Recall of Descriptive Information: The Roles of Presentation Format, Annotation Strategy, and Individual Differences

The benefits of using a comprehensive annotation strategy (employing underlining/circling, making connections, asking questions, and making comments) with knowledge maps (spatial/verbal arrays) and traditional, linear text to improve free recall scores for learners with individual differences in vocabulary and comprehension ability were examined. Types and frequencies of annotations generated were also examined for each stimulus format condition. Multiple regression analyses indicate that the frequency of use of two component annotation strategies, asking questions and making connections, were significant predictors of recall scores, while frequency of underlining/circling and generating elaborations failed to predict recall scores. Text users generated more underlining/circling, while knowledge map users generated more connections between ideas, suggesting that knowledge maps may facilitate the application of more productive annotation strategies. Also examined were the interrelationships between vocabulary ability, comprehension ability, and free recall scores. Copyright 1997Academic Press     

Spatial-Semantic Display Processing: The Role of Spatial Structure on Recall

The purpose of the present study was to test a model of spatial-semantic display processing by comparing the aided and unaided recall of information presented in a node-link format (knowledge map) to the aided and unaided recall of information presented in a text format. Structural icons of the knowledge map and text with the verbiage removed were used to aid retrieval in some conditions. Participants were randomly assigned to one of eight groups formed by the complete crossing of three factors: knowledge map versus text, structural icon at recall versus no structural icon at recall, and immediate versus delayed recall. Knowledge map groups outperformed text groups on essay tests and they more accurately remembered where information was located within the materials. Both knowledge map and text icon-aided recall groups had significantly better performance than the no icon, unaided recall groups (particularly on main ideas).     

Determinants of young children's search strategies in a large-scale environment.

26 3–6 yr olds searched for an object after traveling a route along which the object was used and later discovered missing (critical events). Ss then recalled the order of locations along the traveled route (sequence recall) and the locations for critical events (event recall); they also drew a map of the search environment. The correlation between event recall and search scores was significant only for Ss with good sequence recall. Correlations between sequence recall and search scores were higher for Ss who placed locations on the route in drawing maps. It is concluded that the acquisition of route knowledge in the development of spatial representation determined the likelihood that inferences would be made. When inferences were made, the accuracy of memories for sequences and events further determined the accuracy of the inferred critical search area. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory for Star Trek : The role of prior knowledge in recognition revisited.

Prior studies have found robust knowledge effects on recall of text ideas but have seldom found comparable effects on recognition. This inconsistency was examined in light of recent research on the component processes that underlie recognition memory. Using the remember/know paradigm, the authors found that experts made more remember judgments than novices, but only in response to text ideas relevant to their domain of expertise. Using the process-dissociation procedure, the authors found knowledge effects on recollection estimates, but not on familiarity estimates. The authors contend that knowledge effects have been difficult to detect in recognition because knowledge primarily affects recollection, whereas familiarity gives rise to good performance even among novices. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Enhancing the recall of text: Knowledge mapping training promotes implicit transfer.

Spatial–semantic displays, such as knowledge maps, are becoming more prevalent in educational settings (D. R. Dansereau & D. Newbern, 1997). In particular, knowledge maps have been found to be effective communication aids and study devices. Although explicit use of these displays can be effective, it has not been clear whether or not experience with these displays improves the manner in which people interact with other information formats. These experiments were designed to investigate whether mapping training helped people learn from text when not explicitly using a mapping strategy. In Experiment 1, college students trained with knowledge maps recalled more macro-level ideas from two text passages compared with participants who were not given the training. In Experiment 2, training facilitated recall of both macro- and micro-level ideas. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory for Narrative and Expository Text: Independent Influences of Semantic Associations and Text Organization.

The author examined memory for text in terms of the independent influences of semantic knowledge associations and text organization. Semantic associations were operationalized as the semantic relatedness between individual text concepts and the text as a whole and assessed with latent semantic analysis. The author assessed text organization by simulating comprehension with the construction integration model. Text organization consistently accounted for unique variance in recall. Semantic associations strongly predicted expository recall and predicted narrative recall significantly but to a lesser extent, even when the familiarity of the narrative content was manipulated. Results suggest that prior semantic associations and novel associations in the text structure influence memory independently, and that these influences can be affected by text genre. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Keyword and context instruction of new vocabulary meanings: Effects on text comprehension and memory.

New vocabulary was taught by one of three methods: keyword, semantic context, and no-strategy control. The semantic context method involved presenting subjects verbal contexts from which they might infer the meanings of the words, followed by explicit provision of the definitions. After a vocabulary definition acquisition phase, subjects in all conditions read a text in which some of the newly acquired vocabulary was embedded, with half of the texts providing richer contextual clues to the meaning of the target items (embellished text) than the other texts (unembellished text). Reading times did not differ as a function of acquisition condition, nor did one acquisition condition consistently elicit better performance than the others across text comprehension/memory measures. The one significant difference in comprehension favored the keyword method. The usual superiority of the keyword method for recall of definitions given vocabulary items was also replicated. Despite theoretically motivated concerns that keyword-method acquisition of definitions might inhibit comprehension of vocabulary in discourse relative to a semantic context method, none of the reaction time (RT) or performance analyses reported here supported those hypotheses. A subsidiary finding was that test text embellishments increased comprehension (as indexed by recall measures), a result suggesting that certain kinds of contextual support can enhance comprehension of "new" vocabulary. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cooperative procedural learning: Effects of prompting and pre- versus distributed planning activities.

The effects of cooperative learning strategy manipulations on the enactment and recall of a medical procedure were examined. Ninety-eight participants completed the two-session experiment. Four experimental conditions were used: (a) no-strategy individuals; (b) prompting-only dyads, who did not plan prior to practice; (c) distributed-planning-with-prompting dyads, who intermittently planned how to perform prior to practice; and (d) preplanning-with-prompting dyads, who planned the entire procedure prior to practice. During testing, participants performed and recalled the procedure. Test order was counterbalanced. Distributed planners performed best on a variety of measures, including performance and oral communication of the procedure and attitudes toward their partners. No between-groups differences were found for written recall. As expected, written recall of the procedure was enhanced by prior performance and performance was enhanced by prior recall. Theoretical and applied implications of the results are delineated and discussed in terms of prevalent theories of skill acquisition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Signaling, notetaking, and field independence–dependence in text comprehension and recall.

Experiment 1 involved having undergraduates take or not take notes while listening to two passages with or without signals (structural cues). When notetaking on signaled text, recall was maximized; on nonsignaled text, recall was minimized. Because notetakers appeared to rely on signals in processing text, it seemed that notetaking produced a structure-search process. Regression analyses suggested that notetaking in the presence of signals enhanced recall of field-dependent (FDs) but not field-independent learners (FIs). Experiment 2 directly examined this issue in a reading context. Increased high-level recall across passages of the same overall structure (a transfer of structure effect) was found for FIs only in the non-notetaking conditions and for the FDs only in the notetaking conditions. Thus, FIs seemed to spontaneously use a tacit structure strategy when left to their own devices and FDs appeared to immediately display powerful structuring skills when induced to do so via notetaking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learner-generated organizational aids: Effects on learning from text.

Compared the effects on learning from text of 4 contexts (topic sentences, headings, related sentences, and unrelated sentences) when they were generated by readers or provided in text. 133 female undergraduates read a 522-word passage based on 15 related topics within a conceptual hierarchy on minerals, and performance under each of the treatments was examined on a free recall test, matching test, and test for knowledge of passage structure. The contexts had differential effects on knowledge of passage structure only when they were generated; readers who generated topic sentences recalled more than all other learners. The provided contexts had no effect on knowledge of passage structure but increased recall of subordinate information over generated contexts. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental differences in study behavior.

This study is a developmental examination of strategy instruction and the context that promotes when and how strategy instruction is maximized. The 4 experimental manipulations included comparisons between 2 strategy conditions, familiar and unfamiliar text, dyad versus individual study, and 4 age groups (M?=?10.5, 14.7, 19.9, and 21.9 yrs). The 486 students from Grades 5–6, and 9–10 and 1st- and 4th-yr university were assigned randomly to 1 strategy condition (self-study or elaborative interrogation) and 1 study context (dyad or individual). Participants studied and recalled 60 facts about familiar and unfamiliar animals. Explicit instruction in elaborative interrogation promoted memory performance, especially in the younger population. Studying in dyads enhanced memory and quality of study across age. To enhance text learning performance, students should be given explicit strategy instruction and should study interactively with their peers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of structural schema training and text organization on expository prose processing.

Two experiments, with 157 undergraduates, assessed the effects of structural schema training and text organization on the comprehension and recall of scientific prose. As a preliminary step, a structural schema specifying the categories of knowledge important to understanding a scientific theory was developed. This schema was subsequently used as a prose processing aid in the 2 experiments. Results indicate that training Ss in the use of this schema significantly facilitated recall of scientific text. It was found in the 2nd experiment that organizing the presentation sequence of the major concepts of a passage according to this structural schema significantly improved subsequent recall for main ideas on free- and cued-recall measures in comparison to an alternative presentation sequence. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Construction of Mental Maps Based on a Fragmentary View of Physical Maps.

Participants acquired spatial knowledge of a fictitious island by studying either (a) a complete physical map, (b) a sequence of part maps each showing the outline of the island and a subset of the landmarks, or (c) a sequence of sentences each describing a part map. During test, they verified the direction between 2 landmarks. Spatial knowledge in the fragment condition was as high as in the complete map condition, and both were better than the text group. Response times showed a distance effect. Additionally, spatial relations really presented were judged faster than inferred relations. The author replicated these results in a condition in which only relative spatial information could be used. These results suggest that simultaneity is not critical for obtaining a map advantage in spatial learning and that the mental representation of the map is structured. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of individual differences in the cooperative learning of technical material.

Individual differences in the recall of procedural and structural/functional information was investigated in situations in which students studied in dyads or alone. Three hundred undergraduates completed a series of nine individual difference measures and learned a four-step study strategy. They then studied passages that included both structural/functional and procedural material either in a dyad or alone. They completed a free-recall test of the material 2 days later. Induction ability was found to be significantly predictive of the dyadic recall of structural/functional material. Social orientation was negatively related to the recall of procedural material for those who studied individually. Furthermore, those who studied in dyads recalled significantly more than those who studied alone. Theoretical implications and practical applications of the results are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Discrete dynamic systems: the effect of perceptual structuring on composition and transfer of knowledge about operating sequences

This paper reports two experiments in which we explored the impact of perceptual grouping of elements on the organization and use of knowledge about how to operate a device. Experiment 1 explored the effects of different perceptual display regions on the creation of chunks when sequences of inputs had to be reproduced. The effects of regions were not homogeneous, but rather their influence depended on interactions between different modalities and learning conditions. Experiment 2 investigated the influence of grouping-induced composition of knowledge elements on the transfer of sequential knowledge. Two different learning criteria were used in the acquisition phase to manipulate the degree of composition of knowledge elements. In the transfer phase, subjects could transfer (1) the whole sequence of one region, (2) two partial sequences of adjacent regions, or (3) single components. It was found that regional invariance and immediate succession of components were both important for transfer performance. These results suggests that the temporal order of regions is important for the organization and use of sequential knowledge, and not the grouping of elements by itself.     

Ability correlates of memory performance in adulthood and aging.

The predictive relationships between an array of cognitive process and intellectual ability variables and text- and word-recall performance were examined. A sample of 584 men and women from 3 age groups (19–36, 55–69, and 70–86 years) completed a battery of 23 tasks marking 2 latent criterion variables and 10 latent predictor variables. The results indicated that (a) individual differences in process and ability variables predict performance on text and word recall, accounting for approximately half of the variance; (b) the pattern of predictors is quite similar for text and word recall; (c) age-related differences in text and word recall can be substantially accounted for by individual differences in constituent abilities, particularly indicators of verbal speed and working memory; and (d) there is some evidence to suggest that the pattern of ability–performance relationships varies across age, but such interactions appear to be relatively small. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the importance of mood intensity and encoding demands in memory: Commentary on Hasher, Rose, Zacks, Sanft, and Doren.

Comments on the failure of L. Hasher et al (see record 1986-03061-001) to find either an overall reduction in story recall or selectivity effects in recall due to mildly depressed mood state. It is suggested that their negative findings may be the result of a weak individual difference mood manipulation and that the story recall task may make insufficient encoding demands to reveal the effects of mood on recall. Although the negative findings of Hasher et al appear valid, the conditions of their experiments are those which appear least likely to produce mood effects on recall. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of repeated acquisitions and extinctions on response rate and pattern.

The procedure developed by R. A. Rescorla (2002) was used to study the effects of repeated acquisitions and extinctions of head entry responses into a food cup by rats. In each of 4 20-session phases, food was delivered at the end of particular 30-s auditory and visual stimuli, but not at the end of different 30-s auditory and visual stimuli. Based on response rates to individual stimuli and compound stimuli, the increase in response rate in acquisition occurred more rapidly than the decrease in extinction. Acquisition, but not extinction, occurred faster after successive transitions between acquisition and extinction. Temporal gradients of responding developed during acquisition and remained during extinction. Conclusions based on mean response rate, temporal gradients, and transfer tests were consistent. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Text structure and children's comprehension and memory for expository material.

Investigated the effects of instruction focusing on text structure on 90 5th graders' comprehension and memory for expository material. In 2 experiments, instruction in a hierarchical summarization study strategy focusing on the organization of ideas in text was compared with the more conventional classroom procedure of answering questions after reading. In Exp I, the experimental instruction group had short-answer test scores as high as the conventional instruction group and recall and organization scores that were higher. Similar results were not found in Exp II, an attempt to replicate Exp I. Further analyses revealed that the differences between the studies may have been due to differences in Ss' ability to master the study strategy. It is concluded that even though instruction in a study strategy focusing on text structure can enhance elementary school students' memory for expository material, as is typically found in their content area textbooks, it seems that students must be able to perform the study strategy reasonably well before it will markedly improve their recall. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An aptitude–treatment interaction approach to transfer within training.

The issues of skill specificity and transfer of training were examined from an aptitude–treatment interaction approach. The current investigations extended A. M. Sullivan's (1964) approach by using a procedural transfer task and training conditions that differed in amount of training task practice and the degree of training task similarity to the transfer task. Two experiments were conducted with 232 college students. Experiment 1 examined the effects of a length-of-training manipulation on reasoning ability and transfer task performance relationships, and on the amount of transfer. Experiment 2 evaluated the effects of 2 training tasks that differed in terms of similarity to the transfer task on ability-performance relationships and the amount of transfer. Results suggest that Sullivan's approach partially generalizes to the acquisition of procedural knowledge. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)