Repeated study typically improves episodic memory performance. Two different types of explanations of this phenomenon have been put forward: (1) reactivating the same representations strengthens and stabilizes memories, or (2) greater encoding variability benefits memory by promoting richer traces. The present experiment directly compared these…

Research has shown that retrieval activities, that is, actively recalling previously studied information, may substantially contribute to learning from complex educational materials, sometimes more so than other more popular techniques such as rereading and elaborative study. In this context, recent studies (Blunt and Karpicke, J Educ Psychol…

Objects learned within single enclosed spaces (e.g., rooms) can be represented within a single reference frame. Contrarily, the representation of navigable spaces (multiple interconnected enclosed spaces) is less well understood. In this study we examined different levels of integration within memory (local, regional, global), when learning object…

Humans are extremely susceptible to social influence. Here, we examine whether this susceptibility is altered in autism, a condition characterized by social difficulties. Autistic participants (N = 22) and neurotypical controls (N = 22) completed a memory test of previously seen words and were then exposed to answers supposedly given by four other…

In a single large-scale study, we demonstrate that verbal sequence learning as studied using the classic Hebb repetition effect (Hebb, 1961)--the improvement in the serial recall of a repeating sequence compared to nonrepeated sequences--is resilient to both wide and irregular spacing between sequence repetitions. Learning of a repeated sequence…

Beta-adrenergic receptor (ß-AR) activation by norepinephrine (NE) enhances memory and stabilizes long-term potentiation (LTP), a form of synaptic plasticity believed to underlie some forms of hippocampal memory. LTP can occur at multiple synaptic pathways as a result of strong stimulation to one pathway preceding milder stimulation of an adjacent,…

The autobiographical shows "The Waiting Room" (by John Mann and Morris Panych), and "Sonic Elder" (by Vancouver's The Chop Theatre), both featured performers with dementia or marked age-related memory loss who performed rock music live on stage. These professional Canadian productions used a dramaturgical approach…

This short essay uses James Thompson's aesthetics of care to examine 'Memory in Two Voices', a multi-vocal poetry performance about dementia by long-time lesbian partners Chris Morrissey and Bridget Coll. Noting how Chris and Bridget's years-long tenure in the Queer Imaging and Riting Kollective for Elders, an arts and performance group based in…

Curiosity stimulates learning. We tested whether curiosity itself can be stimulated--not by extrinsic rewards but by an intrinsic desire to know whether a prediction holds true. Participants performed a numerical-facts learning task in which they had to generate either a prediction or an example before rating their curiosity and seeing the correct…

The purpose of the current study was to better understand performance variability in sentence comprehension in people with aphasia, compared to a control group of adults. People with aphasia often have difficulty understanding sentences that are complex in structure and meaning. Comprehension difficulty is variable, which may confound the clinical…

Purpose: We assessed the potential direct and indirect (mediated) influences of 4 cognitive mechanisms we believe are theoretically relevant to canonical and noncanonical sentence comprehension of school-age children with and without developmental language disorder (DLD). Method: One hundred seventeen children with DLD and 117 propensity-matched…

This study explored the relations between reading comprehension and two memory capacities, short-term memory (STM) and working memory (WM), for adults who read between the third and eighth grade levels. With a sample of 407 adults from two countries, we computed correlations among measures and conducted hierarchical regression and commonality…

The emerging field of robotics education (RE) is a new and rapidly growing subject area worldwide. It may provide a playful and novel learning environment for children to engage with all aspects of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning. The purpose of this research is to examine how robotics learning activities may…

The flipped classroom model is an innovative and increasingly popular pedagogical approach in higher education. However, despite its increasing popularity, few studies have elaborated on specific strategies to implement a flipped classroom model. This study has as its purpose to investigate the effect of an extended flipped classroom model for…

Background: Previous research has examined the use of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) in English language teaching. However, to the best of our knowledge, none of the earlier studies that investigated integrating AR and VR "wearables" into teaching and learning English based on the attention, relevance, confidence, and…