between pretraining compensation and posttraining conservation, may have resulted from (a) a correlation between these 2 variables and a 3rd variable (pretraining conservation), and/or (b) the fact that the training procedure focused on the compensation rule. In an experiment using 118 White middle-class kindergartners, a different procedure was used, and the observed relationship between compensation and conservation was about zero. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use of elaborative interrogation to help students acquire information consistent with prior knowledge and information inconsistent with prior knowledge.

32 factual statements were processed by 140 6th and 7th graders. Half of the statements were consistent with the Ss' prior knowledge, whereas the remaining facts were inconsistent with the Ss' prior knowledge. Half of the Ss were instructed to read the sentences for understanding (reading controls). The remaining Ss were instructed to use their prior knowledge to answer why each fact was true (elaborative interrogation). Two tests of recall (free and cued) and 2 tests of recognition (immediate and 14-day) followed. In Exp 2, Ss also completed 75-day and 180-day recognition tasks. Across all memory measures, elaborative-interrogation Ss performed significantly better than did reading controls. In general, the quality of the elaborative-interrogation study responses did not affect learning. All Ss recognized more prior-knowledge-consistent facts than prior-knowledge-inconsistent facts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impact of job experience and ability on job knowledge, work sample performance, and supervisory ratings of job performance.

Based on data from 4 independent studies reported by R. Vineberg and E. N. Taylor (1972) with a total sample size of 1,474, path analysis was used to examine the causal impact of job experience on job knowledge, performance capability as measured by job sample tests, and supervisory ratings of job performance. Findings support the conclusion that (1) when mean job experience is 2–3 yrs, there is substantial variance in job experience and (2) when the jobs are of an intermediate complexity level, job experience has a substantial direct impact on job knowledge and a smaller direct impact on performance capabilities as assessed by job sample measures. Job experience also has a substantial indirect effect on work sample performance through its effect on job knowledge, which, in turn, was found to be the strongest determinant of work sample performance. The pattern and magnitude of causal effects of general mental ability were similar to those of job experience. The effect of job knowledge on supervisory ratings was several times stronger than the effect of job sample performance, confirming the findings of J. E. Hunter (1983). When job experience was held constant, the direct impact of ability on the acquisition of job knowledge increased substantially, and this, in turn, increased the indirect effect of ability on job sample performance. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relations among conceptual knowledge, procedural knowledge, and procedural flexibility in two samples differing in prior knowledge.

Competence in many domains rests on children developing conceptual and procedural knowledge, as well as procedural flexibility. However, research on the developmental relations between these different types of knowledge has yielded unclear results, in part because little attention has been paid to the validity of the measures or to the effects of prior knowledge on the relations. To overcome these problems, we modeled the three constructs in the domain of equation solving as latent factors and tested (a) whether the predictive relations between conceptual and procedural knowledge were bidirectional, (b) whether these interrelations were moderated by prior knowledge, and (c) how both constructs contributed to procedural flexibility. We analyzed data from 2 measurement points each from two samples (Ns = 228 and 304) of middle school students who differed in prior knowledge. Conceptual and procedural knowledge had stable bidirectional relations that were not moderated by prior knowledge. Both kinds of knowledge contributed independently to procedural flexibility. The results demonstrate how changes in complex knowledge structures contribute to competence development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intellectual training research in aging: Modification of performance on the fluid ability of figural relations.

Examined the effectiveness of cognitive training on 58 older adults' (mean age 69.8 yrs) performance on the fluid ability of figural relations. Posttraining performance of Ss was assessed on a battery of fluid and crystallized ability measures. A pattern of differential transfer was found with greater training effects to near fluid transfer measures (figural relations). This pattern of training effects was maintained across 3 posttest occasions spanning a 6-mo period. Significant practice (retest) effects were also obtained for both training and control groups. Retest effects, however, did not follow the pattern of differential training transfer. Findings suggest the continued modifiability of intellectual performance through cognitive intervention across the adult life span. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality and ability factors in sales performance.

A variety of personality and ability tests were utilized in a study devised to isolate effective predictors of sales success and to study the various factors in sales performance. The Ss were 65 dealer salesmen employed by a mojr petroleum company. Objective criterion measures were developed using sales figures covering a 4-year period. After cross-validation 2 tests emerged as reliable predictors. The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Arithmetic subtest yielded correlations with criterion measures in the low .30s. The Tomkins-Horn Picture Arrangement Test yielded correlations in the high .50s. On the latter test measures of dependence, sociophilia, self-confidence, and happiness were found in association with successful sales performances; measures of low aggression, sociophobia, and strong superego were found in association with poor performance. From Psyc Abstracts 36:05:5LD06M. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Units of knowledge in music performance.

The units of knowledge that form cognitive plans for music performance were examined in production errors. In Exp 1, pianists performed multivoice homophonic music (containing strong across-voice associations) and polyphonic music (containing strong within-voice associations). Pitch errors reflected more chordal (across-voice) units in homophonic performances and more single-note units in polyphonic performances. Error instructions were harmonically and diatonically related to their intended pitches more often than chance, which demonstrates retrieval-based influences on planning. In Exp 2, pianists conceptualized 1 of several voices as melody. Both the melody and the voice controlled by outer right-hand fingers (a common location of melody) contained fewer errors, which implies that there are conceptual, retrieval-based, and articulatory influences on units of knowledge that contribute to planning music performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpretation training influences memory for prior interpretations.

Anxiety is associated with memory biases when the initial interpretation of the event is taken into account. This experiment examined whether modification of interpretive bias retroactively affects memory for prior events and their initial interpretation. Before training, participants imagined themselves in emotionally ambiguous scenarios to which they provided endings that often revealed their interpretations. Then they were trained to resolve the ambiguity in other situations in a consistently positive (n = 37) or negative way (n = 38) before they tried to recall the initial scenarios and endings. Results indicated that memory for the endings was imbued with the emotional tone of the training, whereas memory for the scenarios was unaffected. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of mobilizing prior knowledge on learning from text.

68 5th graders studied a 125-word passage consisting of 18 statements about a fictional fox. Afterwards, Ss tried to reproduce the text and, 1 wk later, took a multiple-choice test. Prior to reading, half the Ss mobilized relevant preexisting knowledge. Results indicate that mobilizing significantly facilitated retention of information inconsistent with prior knowledge but did not affect retention of congruous information. A topically organized passage was not better remembered than a topically disorganized one. Results are discussed with reference to assimilation encoding theory and the failure of students to relate discourse to prior knowledge. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On learning complex procedural knowledge.

P. Lewicki et al (see record 1988-03338-001) demonstrated learning without awareness in a visual search task. Rules determined target location on every seventh trial on the basis of target locations in the preceding six trials. Learning was demonstrated by negative transfer effects when the rules were changed. When questioned afterwards, the subjects could not describe the rules and denied awareness of them. This experiment was designed to replicate that of Lewicki et al and to test several hypotheses about this apparent learning without awareness. Transfer conditions were included to determine whether rule learning was primarily perceptual or motor. The present assessment of awareness was based on an objective definition of awareness, rather than a subjective definition as in Lewicki et al's study. Their effect was replicated, and the transfer conditions revealed that learning relied on perceptual aspects of the task. The objective measure of awareness provided further evidence that subjects were unaware of the rules. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Retaking ability tests in a selection setting: Implications for practice effects, training performance, and turnover.

This field study investigated the effect of retaking identical selection tests on subsequent test scores of 4,726 candidates for law enforcement positions. For both cognitive ability and oral communication ability selection tests, candidates produced significant score increases between the 1st and 2nd and the 2nd and 3rd test administrations. Furthermore, the repeat testing relationships with posthire training performance and turnover were examined in a sample of 1,515 candidates eventually selected into the organization. As predicted from persistence and continuance commitment rationales, the number of tests necessary to gain entry into the organization was positively associated with training performance and negatively associated with turnover probability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Unconscious acquisition of complex procedural knowledge.

In two experiments, subjects were exposed for 12 hr to a sequence of frames containing a target, and their task was to search for the target in each frame. The sequence was divided into logical blocks of seven trials each. Locations of the target in the seventh trial of each block were predictable on the basis of the specific sequences of target locations in four out of the previous six trials. Pilot studies and extensive postexperimental interviews indicated that none of the subjects noticed anything even close to the real nature of the manipulation (i.e., the pattern). However, the predicted patterns of latency of their responses to the critical trials indicate that they had, in fact, acquired some intuitive (unconscious) knowledge about how the pattern of prior trials was related to the critical trial. The phenomenon is discussed as a ubiquitous unconscious process involved in the development of both elementary and high-level cognitive skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Long-term effects of fluid ability training in old-old age.

This study examined the effects of multiple phases of cognitive training on older adults' intellectual performance over a 7-year period as Ss advanced from young-old to old-old age. The study involved a pretest–posttest/no-treatment control-group design. At each of 3 training phases, conducted in 1979, 1981, and 1986, Ss received 5 training sessions on the fluid ability of figural relations. Participants (N?=?38) had a mean age of 69 yrs (range?=?63–80) at the onset of the study. Results showed that (1) significant training effects occurred at each of the 3 study phases, when Ss had mean ages of 69, 71, and 77 yrs; (2) the largest training gains were made in the 1st training phase; and (3) as a function of multiple phases of training, Ss in their 70s and early 80s performed significantly above their baseline level of figural relations performance 7 yrs previously. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Headings as memory facilitators: The importance of prior knowledge.

94 college student subjects read a 4,840-word passage on organization in memory with headings either present or absent. Those subjects who were enrolled in a college course on human memory were defined as the high-preexisting-knowledge subjects, and those subjects who had never been enrolled in such a course were defined as the low-preexisting-knowledge subjects. An analysis of the scores on the multiple-choice retention test revealed that the only significant facilitative effect of the headings was in the answering of main-idea retention test questions by subjects with high-preexisting knowledge about the topic. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of prior knowledge on good and poor readers' memory of text.

We investigated how prior knowledge influences the amount of short-term nonverbal and verbal memory and long-term retention in students of high and low ability in reading comprehension. Sixty-four junior high students were divided into four equal-sized groups on the basis of preassessed reading ability (high and low) and preassessed amount of existing prior knowledge about baseball (high and low). Each subject silently read an account of a half inning of a baseball game. After reading, each subject recalled the account nonverbally by moving figures and verbally by retelling the story. After an interpolated task, they summarized the game and sorted passage sentences for idea importance. There was a significant main effect for prior knowledge on all measures. No interactions between prior knowledge and ability were found. These results delineate the powerful effect of prior knowledge. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prediction of scuba training performance.

296 trainees of the US Navy School for Divers Second Class completed a demographic questionnaire, a health inventory, and an attitude survey. Significant multiple correlations in a validation sample and in a cross-validation sample were obtained between these variables and a pass-fail performance criterion. Scales dealing with mental health and training apprehension were the most significant predictors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

MMPI scores of counselors on alcoholism prior to and after training.

Compared the MMPI scores of male alcoholism counselors before and after a 9-mo counselor training program. All Ss were recovered alcoholics or drug addicts. Few significant standard score differences were found, although raw score data reveal considerable shifting in individual scores. Additional data indicate that MMPI Pd and Ma scores measure rather enduring traits of addictive personalities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)