Research on adult learning and memory: Retrospect and prospect

It is argued that whether the course of cognitive development is characterized by growth, stability, or decline is less a matter of “fact” than a matter of the metamodel on which the theories and data are based. Three historical shifts in basic research on adult learning and memory are reviewed. The associative approach, dominant until the late 1950s, is rooted in the mechanistic metamodel. Within this approach, learning and memory are seen as the formation and dissolution of stimulus-response bonds. The associative approach has projected an irreversible decrement view of aging and learning/memory performance. The information processing approach, dominant from the early 1960s until the present, is rooted in the organismic metamodel. Within this approach, learning and memory are governed by storage structures and control processes, and active processing on the part of the learner is emphasized. The information processing view has projected a decrement with a compensation view of aging and learning/memory performance. Finally, it is argued that a contextual approach is emerging in the present historical context. A contextual perspective appears to emphasize the activities of perceiving, comprehending, and remembering rather than encoding, storage, and retrieval. Acquisition is seen as involving the articulation of input with past experience which sets the boundary conditions for perceiving and comprehending the new material. This differentiation and integration are viewed as occurring within a hierarchy of levels which reflect wider and wider contexts. Remembering is seen as the reconstruction of previous events. Event reconstruction depends, in large measure, on the extent to which original events are differentiated from and integrated with past experience during acquisition. In addition, event reconstruction also depends on events occurring following acquisition. Such a contextual perspective on acquisition and remembering leads to several suggestions for examining these activities during adulthood including an emphasis on meaning, broad contexts, and multiple influences on cognitive development.     

Self‐Concept and Learning: the revised inventory of learning processes

The Inventory of Learning Processes is a unique measure of learning style in that it was developed within the context of cognitive psychology, and derived from laboratory research concerned with information processing and memory. The present paper describes some of the early research examining the validity of the original Inventory of Learning Processes, and then presents a revised version of the inventory along with reliability and validity data. More than 15 years of research with the same assessment instrument have lead to the development of a model of student learning. The two major routes to academic achievement are reflective processing and agentic processing. Reflective processing is somewhat free‐associative and ultimately dialectical, deriving personal meaning by contrasting opposing perspectives on one's experience. Reflective processing includes deep and elaborative processing, and a determination to express one's self. The other approach to achievement, agentic processing, is highly directed, purposive and responsive to external contingencies. Agentic processing includes conventional serial processing and fact retention. Ultimately, the smooth flow of cognition (and thus integration and versatility with regard to functions) is limited by one's self‐concept. It appears that one's concept of self‐as‐student includes intrinsic motivation, self‐efficacy, a reluctance to blindly memorise the words of authority figures and self‐esteem. Difficulties on any of these dimensions tend to short‐circuit the total involvement of self and limit the extent to which cognitive activity can flow smoothly during academic studying.     

词汇教学在高职英语阅读教学中的运用

阅读在英语语言学习中占有重要地位,词汇是影响高职院校英语专业学生阅读水平的一大障碍。本文探讨了词与词汇以及英语词汇学习策略,认为通过运用构词法、上下文猜词法、联想记忆法等词汇学习策略可以扩大学生的词汇量,最终达到提高阅读理解能力的目的。     

Human and animal perceptual learning: Some common and some unique features

A selective summary of the four contributions to this special issue of Learning & Behavior on perceptual learning is presented. Mackintosh and Hall propose an associative analysis of perceptual learning. It is argued that Tsushima and Watanabe’s psychophysical evidence and Fiser’s Bayesian-modeling work represent (in different ways) challenges to the associative approach. Some tentative suggestions are explored with regard to how animal learning theorists might meet these challenges. Finally, the role of awareness in perceptual learning is briefly examined.     

The Significance of Emulation in the Oral Interaction Between Teacher and Students

The lack of attention to the role of emotions generally has led modern learning theories to neglect the importance of emulation as a pedagogical support to students’ learning. One reason could be that the influence of teacher personality is not considered in relation to learning outcome. Another reason may be that the concept of emulation has been used as a psychological conception for one‐way transmission. From a pedagogical rhetorical perspective, it is here argued that emulation and its pedagogical function is rooted in three human conditions: the biological, moral and political. The framework for this reasoning is discussed, as well as historical changes in pedagogical focus. Finally, it is concluded that the educative character of the teacher has a crucial impact on how willing students are to interact and share the teachers’ knowledge, skills and values. Therefore, there is a need for a greater awareness of these aspects to be developed among teachers.     

Smart Training and Development: A Learner‐Guided Approach

There is great support for the research that says that how one uses knowledge is linked to how and where that knowledge is acquired—especially, knowledge that is connected directly to performance. This how and where approach is rooted in time‐tested and research‐supported learning strategies. Key emphasis is placed on competency identification, maximum use of the work environment for learning, self‐directed learning activities along with a contracting structure that allows self‐pacing, mastery, individualization, and various feedback options. This article describes how to combine these learning strategies so that training and development (T&D) costs, time to train, and employee performance and retention are improved. This learning model is called learner‐guided training and development—a smart, highly leveraged design model.     

An instance theory of associative learning

We present and test an instance model of associative learning. The model, Minerva-AL, treats associative learning as cued recall. Memory preserves the events of individual trials in separate traces. A probe presented to memory contacts all traces in parallel and retrieves a weighted sum of the traces, a structure called the echo. Learning of a cue–outcome relationship is measured by the cue’s ability to retrieve a target outcome. The theory predicts a number of associative learning phenomena, including acquisition, extinction, reacquisition, conditioned inhibition, external inhibition, latent inhibition, discrimination, generalization, blocking, overshadowing, overexpectation, superconditioning, recovery from blocking, recovery from overshadowing, recovery from overexpectation, backward blocking, backward conditioned inhibition, and second-order retrospective revaluation. We argue that associative learning is consistent with an instance-based approach to learning and memory.     

Symmetrical generalization decrements: Configural stimulus processing in human contingency learning

Models of associative learning differ in their predictions concerning the symmetry of generalization decrements. Whereas Pearce’s (1994) configural model predicts the same response decrement after adding elements to and after removing elements from a previously trained stimulus, elemental models, such as the replaced elements model and Harris’s (2006) model, anticipate more of a decrement for removing than for adding elements. In three contingency learning experiments, we manipulated the motion and the spatial arrangement of colored dots in order to induce configural or elemental processing by perceptual grouping. The results reliably showed symmetrical decrements for the added and removed groups. The manipulations of the stimuli had no effect on stimulus processing. This is in line with Pearce’s configural model, but it is at variance with the elemental models and previous studies.     

Competence and performance in causal learning

The dominant theoretical approach to causal learning postulates the acquisition of associative weights between cues and outcomes. This reduction of causal induction to associative learning implies that learners are insensitive to important characteristics of causality, such as the inherent directionality between causes and effects. An ongoing debate centers on the question of whether causal learning is sensitive to causal directionality (as is postulated by causal-model theory) or whether it neglects this important feature of the physical world (as implied by associationist theories). Three experiments using different cue competition paradigms are reported that demonstrate the competence of human learners to differentiate between predictive and diagnostic learning. However, the experiments also show that this competence displays itself best in learning situations with few processing demands and with convincingly conveyed causal structures. The study provides evidence for the necessity to distinguish between competence and performance in causal learning.     

Cognitive Neuroscience Perspectives on Motivation and Learning: Revisiting Self‐Determination Theory

The Self‐Determination Theory of motivation (SDT) has significantly guided educational policy and research. It maintains that learning succeeds when brought about by autonomous rather than controlled motivation, and that extrinsic reward motivation cannot engender effective learning. We present an alternative approach, rooted in recent insights from the neurobiology of memory. In exploring environments to reap rewards, people pursue interrogative goals, accompanied by dopamine‐based hippocampus activation, leading to the formation of rich relational memories. In contrast, seeking to avoid punishment or loss involves imperative goals, with amygdala activation driving the perirhinal cortex to form disjoint item memories. We suggest that structuring learning and evaluation to diminish failure and increase repeated opportunities for successful performance, as in gamification, may engender effective learning incorporating broad perspectives and rich associations. This may occur even in the absence of intrinsic motivation to master a particular subject. Employing this insight in instructional design may benefit many educational frameworks.     

Retrieval practice after multiple context changes,but not long retention intervals,reduces the impact of a final context change on instrumental behavior

Recent evidence from this laboratory suggests that a context switch after operant learning consistently results in a decrement in responding. One way to reduce this decrement is to train the response in multiple contexts. One interpretation of this result, rooted in stimulus sampling theory, is that conditioning of a greater number of common stimulus elements arising from more contexts causes better generalization to new contexts. An alternative explanation is that each change of context causes more effortful retrieval, and practice involving effortful retrieval results in learning that is better able to transfer to new situations. The current experiments were designed to differentiate between these two explanations for the first time in an animal learning and memory task. Experiment 1 demonstrated that the detrimental impact of a context change on an instrumental nose-poking response can be reduced by training the response in multiple contexts. Experiment 2 then found that a training procedure which inserted extended retention intervals between successive training sessions did not reduce the detrimental impact of a final context change. This occurred even though the inserted retention intervals had a detrimental impact on responding (and, thus, presumably retrieval) similar to the effect that context switches had in Experiment 1. Together, the results suggest that effortful retrieval practice may not be sufficient to reduce the negative impact of a context change on instrumental behavior. A common elements explanation which supposes that physical and temporal contextual cues do not overlap may account for the findings more readily.     

Learning from instruction: the case of mathematics

Starting from a brief analysis of adaptive competence in mathematics, this article describes a series of research-based characteristics of the kind of learning processes that should be elicited in students to facilitate and support in them the progressive acquisition of such competence. Four major characteristics are discussed in some detail: learning is constructive, self-regulated, situated or contextual, and collaborative. A rather new approach to transfer of learning is then presented in which transfer is conceived as the preparation for future learning. Throughout the article it is argued that, notwithstanding the progress made in research on learning from instruction, numerous and complex issues and problems remain for continued inquiry.     

中国英语教学与研究的新构架：感知、实践与范式

本文通过对英语教学与研究相关文献的审视,指出了当前中国英语教学与研究所存在的误区,即忽视或摒弃自身语言文化和身份特性。在教学中,刻意模仿第一语言英语,试图达到英语为母语说话者准确、流利、自如地使用英语的程度。在科研中,一味效仿西方英语研究模式,其关注点往往是有待完善的学生英语。与此同时,本文结合中国英语教学与实践的现状,对中国式英语进行反思,在此基础上,对中国式英语重新定义。运用传统的中国儒学原理,并融入相应的西方学习理论和语言学习理论,笔者提出了全新的中国式英语教学模式,旨在于帮助中国英语学习者在本土化双语学习语境中更有效地掌握和运用语言知识,提高语言能力,达到最大的学习效果。更重要的是,以儒学原理为指导的教学模式,将使我们在教学和科研过程中进一步完善自我,不失民族及文化特征,对学生和教师都提出了一个明确可达到的学习和培养目标。     

工作记忆中的存储与加工:理论演变与新趋势

存储与加工的关系和性质是工作记忆研究中的基础性问题。对于工作记忆中的速度———广度关系,经典的理论解释是凯斯提出的“资源权衡模型”,认为在总加工空间不变的情况下,存储广度的增大是由于操作空间的减少造成的,但近来Towse和Hitch提出质疑,认为,上述关系也许是由于加工时间的增加而导致更多的遗忘造成的,由此提出了“任务转换说”,并获得了实证研究的支持。在工作记忆存储与加工的性质上,领域一般性和领域特殊性的争论引起了心理学家的关注,一种代表性的观点是,加工效能体现领域一般性,存储容量具有领域特殊性。     

The specific involvement of verbal and visuospatial working memory in hypermedia learning

Many models have hypothesized that multimedia comprehension requires the concurrent processing of verbal and visuospatial information by limited information processing systems. However, in spite of the emphasis devoted to the concurrent processing of verbal and visuospatial information, little research has so far investigated the specific role played by verbal and visuospatial abilities in multimedia comprehension. The present paper aims to study the specific involvement of verbal and visuospatial working memory in multimedia learning. Ninety‐two students (39 boys and 53 girls) from a middle school in a small city in the northeast of Italy, were asked to learn new information on the physical and social geography of Germany from a hypermedium. Participants were also required to perform a reading comprehension test, two short‐term memory tasks, and two working memory tasks, which assessed either verbal or visuospatial memory. The results support the hypothesis that both verbal and visuospatial working memory sub‐components play a role in hypermedium processing, but with specific and distinct functions: the performance in the verbal working memory task was able to predict the semantic knowledge children can derive from hypermedia learning. In contrast, visuospatial working memory seemed to have lower connections to the semantic knowledge children derived from a hypermedia document, whereas its role emerged in the ability to construct a representation of the document structure.     

Connective learning: young people's identity and knowledge‐making in work and non‐work contexts

In this paper I begin by outlining the key characteristics of a view of learning that has been pre‐eminent in the past 30 years in the United Kingdom. The focus of this discourse has been less upon understanding the processes and practices of learning as a complex process and more upon improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the curriculum and of teaching to meet taken‐for‐granted needs. Making use of two case studies, I exemplify a connective approach, as a transaction with the environment, which acknowledges both the contextual and incremental character of knowledge‐making, and the interplay between different cultural factors and influences, including discourse and identity, that play‐upon learning. This recognises the importance of all the different learning opportunities available to young people while lending support to claims for approaches to both the design of the curriculum and teaching that allow young people to learn in formal and informal contexts.     

“I don’t talk or I decide not to talk? Is it my culture?”—International students’ experiences of tutorial participation

Active participation in university tutorials seems to be commonly argued as one of the learning difficulties of non-English-speaking background (NESB) Asian students enrolled in Western English-speaking universities. These students are often portrayed as being passive in class and this is commonly attributed to their background culture. Using Australia as a setting, this paper challenges these misconceptions through the lens of the contextual approach or ‘small culture’ approach. It is argued that NESB international Asian students’ participation in Australian university tutorials is influenced by the classroom context in which they learn rather than by their cultures. This paper also provides a framework for teachers, who are the most important and powerful member in the ‘context’, to critically reflect on their pedagogical practices.     

特殊教育教师生命意义、教学效能感对周边绩效的调节中介效应研究

相对于一般院校对工作绩效的强调,特殊教育教师更看重周边绩效对特殊儿童青少年的影响.本研究探讨了生命意义与教学效能对特殊教育教师周边绩效的影响.采用生命意义问卷、教学效能量表和周边绩效量表为测量工具,对长春市、吉林市、哈尔滨市4所特殊教育学校进行整群随机抽样,获取有效样本117名.结果表明:(1)特殊教育教师教学效能感作为生命意义与周边绩效间的中介效应,传递生命意义对周边绩效的间接影响;(2)特殊教育教师生命意义与教学效能感交互作用显著,较高的生命意义可以有效调节教学效能感对周边绩效的促进作用.这说明,特殊教育教师生命意义与教学效能感对周边绩效的作用机制同时存在着两种效应,特殊教育教师生命意义作为自变量,在以教学效能感为中介变量传递对周边绩效间接效应的同时,又作为调节变量并且与教学效能感交互作用显著,调节教学效能感对周边绩效的促进作用.     

Checklist and context-bound evaluations of online learning in higher education

A review is undertaken of what different commentators have written about the evaluation of educational courseware in higher education. Speculation is made on the reasons for the lack of such evaluations. The role of checklists for evaluating online courseware is discussed despite the acknowledged limitations. Checklists have been developed at Edith Cowan University specifically for assessing aspects of online pedagogical learning materials in higher education. These checklists are intended to be useful indicators of the areas where online learning materials are strong and identify areas that may be deficient rather than to arrive at a numeric score. The form of checklist proposed is a valuable screening device to use before undertaking a context‐bound evaluation of courseware. Contextual evaluations are a complementary and valuable alternative to traditional forms of evaluation of educational courseware, such as checklists. A case is also made in this article for using a checklist developed for assessing aspects of online pedagogical learning materials in higher education. It is argued that, when used in conjunction with a context‐bound approach, such checklists may be more useful in indicating the pedagogical quality of online learning materials. Quality of the instructional design remains an important consideration in evaluating courseware. Continuing comments and dissent are invited on the value of contextual evaluations of educational courseware to reinvigorate the debate over appropriate ways of evaluating online courseware that will provide helpful information for higher education.