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)     

On the acquisition of new declarative knowledge in amnesia.

In 2 experiments, the acquisition of new declarative knowledge was examined in amnesic patients and in 7 groups of controls, with a study-only procedure that delayed testing until the conclusion of training. The study-only procedure was compared with a standard procedure in which study and test trials alternated (study-test). The amnesic patients acquired new factual (declarative) knowledge at an abnormally slow rate, learning more with the study-only procedure than with the study-test procedure. Controls exhibited the opposite pattern. The advantage of the study-only procedure for amnesic patients was related to the presence of frontal lobe dysfunction. The 2 groups exhibited a similar ability to use their knowledge flexibly, suggesting that the information acquired by amnesic patients was based on their residual capacity for declarative memory. In addition, the capacity for factual learning in amnesia was proportional to the capacity to recollect specific events in the learning session. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Locus of the predictive advantage in Pathfinder-based representations of classroom knowledge.

Earlier T. E. Goldsmith et al (see record 1991-19892-001) reported that a Pathfinder-based representation of domain knowledge was more predictive of classroom exam performance than the underlying data from which the Pathfinder representation was derived (relatedness ratings of pairs of concepts from the domain). The question is, what affords Pathfinder this predictive advantage? Analyses reveal that whereas the relatedness ratings are based on a 7-point scale, all of the predictiveness is contained in the most highly related pairs. Moreover, Pathfinder's advantage is related to the manner in which it dichotomizes the relatedness data into directly linked and indirectly linked concept pairs. Pathfinder considers contextual (neighborhood) information in making the decision to directly link 2 concepts, whereas alternative methods of dichotomizing the ratings that failed to consider contextual information are less predictive. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The acquisition of task-specific productions and modification of declarative representations in spatial-precuing tasks.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 117(4) of Journal of Experimental Psychology: General (see record 2008-10706-001). The spanner heads were inadvertently omitted from Tables 2 and 3 and Tables 6 and 7. The four tables are reprinted in the erratum.] Three experiments explored the role of the stimulus–response translation stage of human information processing in relating stimuli to assigned responses. The primary findings are that (a) task-specific productions develop with practice that relate stimuli directly to specific fingers, and (b) declarative knowledge is acquired that can lead to the use of modified representations when translation subsequently is required in a transfer session. The results are consistent with the view that the mediating role of the translation stage decreases with practice and is inconsistent with the view that the role does not change or diminish. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Partial knowledge in vocabulary acquisition: General constraints and specific detail.

The authors investigated the relationship of partial word knowledge and instruction by asking subjects to choose, from a pair of sentences, the correct use of a target word that they had or had not looked up in a dictionary. When the correct sentence of the pair could be chosen on the basis of general semantic constraints, subjects performed well even for words they had denied were part of their language, and instruction had no effect. Studying dictionary definitions did, however, increase the amount of specific, detailed information available in memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age-sensitive cognitive abilities related to children's acquisition of spatial knowledge.

Two experiments were conducted to determine the extent to which developmental improvement in children's performance on tasks requiring the acquisition of spatial knowledge was related to age-sensitive cognitive abilities. The results of path analyses in Exp 1 indicated that the relationship between age and the acquisition of landmark knowledge was, in fact, mediated by recognition-in-context memory, whereas relationships between age and route knowledge and between age and landmark judgment were unmediated. Similar analyses in Exp 2 indicated that perceptual-motor speed mediated the relationships between age and route knowledge and between age and landmark knowledge. Again, the relationship between age and landmark judgment was unmediated. Overall, the results suggest that the approach used in these experiments can provide new insight into the relationship between spatial cognitive development as a specialized research area and cognitive development in general. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The acquisition and application of knowledge: A symbiotic relation.

Argues that not only does the application of scientific knowledge benefit from advances made in basic science, but also that advances in basic science benefit from contact with the users of information and their unsolved problems. It is shown in particular that most of the major conceptual changes in cognitive psychology over the past 25 yr. have evolved from issues in the realm of scientific application. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Structural knowledge assessment: Comparison of referent structures.

Network representations of student knowledge are usually evaluated by comparing them to an expert "referent" structure. This study compared referent structures produced by the instructor, other experts, averaged experts, and an average based on the best students in the class. The referents were compared in their ability to predict exam performance in 2 college level computer programming courses and to differentiate among levels of expertise. Results showed that in terms of these criteria, (1) instructor-based referents were no better than other experts; (2) there was substantial variability among experts; and (3) structures derived from both averaged experts and averaged best students provided valid referents, but the expert-based referent was superior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Phonemic awareness and letter knowledge in the child's acquisition of the alphabetic principle.

Studied acquisition of the alphabetic principle in preliterate children, 3–5 yrs. The dependent variable throughout was a forced-choice between, e.g., "mow" and "sow" as pronunciations for the written word mow after the child had been taught to read the words mat and sat. Reliable performance on this transfer task was only achieved by children who (a) understood two aspects of phonological organization—phonemic segmentation of the speech items and the identity of their initial segments, and (b) had learned graphic symbols for the sounds "m" and "s." Most children who demonstrated alphabetic insight with symbols in word-initial position were also successful at transfer when the symbols were word-final. Thus, phonemic awareness and grapheme-phoneme knowledge were needed in combination for acquisition of the alphabetic principle, and, once gained, alphabetic insight proved relatively robust. Implications for reading acquisition are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

基于图分析的领域知识获取技术

知识获取技术制约着知识系统的研究和应用,有效地从文本中提取领域知识成为知识获取的重要途径.本文提出了基于本体和图分析的领域知识获取技术,分析了本体数据结构、本体概念的实例化以及基于图分析的语义场构造方法.建立了具有广泛适用性的文本知识获取系统框架,实现了原型系统.通过针对中医医案的中医领域知识获取实验验证,取得了较好的效果.     

Information feedback for skill acquisition: Instantaneous knowledge of results degrades learning.

The role of acquired error-detection capabilities in skill learning was investigated by manipulating the delay of knowledge of results (KR). Compared with delayed feedback, instantaneous KR should be detrimental to the learning of error-detection capabilities because it should tend to block spontaneous subjective evaluation of response-produced feedback. Weaker error-detection capabilities should then be evident on delayed no-KR retention tests. During acquisition, one group of subjects received KR after a delay of a few seconds while another group received KR instantaneously; then both were evaluated on several retention tests. Using a timing task with two reversals in direction (Experiment 1) and a coincident-timing task (Experiment 2), we found that, relative to delayed feedback, instantaneous KR degraded learning as measured on delayed retention tests. Although the KR-delay interval has traditionally been considered of minor importance for skill learning, the present findings suggest that very short KR-delays interfere with learning, perhaps by degrading the acquisition of error-detection capabilities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Changes in memory awareness during learning: The acquisition of knowledge by psychology undergraduates.

First-year psychology students took multiple-choice examinations following each of 4 lecture courses and 3 laboratory research methods courses. One lecture course was later retested. Students indicated state of memory awareness accompanying each answer: recollective experience (remember), "just know" (know), feeling of familiarity (familiarity), or guess. On the lecture courses, higher performing students differed from other students because they had more remember responses. On research methods, higher performing students differed because they knew more, and in the delayed retest, higher performing students differed because they now knew rather than remembered more. These findings demonstrate a shift from remembering to knowing, dependent upon level attained, type of course, and retention interval, and suggest an underlying shift in knowledge representation from episodic to semantic memory. The authors discuss theoretical and educational implications of the findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessing text representations with recognition: The interaction of domain knowledge and text coherence.

Readers construct at least 2 interrelated mental representations when they comprehend a text: a textbase and a situation model. Two experiments were conducted with recognition memory to examine how domain knowledge and text coherence influence readers' textbase and situation-model representations. In Experiment 1, participants made remember-know judgments to text ideas. Knowledge and coherence interacted to influence remember judgments differently than know judgments. In Experiment 2, the authors used the process-dissociation procedure to obtain recollection and familiarity estimates. Knowledge and coherence interacted to influence recollection estimates but not familiarity estimates. The authors claim that recollection and familiarity can be used as markers of the different processes involved in constructing a textbase and a situation model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Television formats, mastery of mental skills, and the acquisition of knowledge.

Conducted a study to demonstrate that when TV formats are varied, with content held constant, they differentially affect the use of mental skills and the acquisition of knowledge. Four groups of 44 5th graders were pretested on a battery of mental skill tests; then each group was shown 1 of 4 TV film versions of a story and posttested on 2 types of knowledge acquisition tests. All films had the same content, but their dominant format of presentation differed, with fragmentation of spaces, logical gaps, close-ups, and zoomings in and out. Results show differential patterns of correlations between initial skill mastery and knowledge acquisition within each format, depending on whether the format called upon a skill or supplanted it. Also, correlational patterns varied as a function of the requirements of the knowledge acquisition task. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Summary knowledge of results for skill acquisition: Support for the guidance hypothesis.

Summary knowledge of results (KR) involves the presentation KR for each of a set of trials (e.g., 10) only after the last trial in the set has been completed. Earlier, Lavery (1962) showed that, relative to providing KR after each trial, a 20-trial summary KR was detrimental to performance in a practice phase with KR present but was beneficial for a no-KR retention test. Using a relatively simple ballistic-timing task, we examined summary lengths of 1 (essentially KR after every trial), 5, 10, and 15 trials, searching for an inverted-U relationship between summary length and retention performance as predicated by a guidance hypothesis for KR. During acquisition when KR was present and being manipulated, all groups showed improvements in performance across practice, while increased summary lengths generally depressed performance. However, in a delayed no-KR retention test, there was an inverse relation between the summary length in acquisition and absolute constant error on the retention test. A guidance hypothesis is favored to explain how, relative to immediate KR, long KR summaries can provide detrimental effects in acquisition while enhancing retention performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expertise in expert systems: knowledge acquisition for biological expert systems

A method of constant stimuli (MCS) for measuring heartbeat detection was examined by comparing performance on this method with the Brener and Kluvitse (BK) method and a variant of the Whitehead (WH') method. All methods required subjects to judge the simultaneity of heartbeat sensations and tones, and each yielded measures of judgment precision and of the temporal location of heartbeat sensations relative to the electrocardiogram R-wave. Both measures were found to be significantly correlated across tasks. A greater proportion of subjects met criteria for classification as heartbeat detectors on the MCS (54%) and BK (50%) tasks than on the WH' task (33%). In the MCS and BK tasks, subjects judged tones presented 100-300 ms after the R-wave to be most simultaneous with heartbeat sensations. Intratask correlations showed that only the MCS procedure yielded stable measurements of both judgment precision and temporal location. The MCS procedure possesses commendable psychometric properties and provides a simpler means than the BK procedure of examining heartbeat detection.     

Where does knowledge come from? Specific associations between print exposure and information acquisition.

In a study of 268 college students, measures of exposure to print predicted individual differences in knowledge in a variety of domains even after individual differences on 4 indicators of general ability (high school GPA, Raven Advanced Progressive Matrices, Nelson-Denny Reading Test—Comprehension subtest, and a mathematics ability test) had been statistically controlled. Although correlational, results suggest that print exposure is an independent contributor to the acquisition of content knowledge. The data challenge the view that knowledge acquisition is determined only by the efficiency of cognitive components that encode and store information. Instead, the results indicate that differences in exposure to information, particularly written sources of information, is a significant contributor to differences in knowledge across individuals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of overt controlled verbalization and goal-specific search on acquisition of procedural knowledge in problem solving.

The effects of verbalization (overt or covert) and goal specificity (specific goal or nonspecific goal) were investigated in a two-factor design. 64 university students individually solved 6 acquisition problems requiring numeral conversions between different base systems and returned 2 days later for a test measuring both near and far transfer. Analysis of acquisition measures indicated that overt verbalizers (a) made fewer excess moves, (b) worked forward on more problems, and (c) required more time than covert verbalizers. Problem solvers working under specific goal conditions made fewer excess moves than those working under nonspecific goal conditions. The treatment factors did not influence transfer performance. However, correlational data obtained between working forward and levels of transfer yielded significant positive relations for overt verbalizers only. The results suggest that the goal-directed search of novices does not necessarily interfere with learning during problem solving and that task demands may influence the relative effectiveness of overt verbalization and reduced goal specificity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An investigation of the processes mediating schematic effects on the acquisition of social knowledge.

Investigated the cognitive mechanisms that mediate schematic effects on the perception of other people, using 100 undergraduates given 1 of 2 sets of expectations about the interpersonal characteristics of a target male actor. Ss were instructed to indicate subjectively salient events while viewing a videotape of a staged interaction between the target male and a female actor. Results indicate that expectations of a dominant or agreeable target actor influenced the formation of interpersonal impressions. Ss attended to portions of the videotape that were consistent with dominant or agreeable schema induction. There was no evidence of schema-consistent selective memory retrieval or reconstruction. Findings are discussed in terms of information processing vs ecological approaches to perception. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dynamic mental representations.

This article pursues the possibility that perceivers are sensitive to implicit dynamic information even when they are not able to observe real-time change. Recent empirical results in the domains of handwriting recognition and picture perception are discussed in support of the hypothesis that perception involves acquiring information about transitions, whether the stimuli are static or dynamic. It is then argued that dynamic information has a special status in mental representation as well as in perception. In particular I propose that some mental representations may be dynamic, in that a temporal dimension is necessary to the representation. Recent evidence that mental representations may exhibit a form of momentum is discussed in support of this claim. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)