Metacognitive influences on study time allocation in an associative recognition task: An analysis of adult age differences.

The current study evaluated a metacognitive account of study time allocation, which argues that metacognitive monitoring of recognition test accuracy and latency influences subsequent strategic control and regulation. The authors examined judgments of learning (JOLs), recognition test confidence judgments (CJs), and subjective response time (RT) judgments by younger and older adults in an associative recognition task involving 2 study–test phases, with self-paced study in Phase 2. Multilevel regression analyses assessed the degree to which age and metacognitive variables predicted Phase 2 study time independent of actual test accuracy and RT. Outcomes supported the metacognitive account—JOLs and CJs predicted study time independent of recognition accuracy. For older adults with errant RT judgments, subjective retrieval fluency influenced response confidence as well as (mediated through confidence) subsequent study time allocation. Older adults studied items that had been assigned lower CJs longer, suggesting no age deficit in using memory monitoring to control learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learned helplessness in humans: An analysis of learning processes and the roles of individual and situational differences.

Criticizes recent attributional analyses of learned helplessness in humans because they are vague in specifying antecedent conditions for various attributions, fail to explain paradoxical facilitation effects, and neglect individual differences. As an alternative, the social learning theory (SLT) of J. B. Rotter et al (see PA, Vol 50:6852) is applied to the learned helplessness paradigm, leading to analyses of (a) expectancy change processes occurring during helplessness training and (b) the generalization of those changes to other situations. Studies bearing on a variety of individual and situational differences that are predicted to affect the development of helplessness are reviewed. Research and treatment strategies following from the SLT analysis are described. (87 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age-related differences in emotion recognition ability: A cross-sectional study.

Experimental studies indicate that recognition of emotions, particularly negative emotions, decreases with age. However, there is no consensus at which age the decrease in emotion recognition begins, how selective this is to negative emotions, and whether this applies to both facial and vocal expression. In the current cross-sectional study, 607 participants ranging in age from 18 to 84 years (mean age = 32.6 ± 14.9 years) were asked to recognize emotions expressed either facially or vocally. In general, older participants were found to be less accurate at recognizing emotions, with the most distinctive age difference pertaining to a certain group of negative emotions. Both modalities revealed an age-related decline in the recognition of sadness and—to a lesser degree—anger, starting at about 30 years of age. Although age-related differences in the recognition of expression of emotion were not mediated by personality traits, 2 of the Big 5 traits, openness and conscientiousness, made an independent contribution to emotion-recognition performance. Implications of age-related differences in facial and vocal emotion expression and early onset of the selective decrease in emotion recognition are discussed in terms of previous findings and relevant theoretical models. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Imageability effects in word naming: An individual differences analysis.

The present research was designed to extend research by Strain et al (1995) who found that imageability facilitates naming of low-frequency irregular words. The authors hypothesized that the impact of imageability on naming performance will vary with phonological reading ability. For participants who score high in phonological reading ability, the effect of imageability should be seen primarily on naming of low-frequency exception words where the orthography-to-phonology mappings are not strong. For participants who score low in phonological reading ability, the mapping of orthography onto phonology is presumably inefficient for all types of low-frequency words. Accordingly, for these participants, it was predicted that imageability would affect naming of both exception and regular words. 90 college students served as Ss. Exp 1 shows that the impact of imageability on word naming varies with phonological coding skill. In Exp 2, the effect of imageability on naming low-frequency irregular words was shown to occur across an extended set of items. Together, the present findings support the notion that semantics may play a role in phonological coding when the mappings between orthography and phonology are weak. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aging associations: Influence of speed on adult age differences in associative learning.

Two studies, involving a total of nearly 500 Ss, were conducted to determine the mechanisms by which processing speech contributes to the relations between adult age and associative learning. Results of both studies indicated that increased age was related to poorer associative learning largely because of a failure to retain information about previously correct responses. This in turn was related to the effectiveness of encoding briefly presented information in an associative memory task, which was related to measures of processing speed. It is therefore suggested that age-related decreases in speed of processing lead to less effective encoding or elaboration, which results in a fragile representation that is easily disrupted by subsequent processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Determinants of learning and performance in an associative memory/substitution task: Task constraints, individual differences, volition, and motivation.

The way that cognitive abilities, learning task characteristics, and motivational and volitional processes combine to explain individual differences in performance and learning was investigated. A substitution task was studied over practice, and it was discovered that students used 2 different strategies: a learning strategy focused on memorization and a performance strategy in which students persisted in scanning items. Five experiments investigated strategy differences and the ability and motivational correlates of task performance. First, ability correlates of performance and strategy use were demonstrated. Next, reducing task difficulty increased use of the learning strategy. With periodic memory tests, effective reliance on the learning strategy was increased, and task performance correlations with reasoning ability were lowered. Finally, a combination of self-focus and goal-setting interventions increased both general performance levels and use of the learning strategy. Results are discussed in terms of the goal of developing a more comprehensive understanding of learner differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age-related differences in an ecologically based study of route learning.

Spatial learning abilities in younger adults and in healthy elderly adults were examined in 2 tasks. In the first task, participants were tested for their ability to recall relevant route information as well as to recognize and to order temporally landmark information observed along the route. Older participants had relatively greater difficulty retracing the route and temporospatially ordering landmarks but were equally good at recognition of landmarks occurring on the route. In the second task, participants memorized a 2-dimensional representation of a route and subsequently navigated the route from memory. Older participants had greater difficulty memorizing the route and navigating it. Errors of omission, commission, wrong, and forced choice were analyzed. Group differences in the pattern of errors differed by task. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Examination of relationships among trait-like individual differences, state-like individual differences, and learning performance.

Several authors (e.g., J. T. Austin & H. J. Klein, 1996; R. Kanfer, 1990b, 1992) have urged researchers to examine comprehensive models of distal individual differences as predictors of proximal motivational processes and performance. Two field studies in an academic setting tested a model of relationships among trait-like individual differences (cognitive ability, general self-efficacy, and goal orientation), state-like individual differences (state anxiety, task-specific self-efficacy, and goals), and learning performance. Most hypothesized relationships among these constructs received support when tested on 2 samples, when examining different performance episodes, and when using different goal orientation and state-anxiety measures. In general, state-like individual differences were found to mediate the relationships between trait-like individual differences and learning performance. Implications of these results are discussed and suggestions for future research are provided. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender differences in first-grade mathematics strategy use: Social and metacognitive influences.

Social and metacognitive contributors to gender differences in 1st grader's mathematics strategy use were explored. Fifty-eight children solved addition and subtraction problems individually and in groups of 3 in October, January, and May. The children's strategy use was assessed individually, as well as their metacognitive knowledge for mathematics strategies and their rationales for the use of different mathematics strategies. The children also solved addition and subtraction problems in groups. Gender differences were found: Girls were more likely to count on fingers or use counters (overt strategies); boys were more likely to use retrieval (from memory) to solve addition and subtraction problems. All children were less likely to use overt strategies and more likely to use covert strategies and retrieval in the group session. Metacognition was a significant predictor of strategy use. Social rationales for strategy use emerged at the end of the year. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attributional complexity: An individual differences measure.

Describes the development of a scale that measures the complexity of attributional schemata for human behavior—the Attributional Complexity Scale (ACS). In Study 1, the ACS was administered to 289 undergraduates. The results show that the ACS had adequate internal reliability and test–retest reliability, and a factor analysis yielded 1 major factor. Study 2 tested the discriminant and convergent validity of the ACS by administering it to 81 undergraduates. As predicted, attributional complexity was not related to social desirability, academic ability, or internal–external locus of control, but it was positively related to the need for cognition. Study 3 confirmed the prediction that psychology majors (n?=?59) would have more complex attributional schemata than natural science majors (n?=?35). Studies 4 and 5, with 174 Ss, provided evidence for the external validity of the scale: Attributionally complex Ss compared with attributionally simple Ss spontaneously produced more causes for personality dispositions and selected more complex causal attributions for simple behavioral events. Implications for various issues in social cognition are discussed. (48 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting individual differences in complex skill acquisition: Dynamics of ability determinants.

Addresses the controvervesy about ability determinants of individual differences in performance during and subsequent to skill acquisition. An information-processing examination of ability–performance relations during complex task acquisition is described. Included are ability testing (including general, reasoning, spatial, perceptual speed, and perceptual/psychomotor abilities) and skill acquisition over practice on the terminal radar approach controller simulation. Results validate and extend P. L. Ackerman's (1988) theory of cognitive ability determinants of individual differences in skill acquisition. Benefits of ability component and task component analyses over global analyses of ability–skill relations are demonstrated. Implications are discussed for selection instruments to predict air traffic controller success and for other tasks with inconsistent information-processing demands. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive coordinate systems: Accounts of mental rotation and individual differences in spatial ability.

Contends that strategic differences in spatial tasks can be explained in terms of different cognitive coordinate systems that Ss adopt. The strategy of mental rotation featured in many recent experiments uses a coordinate system defined by the standard axes of the human visual world (i.e., horizontal, vertical, and depth axes). Several other possible coordinate systems for solving the problems that occur in psychometric tests of spatial ability are examined. One alternative strategy uses a coordinate system defined by the demands of each test item, resulting in mental rotation around arbitrary, task-defined axes. Another strategy uses a coordinate system defined exclusively by the objects, producing representations invariant with the objects' orientation. Three experiments with 31 university students were conducted to assess differences in strategies used by Ss with high or low spatial ability in cube comparison and Shepard-Metzler (R. Shepard and J. Metzler; see record 1972-28060-001) rotation tasks. Two computer simulation models based on Ss' performance patterns are described. It is suggested that Ss high in spatial ability are faster in their manipulation processes and more flexible in adopting cognitive coordinate systems than their low-ability counterparts. (61 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental and individual differences in the use of the control-of-variables strategy.

48 6th and 8th graders were given 2 successive presentations of a standard Piagetian control-of-variables (COV) task. Between the 2 presentations, Ss in 4 conditions took part in an activity designed to elicit the COV strategy or to serve as a control. In a 2nd session, Ss were administered a different task requiring use of the COV strategy, a task requiring use of a different formal operations scheme (proportionality), and a measure of field independence. For older Ss, strategy use increased equally from the 1st to the 2nd presentation in all 4 conditions; for the younger Ss, strategy use increased only for 2 conditions containing a set of intervening probe questions. At both ages, "spontaneous" (i.e., 1st presentation) COV strategy users outperformed their "latent" (2nd presentation only) peers on all 3 Session 2 tasks. Latent strategy users outperformed strategy-absent Ss on the COV transfer task and on the proportionality task. Data clarify the distinction between spontaneous and latent levels of availability of a formal operations strategy. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age and individual differences in the learning of a memorization procedure.

Age differences in memory performance have been ascribed to corresponding differences in the effectiveness of mental memorization procedures. The present authors challenge the sufficiency of this explanation by raising the issue of how to account for age differences in memorization procedures themselves. Two hypotheses are evaluated with reference to the results of previous studies of procedural maintenance and transfer following instruction. Although these results provide more support for a capability than for an opportunity hypothesis, they pertain mainly to rehearsal procedures in the preadolescent age range. Corroborative evidence is reported from a new study of maintenance of an elaborative procedure following instruction given to 216 11- and 17-yr-olds. Whereas maintenance was equivalent across age on a task of low processing demand, it was more complete among older Ss on a more demanding task. Obstacles to adducing conclusive evidence on the issue are underlined. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Genetic influences on learning disabilities: An update.

The present selective review examines genetic influences on learning disabilities (LDs). We discuss recent advances in molecular genetics that have made linkage analysis a more powerful tool for studying the genetics of behavioral phenotypes. We also examine what is known about genetic influences in two familial disorders, developmental dyslexia and Tourette syndrome (TS). Although TS is not a LD, there are claims that it is associated with LDs as well as with other related behavioral phenotypes. We briefly consider an opposite strategy for examining whether it leads to a specific LD phenotype. We also discuss criteria that must be satisfied before we can conclude either that a phenotype is genetically influenced or that a known genetic alteration leads to a specific and consistent cognitive phenotype. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reasoning about the self and relationships in maturity: An integrative complexity analysis of individual differences.

This study examined age (35–55 versus 65–85), gender, and self-concept-orientation differences in reasoning about the self, relationships, and morality, on the basis of the theorizing of C. Gilligan (1982). Participants were interviewed about general relationship issues, a specific relationship, and about the self. Reasoning was scored for integrative complexity (P. Suedfeld and P. Tetlock [1977]). Life experience measures and the standard Kohlberg justice reasoning index were obtained. Results showed gender differences in the connectedness of the self-concept for middle-aged, but not older, adults. No age or gender differences in the complexity of relationship reasoning or in justice reasoning were found. Those with more connected self-concepts reasoned in more complex ways about relationships and about the self. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An associative model of geometry learning: A modified choice rule.

In a recent article, the authors (Miller & Shettleworth, 2007; see record 2007-09968-001) showed how the apparently exceptional features of behavior in geometry learning ("reorientation") experiments can be modeled by assuming that geometric and other features at given locations in an arena are learned competitively as in the Rescorla-Wagner model and that the probability of visiting a location is proportional to the total associative strength of cues at that location relative to that of all relevant locations. Reinforced or unreinforced visits to locations drive changes in associative strengths. Dawson, Kelly, Spetch, and Dupuis (2008; see record 2008-09669-009) have correctly pointed out that at parameter values outside the ranges the authors used to simulate a body of real experiments, our equation for choice probabilities can give impossible and/or wildly fluctuating results. Here, the authors show that a simple modification of the choice rule eliminates this problem while retaining the transparent way in which the model relates spatial choice to competitive associative learning of cue values. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do performance strategies mediate age-related differences in associative learning?

Associative learning is a basic component of most learning tasks and has been shown to decline with age. The authors examined associative learning for younger and older adults by using a noun-pair task. Interim testing and prior practice on a similar task were the manipulated variables. Participants were encouraged to use an efficient retrieval strategy. Interim tests provided the motivation to learn the information, whereas prior practice on a similar task was presumed to make the task easier. The authors examined these variables both independently and interactively. For younger adults, performance benefited little from prior practice but did benefit from interim testing. For older adults, interim tests were beneficial for development of a retrieval strategy irrespective of prior training. Prior training proved beneficial for development of a retrieval strategy in the absence of interim tests. Thus, task parameters influenced the performance strategy (and learning), especially of older adults.     

An attention-based associative account of adjacent and nonadjacent dependency learning.

In 5 experiments, results showed that when participants are faced with materials embedding relations between both adjacent and nonadjacent elements, they learn exclusively the type of relations they had to actively process in order to meet the task demands, irrespective of the spatial contiguity of the paired elements. These results are consonant with current theories positing that attention is a necessary condition for learning. More important, the results provide support for a more radical conception, in which the joint attentional processing of 2 events is also a sufficient condition for learning the relation between them. The well-documented effect of contiguity could be a by-product of the fact that attention generally focuses on contiguous events. This reappraisal considerably extends the scope of approaches based on associative or statistical processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age-related differences in work attitudes and behavior: A review and conceptual analysis.

Presents a theoretical framework for understanding age-related differences in work attitudes and behavior. Based on a review of more than 185 research studies, age-related differences in 3 major categories of variables are examined: work attitudes, work behaviors, and values, needs, and preferences. The work attitudes include overall job satisfaction; satisfaction with work itself, pay, promotions, co-workers, and supervision; job involvement; internal work motivation; organizational commitment; and turnover intention. Among the behavioral characteristics are performance, turnover, absenteeism, and accidents. Consistent age-related differences are reported for a number of work attitudes and behaviors, but conceptual and methodological difficulties preclude identifying causal factors in the relationship between age and work attitudes and behaviors. Some theoretical orientations having utility for guiding theory development and research on age differences are discussed. (6 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)