Declarative memory performance is superior for items that were encoded in temporal proximity to reward delivery or expectancy. How reward-predicting contexts affect subsequent declarative memory formation in those contexts are, however, unknown. Using an ecological experimental setup in the form of a naturalistic driving simulator task, we…

The current study longitudinally examined the influence of aptitude on second language (L2) pronunciation development when 40 first-year Japanese university students engaged in practice activities inside and outside English-as-a-Foreign-Language classrooms over one academic year. Spontaneous speech samples were elicited at the beginning, middle,…

Research from the adaptive memory framework shows that thinking about words in terms of their survival value in an incidental learning task enhances their free recall relative to other semantic encoding strategies and intentional learning (Nairne, Pandeirada, & Thompson, 2008). We found similar results. When participants used incidental…

The expression of expert motor skills typically involves learning to perform a precisely timed sequence of movements. Research examining incidental sequence learning has relied on a perceptually cued task that gives participants exposure to repeating motor sequences but does not require timing of responses for accuracy. In the 1st experiment, a…

The purpose of this experiment was to develop a more explicit conceptual model regarding how learning goals influence learning from text than is currently available. (Author/DEP)

Subjects received either specific or general objectives before or after the four sections of the audiotaped lecture. A control group received no objectives. Results on the use of objectives with written text showed that the before position increased intentional learning more than the after position. Incidental learning was significantly higher…

The notion that student generated questions or instructor generated questions of a recalled prose passage will better aid learning is examined. (DEP)

Among elementary, junior high, and college students, intelligent retrieval methods for recalling 20 letters of the alphabet consisted either of mentally proceeding through the alphabet from the onset and writing down each previously written letter as encountered and recognized, or else first rote recalling some letters and then switching to the…