A context-based theory of recency and contiguity in free recall

The authors present a new model of free recall on the basis of M. W. Howard and M. J. Kahana's temporal context model and M. Usher and J. L. McClelland's leaky-accumulator decision model. In this model, contextual drift gives rise to both short-term and long-term recency effects, and contextual retrieval gives rise to short-term and long-term contiguity effects. Recall decisions are controlled by a race between competitive leaky accumulators. The model captures the dynamics of immediate, delayed, and continual distractor free recall, demonstrating that dissociations between short- and long-term recency can naturally arise from a model in which an internal contextual state is used as the sole cue for retrieval across time scales.     

An eye movement analysis of the spatial contiguity effect in multimedia learning

In three studies, eye movements of participants were recorded while they viewed a single-slide multimedia presentation about how car brakes work. Some of the participants saw an integrated presentation in which each segment of words was presented near its corresponding area of the diagram (integrated group, Experiments 1 and 3) or an integrated presentation that also included additional labels identifying each part (integrated-with-labels group, Experiment 2), whereas others saw a separated presentation in which the words were presented as a paragraph below the diagrams (separated group, Experiments 1 and 2) or as a legend below the diagrams (legend group, Experiment 3). On measures of cognitive processing during learning, the integrated groups made significantly more eye-movements from text to diagram and vice versa (integrative transitions; d = 1.65 in Experiment 1, d = 0.85 in Experiment 2, and d = 1.44 in Experiment 3) and significantly more eye-movements from the text to the corresponding part of the diagram (corresponding transitions; d = 2.02 in Experiment 1 and d = 1.35 in Experiment 3) than the separated groups. On measures of learning outcome the integrated groups significantly outperformed the separated groups on transfer test score in Experiment 1(d = .80) and Experiment 2 (d = .73) but not in Experiment 3 (d = .35). Spatial contiguity encourages more attempts to integrate words and pictures and enables more successful integration of words and pictures during learning, which can result in meaningful learning outcomes.     

The theory of learning styles applied to distance learning

Distance Education (DE) associated with the use of Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) as interaction tools between the student and the educator has become a large research niche spread around the world. Techniques to improve learning effectiveness in VLEs seek to find relation-ships connections between pedagogical advances and educational technological resources available in VLEs. In this context, this work sought to associate the theory of Learning Styles with the behavior of the student of Distance Education, observing their interaction with the Virtual Learning Environment and trying to associate them with their learning style identified by the CHAEA questionnaire. For this purpose, the CHAEA questionnaire was applied to a group of distance learning students and the correlation between their interactions with VLE and their learning styles was verified. The results show that there is no correlation between these elements, which may show, in fact, the lack of coherence between these theories. Seeking a model for data, a linear regression was applied and the results were, then, confirmed.     

The temporal contiguity effect predicts episodic memory performance

One way to study the associative processes at work during episodic memory is to examine the order of participant responses, which reveal the strong tendency to transition between temporally contiguous or semantically proximal items on the study list. Here, we assessed the correlation between participants’ recall performance and their use of semantic and temporal associations to guide retrieval across nine delayed free recall studies. The size of the participants’ temporal contiguity effects predicted their recall performance. When interpreted in terms of two models of episodic memory, these results suggest that participants who more effectively form and retrieve associations between items that occur nearby in time perform better on episodic recall tasks. Sample code may be downloaded as a supplement for this article from http://mc.psychonomic-journals.org/content/ supplemental.     

Physiological learning theory

Attention or concentration requires control of activity in those excess neurons that are not necessary for the present task. The control is probably not a massive inhibitory suppression but may be a recruiting process, a function of complex perceptual and associative learning that begins with early experience. Inhibition, however, may still be of crucial importance as a sharpener of associative mechanisms, and the child with minimal brain damage may have suffered a selective loss of inhibitory neurons.Paper prepared for reading at the Ciba Medical Horizons conference on MBD (minimal brain dysfunction), Omaha, Nebraska, April 2, 1976.     

Markov processes in learning theory

Consideration is given mathematical problems arising in two learning theories—one developed by Bush and Mosteller, the other developed by Estes. The theory of Bush and Mosteller leads to a class of Markov processes which have been studied in considerable detail (see [1] and [7]). The Estes model can be treated as a Markov chain, i.e., a Markov process with a finite number of states. For an important class of special cases, it is shown that the Bush-Mosteller model is, in a sense, a limiting form of the Estes model. The limiting probability distributions are derived for the cases treated in both models.This research was supported by the National Science Foundation through a grant given to the Dartmouth Mathematics Project.     

The reverse hierarchy theory of visual perceptual learning

Perceptual learning can be defined as practice-induced improvement in the ability to perform specific perceptual tasks. We previously proposed the Reverse Hierarchy Theory as a unifying concept that links behavioral findings of visual learning with physiological and anatomical data. Essentially, it asserts that learning is a top-down guided process, which begins at high-level areas of the visual system, and when these do not suffice, progresses backwards to the input levels, which have a better signal-to-noise ratio. This simple concept has proved powerful in explaining a broad range of findings, including seemingly contradicting data. We now extend this concept to describe the dynamics of skill acquisition and interpret recent behavioral and electrophysiological findings.