Effect of Reward Contingency on Intrinsic Motivation

The effects of type of task and type of reward contingency on intrinsic motivation for subsequent task performance were investigated. The sample consisted of 50 young Indian adults. The results showed a significantly greater amount of free choice time spent on a heuristic task rather than an algorithmic task. The verbal measures of intrinsic motivation yielded a significant effect of reward contingency with greater intrinsic motivation under performance-contingent reward, followed by task-contingent and no-reward conditions, respectively. The results support self-determination and competence processes as important mediators of intrinsic motivation.     

Preference‐based Learning of Ideal Solutions in TOPSIS‐like Decision Models

Combining established modelling techniques from multiple‐criteria decision aiding with recent algorithmic advances in the emerging field of preference learning, we propose a new method that can be seen as an adaptive version of TOPSIS, the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution decision model (or at least a simplified variant of this model). On the basis of exemplary preference information in the form of pairwise comparisons between alternatives, our method seeks to induce an ‘ideal solution’ that, in conjunction with a weight factor for each criterion, represents the preferences of the decision maker. To this end, we resort to probabilistic models of discrete choice and make use of maximum likelihood inference. First experimental results on suitable preference data suggest that our approach is not only intuitively appealing and interesting from an interpretation point of view but also competitive to state‐of‐the‐art preference learning methods in terms of prediction accuracy. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Test-enhanced learning in the classroom: long-term improvements from quizzing

Three experiments examined whether quizzing promotes learning and retention of material from a social studies course with sixth grade students from a suburban middle school. The material used in the experiments was the course material students were to learn and some of the dependent measures were the actual tests on which students received grades. In within-subject designs, students received three low-stakes multiple-choice quizzes in Experiments 1 and 2 and performance on quizzed items was compared to that on items that were presented twice (Experiment 2) or items that were not presented on the initial quizzes (Experiments 1 and 2). We found that students' performance on both chapter exams and semester exams improved following quizzing relative to either not being quizzed or relative to the twice-presented items. In Experiment 3, students were given one multiple-choice quiz in class and encouraged to quiz themselves outside of class using a Web-based system. The assessment in this experiment was a short answer test in which students had to produce answers, but we also used multiple-choice tests. Once again, we found that quizzing of material produced a positive effect on chapter and semester exams. These results show the robustness of retrieval practice via testing as a learning mechanism in a classroom setting using the subject matter of the course and (in most cases) the tests on which students received grades as the dependent measures. Our results add to a growing body of evidence that retrieval practice in the classroom can boost academic performance.     

Control of appetitive and aversive taste-reactivity responses by an auditory conditioned stimulus in a devaluation task: a FOS and behavioral analysis

Through associative learning, cues for biologically significant reinforcers such as food may gain access to mental representations of those reinforcers. Here, we used devaluation procedures, behavioral assessment of hedonic taste-reactivity responses, and measurement of immediate-early gene (IEG) expression to show that a cue for food engages behavior and brain activity related to sensory and hedonic processing of that food. Rats first received a tone paired with intraoral infusion of sucrose. Then, in the absence of the tone, the value of sucrose was reduced (Devalue group) by pairing sucrose with lithium chloride (LiCl), or maintained (Maintain group) by presenting sucrose and LiCl unpaired. Finally, taste-reactivity responses to the tone were assessed in the absence of sucrose. Devalue rats showed high levels of aversive responses and minimal appetitive responses, whereas Maintain rats exhibited substantial appetitive responding but little aversive responding. Control rats that had not received tone-sucrose pairings did not display either class of behaviors. Devalue rats showed greater FOS expression than Maintain rats in several brain regions implicated in devaluation task performance and the display of aversive responses, including the basolateral amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex, gustatory cortex (GC), and the posterior accumbens shell (ACBs), whereas the opposite pattern was found in the anterior ACBs. Both Devalue and Maintain rats showed greater FOS expression than control rats in amygdala central nucleus, GC, and both subregions of ACBs. Thus, through associative learning, auditory cues for food gained access to neural processing in several brain regions importantly involved in the processing of taste memory information.     

Collective memories of three wars in United States history in younger and older adults

A collective memory is a representation of the past that is shared by members of a group. We investigated similarities and differences in the collective memories of younger and older adults for three major wars in U.S. history (the Civil War, World War II, and the Iraq War). Both groups were alive during the recent Iraq War, but only the older subjects were alive during World War II, and both groups learned about the Civil War from historical sources. Subjects recalled the 10 most important events that occurred during each war and then evaluated the emotional valence, the relative importance, and their level of knowledge for each event. They also estimated the percentage of people that would share their memory of each event within their age group and the other age group. Although most historical events were recalled by fewer than 25 % of subjects, younger and older adults commonly recalled a core set of events for each war that conform to a narrative structure that may be fundamental to collective remembering. Younger adults showed greater consensus in the events that they recalled for all three wars, relative to older adults, but there was less consensus in both groups for the Iraq War. Whereas younger adults recalled more specific events of short duration, older adults recalled more extended and summarized events of long duration. Our study shows that collective memories can be studied empirically and can differ depending on whether the events are experienced personally or learned from historical sources.     

Harmonized Phenotypes for Anxiety,Depression, and Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

In multi-cohort consortia, the problem often arises that a phenotype is measured using different questionnaires. This study aimed to harmonize scores based on the Child Behaviour Check List (CBCL) and the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) for anxiety/depression and ADHD. To link the scales, we used parent reports on 1330 children aged 10–11.5 years from the Raine study on both SDQ and CBCL. Harmonization was done based on Item Response Theory. We started from existing CBCL and SDQ scales related to anxiety/depression and ADHD (theoretical approach). Next, we conducted a data-driven approach using factor analysis to validate the theoretical approach. Both approaches yielded similar scales, validating the combination of existing scales. In addition, we studied the impact of harmonized (IRT-based) scores on the statistical power of the results in meta-analytic gene-finding studies. The results showed that the IRT-based harmonized scores increased the statistical power of the results compared to sum scores, even with an equal sample size. These findings can help future researchers to harmonize data from different samples and/or different questionnaires that measure anxiety, depression, and ADHD, in order to obtain the larger sample sizes, to compare research results across subpopulations or to increase generalizability, the validity or statistical power of research results. We recommend using our item parameters to estimate harmonized scores that represent commensurate phenotypes across cohorts, and we explained in detail how other researchers can use our results to harmonize data in their studies.

     

Quizzing in Middle‐School Science: Successful Transfer Performance on Classroom Exams

We examined whether learning from quizzing arises from memorization of answers or fosters more complete understanding of the quizzed content. In middle‐school science classes, we spaced three multiple‐choice quizzes on content in a unit. In Experiment 1, the class exams included questions given on quizzes, transfer questions targeting the same content, and content that had not been quizzed (control content). The quizzing procedure was associated with significant learning benefits with large effect sizes and similar effect sizes for both transfer items and identical items. In Experiment 2, quiz questions focused on definitional information or application of the principle. Application questions increased exam performance for definitional‐type questions and for different application questions. Definition questions did not confer benefits for application questions. Test‐enhanced learning, in addition to other factors in the present quizzing protocol (repeated, spaced presentation of the content), may create deeper understanding that leads to certain types of transfer. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Expectancy of an open-book test decreases performance on a delayed closed-book test

Two experiments examined the influence of practice with, and the expectancy of, open-book tests (students viewed studied material while taking the test) versus closed-book tests (students completed the test without viewing the studied material) on delayed retention and transfer. Using GRE materials specifically designed for open-book testing, participants studied passages and then took initial open- or closed-book tests. Open-book testing led to better initial performance than closed-book testing, but on a delayed criterial (closed-book) test both types of testing produced similar retention after a two-day delay in Experiment 1. In Experiment 2 participants were informed in advance about the type of delayed criterial test to expect (open- or closed-book). Expecting an open-book test (relative to a closed-book test) decreased participants' time spent studying and their delayed test performance on closed-book comprehension and transfer tests, demonstrating that test expectancy can influence long-term learning. Expectancy of open-book tests may impair long-term retention and transfer compared to closed-book tests, despite superior initial performance on open-book tests and students' preference for open-book tests.     

FUTURE ORIENTATION: A MEDIATOR IN TEMPORAL CODING

Influence of future orientation on temporal coding was investigated in two experimental studies. A three by two paradigm involving three conditions of list discrimination and two groups of subjects of high and low future orientation, was used. Story writing technique and list discrimination tasks were employed to assess future orientation and efficiency in using temporal codes, respectively. Results show that in experiment 1, when subjects had been forewarned about an impending memory test and hence there was a competition between these future demands and present demands of an orienting task, performance of high as compared to low future oriented subjects was better on list discrimination tasks; they utilized temporal codes more efficiently. This difference in performance between high and low future oriented groups of subjects was not evident in experiment 2 when there was no forewarning about an impending memory test. Temporal coding was better for different concept rather than same concept lists. It is argued that type of material, as well as perception of future utility of material, influence the amount of temporal coding for both groups of subjects, but dispositional future orientation also mediates the perception of the utility of a material in the future to affect its temporal coding.     

Accuracy constraints upon rapid elbow movements

Kinematic and myoelectric variables associated with rapid elbow-flexion movements of various distances to targets of various widths were studied. The movement time in these experiments conformed to Fitts' law: movement time increased with target distance and decreased with target width. Peak movement velocity, electromyograph (EMG) duration, and EMG quantity were poorly described by Fitts' law, for increases in target width were accompanied by increases in these variables. We show with regression equations, using separate weighting coefficients, that kinematic and myoelectric variables can be related to distance and target width. The use of distance and target width as independent variables allows us to suggest that the literature does not agree on the relation between EMG and distance moved partly because of the influences of the target on this relationship. We propose that human voluntary movement involves a subject "strategy," or set of internal constraints, that affect movement outcome. Significant elements of this strategy, such as how accurately to perform the task, may not be recognized or controlled in many movement paradigms, in spite of uniform instruction to subjects and similar apparatus.