Strategies in the information search process: interaction among task structure, knowledge, and source

The authors explored the information search strategies of 145 individuals in the predecisional stage. Decision-making participants selected pieces of information from a list including relevant and irrelevant data. The authors investigated the influence of the individual's knowledge and information source. In Experiment 1, the authors experimentally manipulated the information source reliability. The results revealed that participants tended to use a sequential strategy when the authors presented information as supplied by a reliable source. In Experiment 2, the authors analyzed the interaction between information source and the individuals' knowledge. When participants believed the source to be reliable, even knowledgeable participants adopted a strategy as sequential as that chosen by naive individuals. In Experiment 3, a mediational model corroborated the hypothesis that the search strategy affects the final judgment. The results were consistent with the constructivist framework, which emphasizes the role of individual, task, and context in the decision-making process.     

On the relationship between task performance and associated verbalizable knowledge

Three experiments explore the relationship between performance on a cognitive task and the explicit or reportable knowledge associated with that performance (assessed here by written post-task questionnaire). They examine how this relationship is affected by task experience, verbal instruction and concurrent verbalization. It is shown that practice significantly improves ability to control semi-complex computer-implemented systems but has no effect on the ability to answer related questions. In contrast, verbal instruction significantly improves ability to answer questions but has no effect on control performance. Verbal instruction combined with concurrent verbalization does lead to a significant improvement in control scores. Verbalization alone, however, has no effect on task performance or question answering.     

Synchronization and knowledge of results in a ventilatory motor task

The ability of healthy subjects to adopt a given value of inspiratory duration (TI) was examined in two different conditions: a knowledge condition in which subjects were informed of their performance on TI and synchronization of subjects' breathing rate to a periodic visual signal. The target value of TI was computed individually, by the same formula for all subjects in both procedures. 40 subjects were tested in a double-transfer design; each subject participated in two sessions 24 hr. apart. In addition to previous results showing better retention of the ventilatory task in subjects following the knowledge procedure after 24 hr., this study also shows better performance in this condition. No transfer could be evidenced, suggesting low similarity between the two tasks in spite of the fact that the resulting breathing patterns were nearly identical. The influence of the magnitude of the target on performance was also investigated.     

The role of competition and knowledge in the Ellsberg task

Ambiguity avoidance denotes people's preference for gambling situations with known over unknown, or ambiguous, probability distributions. In four experiments we provide evidence for the interaction between competitiveness and knowledge in Ellsberg's task, in which people have a choice between a risky box (distribution of balls known) and an ambiguous box (distribution of balls not known). If the situation is perceived as competitive (the experimenter or an opponent is responsible for composing the boxes) people avoid ambiguity by betting on the box with the known probability distribution. If the task is perceived as cooperative (a partner or friend is composing the boxes) people are indifferent toward ambiguity or even ambiguity seeking. In addition, we find that people expect their winning odds to be less than even in the ambiguous box. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Aging, focus switching, and task switching in a continuous calculation task: evidence toward a new working memory control process

This study examined switching of the focus of attention in working memory in relation to global task switching in a continuous calculation task using two rules (midpoint and up-and-down) in a group of 25 younger adults and a group of 23 older adults. Age differences emerged in accuracy when participants worked on two strings simultaneously (necessitating a focus switch); focus switching did not interact with age in the response time domain. No age differences were obtained for global task switching. Ex-Gaussian decomposition showed a shift due to focus switching in all parameters, but a shift in leading edge only for task switching. The results suggest that task switching and focus switching rely on different processes, and that there is a specific age-related deficit in focus switching.     

Rats' knowledge of incorrect responses in a matching-to-sample task

The idea that rats possess some knowledge about having been incorrect when having previously made an incorrect response is proposed. A matching-to-sample task with a second choice was used to assess the hypothesis. Only if the correct lever was chosen on the second choice was the animal rewarded. Further, the second choice was offered whether the animal was initially correct or incorrect in its first choice, preventing it from "knowing" if it had been correct in its initial decision. If rats possessed some knowledge whether they had been correct or not, then the number of correct second choice responses after an incorrect first one should have been greater than chance. The current experiment provided some evidence that the rats did "know" when its choices were incorrect.     

Learning and transfer of category knowledge in an indirect categorization task

Knowledge representations acquired during category learning experiments are ‘tuned’ to the task goal. A useful paradigm to study category representations is indirect category learning. In the present article, we propose a new indirect categorization task called the “same”–“different” categorization task. The same–different categorization task is a regular same–different task, but the question asked to the participants is about the stimulus category membership instead of stimulus identity. Experiment 1 explores the possibility of indirectly learning rule-based and information-integration category structures using the new paradigm. The results suggest that there is little learning about the category structures resulting from an indirect categorization task unless the categories can be separated by a one-dimensional rule. Experiment 2 explores whether a category representation learned indirectly can be used in a direct classification task (and vice versa). The results suggest that previous categorical knowledge acquired during a direct classification task can be expressed in the same–different categorization task only when the categories can be separated by a rule that is easily verbalized. Implications of these results for categorization research are discussed.     

The emergence of knowledge systems thinking: A changing perception of relationships among innovation,knowledge process and configuration

As agriculture develops, policy and management decisions increasingly focus on agricultural innovation emerging from utilizing knowledge and/or technology. This paper considers models for underpinning knowledge and technology policy and management. It describes the emergence of knowledge systems thinking. The system construct is applied to actors (individuals, networks and institutions) involved in knowledge processes. These actors potentially form a highly articulated and complex whole. Knowledge policy and management focus on measures that enhance the synergy between actors. Knowledge systems are viewed as “soft systems,” i.e., they only become systems as a result of active construction and joint learning. The soft systems perspective facilitates the identification of various knowledge system models, which have consequences for policy and management decisions with respect to investment, design, and training. In an attempt to create a unifying theory for these models, it is posited that these models are consistent combinations of innovation, knowledge process and structural configuration. Currently, he is the director of an international program on “Comparative research in knowledge systems in support of sustainable agriculture.”     

The inadvertent use of prior knowledge in a generative cognitive task

In four experiments with 332 participants, participants were asked to generate novel nonwords for English categories. When participants were shown examples embedded with regular orthographic structures, participants’ nonwords tended to conform orthographically to the examples, despite instructions to avoid using features of the examples. The effect was found with immediate testing (Experiment 1) and delayed testing (Experiment 2). The effect was also found with arbitrary features (Experiments 1–4), as well as with naturally occurring orthographic regularities (Experiment 4). Participants had difficulty avoiding the use of this prior knowledge, despite being able to list the features they were asked to avoid (Experiment 3). The results are discussed in terms of the inadvertent use of prior knowledge in generative cognitive tasks.     

Young children's knowledge of their memory span: effects of task and experience

This study investigated the hypothesis that young children have knowledge about their memory that they may be unable to articulate, but are able to reflect on and use in problem-solving. Forty-eight kindergarteners made one of two types of judgments about their memory span for words. Half of the children made prospective verbal predictions about the number of words they thought they could recall from a list of 10. The other half made concurrent, nonverbal predictions by listening to words on a tape and manually stopping the tape when they heard as many words as they thought they could recall. Children's actual recall for words was then assessed. All children participated in multiple trials to assess the effect of task experience on their predictions. Analyses revealed that predictions made in the concurrent task were significantly more accurate than those made in the prospective task. All children lowered their predictions across trials, although only in the concurrent task were children's final-trial predictions not significantly greater than their actual recall. No meaningful effects or interactions were associated with actual recall scores. These results revealed that young children manifested greater memory knowledge when this knowledge was assessed through their concurrent problem-solving behavior rather than through their prospective verbal predictions.     

Inspection times, the change task, and the rapid-response selection task

Three experiments are reported, which are based upon the Wason four-card selection task inspection time paradigm, in which subjects solve computer-presented trials while using a mouse to indicate the card currently under consideration. Evans (1996) had shown that selected cards were inspected for longer than non-selected cards, and this was taken as support for the existence of pre-conscious heuristic processes that direct attention towards relevant aspects of a problem. However, Roberts (1998b) suggested that this inspection time effect is artefactual, due to task format induced biases. Experiment 1 utilized a "change" task: Cards were presented either as selected or not selected, and subjects changed these where necessary. This demonstrated an association between card selection and inspection time independently of one between the act of response and inspection time. Experiment 2 utilized a standard selection task, but subjects either responded within 2 s of each card presentation, or made selections with no time pressure. The curtailment of thinking time increased matching behaviour—more cards matching the terms in the rules were selected—and was replicated in Experiment 3 using a within-subjects design. Overall, the data support Evans' heuristic-analytic framework albeit with some caveats.     

Children's metacognition: Exploring relations among knowledge,process, and motivational variables

Following a metamemory pretest, 60 first and third grade children (6 and 8 years of age, respectively) were divided into three treatment groups which received task-specific strategy instructions appropriate for three memory problems, general metacognitive information about subordinate and superordinate processing, or both strategy and metacognitive training. Maintenance and generalization versions of the memory tasks were given, followed by an attributional assessment of children's perceptions of the causes for specific success and failure outcomes. Post-training scores on the memory tasks showed that strategy training was highly successful. Metacognitive training appeared to have no effect on the metameory or strategy scores with one exception: metamemory and strategy use on the generalization task were significantly correlated only for children who received both metacognitive and strategy training. Apparently, children who were initially high in metamemory skills profited more from the comprehensive training package, using new metacognitive insights to aid the generalization of acquired strategies to the transfer tasks. Among strategy-trained children those who attributed success to effort were both more strategic and higher in metamemory than those who attributed task outcomes to noncontrollable factors such as ability or task characteristics. Results were discussed in terms of the interactive nature of knowledge, process, and motivational variables as determinants of strategy transfer.     

Goal orientation, task difficulty, and task interest: A multilevel analysis

We studied whether goal orientation affects the relationships that task difficulty and interest have with self-set goals. Using a sample of 499 undergraduate students who listed grade goals for their classes, we employed Hierarchical Linear Modeling to explain differences in the extent to which difficulty and interest related to goals. Higher goals were set for more interesting and easier classes, and for individuals higher in mastery goal orientation and for those lower in performance-avoidance orientation (at average levels of interest and difficulty). Furthermore, performance-approach and performance-avoidance orientations reduced and strengthened (respectively) the effects of task difficulty on self-set goals, and the buffering effect of mastery orientation was marginally significant. Portions of this paper were presented at the 19^th Annual Conference of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Chicago, IL, in April 2004.     

Evaluating the relationship between explicit and implicit knowledge in a sequential reaction time task

Can knowledge underlying a simple perceptual-motor skill be unconscious? Three experiments (a) trained participants on a 4-choice reaction time (RT) task in which the stimulus on each trial was determined by a repeating 12-element sequence and (b) studied the extent to which participants' knowledge of this sequence was implicit, that is, unavailable for conscious access. Participants proved via an indirect test to have acquired knowledge of the sequence, because their RTs increased when the sequence was changed. To evaluate whether this knowledge was consciously accessible, participants were asked to perform an "objective" free-generation or recognition test of sequence knowledge. Results show that sequence knowledge is fully accessible on these objective tests. Moreover, it is demonstrated in this procedure that old-new recognition cannot be explained by unconscious attribution of perceptual-motor fluency. The question is raised whether distinct implicit (procedural) and explicit (declarative) forms of knowledge are acquired when participants learn a perceptual-motor skill.     

Helping children apply their knowledge to their behavior on a dimension-switching task

To investigate why 3-year-olds have difficulty in switching sorting dimensions, children of 3 and 4 years were tested in one of four conditions on Zelazo's card sort task: standard, sleeve, label and face-up. In the standard condition, children were required to sort blue-truck and red-star cards under either a blue-star or red-truck model card, first by color or shape, and then by the other dimension. Here 3-year-olds sorted correctly until the dimension changed; they continue to sort by the initial dimension. The sleeve condition (placing the sorting cards in an envelope prior to sorting) had little effect. In the label condition, the child labeled the relevant sorting dimension on each trial. Most 3-year-olds succeeded; evidently their labeling helped them refocus their attention, overcoming ‘attentional inertia’ (the pull to continue attending to the previously relevant dimension). In the face-up condition, attentional inertia was strengthened because sorted cards were left face-up; 4-year-olds performed worse than in the standard condition. We posit that attentional inertia is the core problem for preschoolers on the card sort task.