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Examining the testing effect in university teaching: retrievability and question format matter
(2018)
Review of learned material is crucial for the learning process. One approach that promises to increase the effectiveness of reviewing during learning is to answer questions about the learning content rather than restudying the material (testing effect). This effect is well established in lab experiments. However, existing research in educational contexts has often combined testing with additional didactical measures that hampers the interpretation of testing effects. We aimed to examine the testing effect in its pure form by implementing a minimal intervention design in a university lecture (N = 92). The last 10 min of each lecture session were used for reviewing the lecture content by either answering short-answer questions, multiple-choice questions, or reading summarizing statements about core lecture content. Three unannounced criterial tests measured the retention of learning content at different times (1, 12, and 23 weeks after the last lecture). A positive testing effect emerged for short-answer questions that targeted information that participants could retrieve from memory. This effect was independent of the time of test. The results indicated no testing effect for multiple-choice testing. These results suggest that short-answer testing but not multiple-choice testing may benefit learning in higher education contexts.
In three studies, we investigated, if and how different modes of presentation - written, auditory, audiovisual (auditory combined with pictures) - affect comprehension of semantically identical materials. Children, beginning from the age of 7, and adults were included into the studies. A vast amount of studies have shown that pictures can facilitate text comprehension (e.g. Carney & Levin, 2002).
Other than the majority of these previous studies, we assessed text comprehension with methods that we assume to allow more differentiated insights into the cognitive processes that - according to current theories - underlie text comprehension. Text comprehension involves at least three levels of mental representations (see Kintsch, 1998). Moreover, text comprehension means constructing a locally and globally coherent mental representation of the text content.
Using a sentence recognition task (see Schmalhofer & Glavanov, 1986), we examined whether the memory of the text surface, the text base, and the situation model differs between written, auditory, and audiovisual text presentation in a sample of 103 8- and 10-year-olds and adults (Study I), and between auditory and audiovisual text presentation in a sample of 106 7-, 9-, and 11-year-olds (Study II). Furthermore, we examined with 155 9- and 11-year-olds, whether the ability to draw inferences to establish local and global coherence differs between written, auditory, and audiovisual text presentation. These inferences were indicated by reaction times to words associated with a protagonist's super- (global) or subordinate (local) goal.
Overall, the results of these three studies taken together, indicate that children up to age 11 do not only have better memory of not only the text surface, but also of the situation model when pictures are added to an auditory text. This effect became apparent in comparison with both auditory and written texts. For the adults, in contrast, we did not find an effect of the presentation mode. Furthermore, both 9- and 11-year-olds were better at establishing global coherence at audiovisual compared to auditory text presentation. Written presentation turned out to be superior to auditory presentation in terms of both local and global coherence.
The rise of automated driving will fundamentally change our mobility in the near future. This thesis specifically considers the stage of so called highly automated driving (Level 3, SAE International, 2014). At this level, a system carries out vehicle guidance in specific application areas, e.g. on highway roads. The driver can temporarily suspend from monitoring the driving task and might use the time by engaging in so called non-driving related tasks (NDR-tasks). However, the driver is still in charge to resume vehicle control when prompted by the system. This new role of the driver has to be critically examined from a human factors perspective.
The main aim of this thesis was to systematically investigate the impact of different NDR-tasks on driver behavior and take-over performance. Wickens’ (2008) architecture of multiple resource theory was chosen as theoretical framework, with the building blocks of multiplicity (task interference due to resource overlap), mental workload (task demands), and aspects of executive control or self-regulation. Specific adaptations and extensions of the theory were discussed to account for the context of NDR-task interactions in highly automated driving.
Overall four driving simulator studies were carried out to investigate the role of these theoretical components. Study 1 showed that drivers focused NDR-task engagement on sections of highly automated compared to manual driving. In addition, drivers avoided task engagement prior to predictable take-over situations. These results indicate that self-regulatory behavior, as reported for manual driving, also takes place in the context of highly automated driving. Study 2 specifically addressed the impact of NDR-tasks’ stimulus and response modalities on take-over performance. Results showed that particularly visual-manual tasks with high motoric load (including the need to get rid of a handheld object) had detrimental effects. However, drivers seemed to be aware of task specific distraction in take-over situations and strictly canceled visual-manual tasks compared to a low impairing auditory-vocal task. Study 3 revealed that also the mental demand of NDR-tasks should be considered for drivers’ take-over performance. Finally, different human-machine-interfaces were developed and evaluated in Simulator Study 4. Concepts including an explicit pre-alert (“notification”) clearly supported drivers’ self-regulation and achieved high usability and acceptance ratings.
Overall, this thesis indicates that the architecture of multiple resource theory provides a useful framework for research in this field. Practical implications arise regarding the potential legal regulation of NDR-tasks as well as the design of elaborated human-machine-interfaces.
The abilities to comprehend and critically evaluate scientific texts and the various arguments stated in these texts are an important aspect of scientific literacy, but these competences are usually not formally taught to students. Previous research indicates that, although undergraduate students evaluate the claims and evidence they find in scientific
documents to some extent, these evaluations usually fail to meet normative standards. In addition, students’ use of source information for evaluation is often insufficient. The rise of the internet and the increased accessibility of information have yielded some additional challenges that highlight the importance of adequate training and instruction.The aim of the present work was to further examine introductory students’ competences to systematically and heuristically evaluate scientific information, to identify relevant strategies that are involved in a successful evaluation, and to use this knowledge to design appropriate interventions for fostering epistemic competences in university students.To this end, a number of computer-based studies, including both quantitative and qualitative data as well as experimental designs, were developed. The first two studies were designed to specify educational needs and to reveal helpful processing strategies that are required in different tasks and situations. Two expert-novice comparisons were developed, whereby the performance of German students of psychology (novices) was compared to the performance of scientists from the domain of psychology (experts) in a number of different tasks, such as systematic plausibility evaluations of informal arguments (Study 1) or heuristic evaluations of the credibility of multiple scientific documents (Study 2). A think-aloud procedure was used
to identify specific strategies that were applied in both groups during task completion, and that possibly mediated performance differences between students and scientists. In addition, relationships between different strategies and between strategy use and relevant conceptual knowledge was examined. Based on the results of the expert-novice comparisons, an intervention study, consisting of two training experiments, was constructed to foster some
competences that proved to be particularly deficient in the comparisons (Study 3). Study 1 examined introductory students’ abilities to accurately judge the plausibility of informal arguments according to normative standards, to recognise common argumentation fallacies, and to identify different structural components of arguments. The results from Study 1 indicate that many students, compared to scientists, lack relevant knowledge about the structure of arguments, and that normatively accurate evaluations of their plausibility seem to be challenging in this group. Often, common argumentation fallacies were not identified correctly. Importantly, these deficits were partly mediated by differences in strategy use: It was especially difficult for students to pay sufficient attention to the relationship between argument components when forming their judgements. Moreover, they frequently relied on their intuition or opinion as a criterion for evaluation, whereas scientists predominantly determined quality of arguments based on their internal consistency.
In addition to students’ evaluation of the plausibility of informal arguments, Study 2 examined introductory students’ competences to evaluate the credibility of multiple scientific texts, and to use source characteristics for evaluation. The results show that students struggled not only to judge the plausibility of arguments correctly, but also to heuristically judge the credibility of science texts, and these deficits were fully mediated by their insufficient use of source information. In contrast, scientists were able to apply different strategies in a flexible manner. When the conditions for evaluation did not allow systematic processing (i.e. time limit), they primarily used source characteristics for their evaluations. However, when
systematic evaluations were possible (i.e. no time limit), they used more sophisticated normative criteria for their evaluations, such as paying attention to the internal consistency of arguments (cf. Study 1). Results also showed that students, in contrast to experts, lacked relevant knowledge about different publication types, and this was related to their ability to correctly determine document credibility. The results from the expert-novice comparisons also suggest that the competences assessed in both tasks might develop as a result of a more fundamental form of scientific literacy and discipline expertise. Performances in all tasks were positively related. On the basis of these results, two training experiments were developed that aimed at fostering university students’ competences to understand and evaluate informal arguments (Study 3). Experiment 1 describes an intervention approach in which students were familiarised with the formal structure of arguments based on Toulmin’s (1958) argumentation model. The performance of the experimental group to identify the structural components of this model was compared to the performance of a control group in which speed reading skills were practiced, using a pre-post-follow-up design. Results show that the training was successful for improving the comprehension of more complex arguments and relational aspects between key components in the posttest, compared to the control group. Moreover, an interaction effect was found with study performance. High achieving students with above average grades profited the most from the training intervention. Experiment 2 showed that
training in plausibility, normative criteria of argument evaluation, and argumentation fallacies improved students’ abilities to evaluate the plausibility of arguments and, in addition, their competences to recognise structural components of arguments, compared to a speed-reading control group. These results have important implications for education and practice, which will be discussed in detail in this dissertation.
Regulatory focus (RF) theory (Higgins, 1997) states that individuals follow different strategic concerns when focusing on gains (promotion) rather than losses (prevention). Applying the Reflective-Impulsive Model (RIM, Strack & Deutsch, 2004), this dissertation investigates RF’s influence on basic information processing, specifically semantic processing (Study 1), semantic (Study 2) and affective (Study 3) associative priming, and basic reflective operations (Studies 4-7). Study 1 showed no effect of RF on pre-activation of RF-related semantic concepts in a lexical decision task (LDT). Study 2 indicated that primes fitting a promotion focus improve performance in a LDT for chronically promotion-focused individuals, but not chronically prevention-focused individuals. However, the latter performed better when targets fit their focus. Stronger affect and arousal after processing valent words fitting an RF may explain this pattern. Study 3 showed some evidence for stronger priming effects for negative primes in a bona-fide pipeline task (Fazio et al., 1995) for chronically prevention-focused participants, while also providing evidence that situational prevention focus insulates individuals from misattributing the valence of simple primes. Studies 4-7 showed that a strong chronic prevention focus leads to greater negation effects for valent primes in an Affect Misattribution Procedure (Payne et al., 2005), especially when it fits the situation. Furthermore, Study 6 showed that these effects result from stronger weighting of negated valence rather than greater ease in negation. Study 7 showed that the increased negation effect is independent of time pressure. Broad implications are discussed, including how RF effects on basic processing may explain higher-order RF effects.
Programmansätze und deren Einsatz in vorschulisch, schulisch und außerschulisch bildenden Kontexten erfreuen sich der zunehmenden Beliebtheit. Ein breites und nicht nachlassendes Interesse in Forschung und Praxis kommt insbesondere vorschulischen Trainingskonzepten zuteil, denen das Potenzial zugesprochen wird, später auftretenden Schwierigkeiten beim Erwerb der Schriftsprache wirksam vorzubeugen.
Das Würzburger Trainingsprogramm »Hören, lauschen, lernen« stellt einen konzeptionell auf schriftspracherwerbstheoretischen Annahmen fundierten und mit mehreren evaluierenden Studien erprobten Trainingsansatz dar. Dieser bezweckt, Kindern den Erwerb des Lesens und Schreibens zu erleichtern. Dem Anspruch, späteren Lese-Rechtschreibschwierigkeiten effektiv vorzubeugen, unterliegt die vorschulische Förderung bereichsspezifischer Kompetenzen des Schriftspracherwerbs, insbesondere der Kompetenz phonologische Bewusstheit. Die Förderung wird optimal ausgeschöpft, sofern Empfehlungen einer qualitativen Implementierung umgesetzt werden, die als Manualtreue, Durchführungsintensität, Programmdifferenzierung, Programmkomplexität, Implementierungsstrategien, Vermittlungsqualität und Teilnehmerreaktion spezifiziert sind.
Zunehmend diskutiert sind in der Trainingsforschung, neben der theoretischen Fundierung und dem zu erbringenden Nachweis an empirischer Evidenz von Programmansätzen, Kriterien der Praxistauglichkeit. Daher befasst sich die vorliegende Arbeit mit der Frage der Programmrobustheit gegenüber Trainereffekten. Es nahmen 300 Kinder an dem Würzburger Trainingsprogramm teil und wurden 64 Kindern gegenübergestellt, die dem regulären Kindergartenprogramm folgten. Angeleitet durch das erzieherische Personal fand das 5-monatig andauernde Training innerhalb des Vorschuljahres statt. Die kindliche Entwicklung in den bereichsspezifischen Kompetenzen der phonologischen Bewusstheit und der Graphem-Phonem-Korrespondenz wurde vor und nach der Trainingsmaßnahme sowie zum Schulübertritt und in den Kompetenzen des Rechtschreibens und Lesens zum Ende des ersten Schuljahres untersucht. Es ließen sich unmittelbar und langfristig Trainingseffekte des eingesetzten Programmes nachweisen; indessen blieb ein Transfererfolg aus.
Der Exploration von Trainereffekten unterlag eine Eruierung der Praxistauglichkeit des Trainingsprogrammes anhand der erfolgten Implementierung durch das anleitende erzieherische Personal. Aus der ursprünglich mit 300 Kindern aus 44 involvierten Kindergärten bestehenden Datenbasis wurden drei Subgruppen mit insgesamt 174 Kindern aus 17 Kindergärten identifiziert, bei denen deutliche Diskrepanzen zu unmittelbaren, langfristigen und transferierenden Effekten des Trainingsprogrammes auftraten. Exploriert wurden Unterschiede in der Durchführung, um Rückschlüsse auf qualitative Aspekte der Programmimplementierung zu ziehen. Die Befunde des Extremgruppenvergleichs deuteten an, dass weniger Aspekte der Manualtreue und Durchführungsintensität ausschlaggebend für die Programmwirksamkeit waren; vielmehr schien für die Wirksamkeit des Trainingsprogrammes die Implementierung in der Art und Weise, wie die Trainingsinhalte den Kindern durch das erzieherische Personal vermittelt waren, entscheidend zu sein. Befunde zur eruierten Teilnehmerreaktion, die auf differenzielle Fördereffekte verweisen, stellten die Trainingswirksamkeit insbesondere für Kinder heraus, bei denen prognostisch ein Risiko unterstellt war, später auftretende Schwierigkeiten mit der Schriftsprache zu entwickeln. Ferner zeichnete sich ab, dass neben der Qualität der Programmimplementierung scheinbar auch Unterschiede in der schulischen Instruktionsmethode des Lesens und Schreibens einen nivellierenden Einfluss auf den Transfererfolg des Programmes ausübten. Theoretische und praktische Implikationen für den Einsatz des Trainingsprogrammes wurden diskutiert.
The Concealed Information Test (CIT) is a well-validated means to detect whether someone possesses certain (e.g., crime-relevant) information. The current study investigated whether alcohol intoxication during CIT administration influences reaction time (RT) CIT-effects. Two opposing predictions can be made. First, by decreasing attention to critical information, alcohol intoxication could diminish CIT-effects. Second, by hampering the inhibition of truthful responses, alcohol intoxication could increase CIT-effects. A correlational field design was employed. Participants (n = 42) were recruited and tested at a bar, where alcohol consumption was voluntary and incidental. Participants completed a CIT, in which they were instructed to hide knowledge of their true identity. BAC was estimated via breath alcohol ratio. Results revealed that higher BAC levels were correlated with higher CIT-effects. Our results demonstrate that robust CIT effects can be obtained even when testing conditions differ from typical laboratory settings and strengthen the idea that response inhibition contributes to the RT-CIT effect.
Pictorial stimuli can vary on many dimensions, several aspects of which are captured by the term ‘visual complexity.’ Visual complexity can be described as, “a picture of a few objects, colors, or structures would be less complex than a very colorful picture of many objects that is composed of several components.” Prior studies have reported a relationship between affect and visual complexity, where complex pictures are rated as more pleasant and arousing. However, a relationship in the opposite direction, an effect of affect on visual complexity, is also possible; emotional arousal and valence are known to influence selective attention and visual processing. In a series of experiments, we found that ratings of visual complexity correlated with affective ratings, and independently also with computational measures of visual complexity. These computational measures did not correlate with affect, suggesting that complexity ratings are separately related to distinct factors. We investigated the relationship between affect and ratings of visual complexity, finding an ‘arousal-complexity bias’ to be a robust phenomenon. Moreover, we found this bias could be attenuated when explicitly indicated but did not correlate with inter-individual difference measures of affective processing, and was largely unrelated to cognitive and eyetracking measures. Taken together, the arousal-complexity bias seems to be caused by a relationship between arousal and visual processing as it has been described for the greater vividness of arousing pictures. The described arousal-complexity bias is also of relevance from an experimental perspective because visual complexity is often considered a variable to control for when using pictorial stimuli.
In today’s world of work, networking behaviors are an important and viable strategy to enhance success in work and career domains. Concerning personality as an antecedent of networking behaviors, prior studies have exclusively relied on trait perspectives that focus on how people feel, think, and act. Adopting a motivational perspective on personality, we enlarge this focus and argue that beyond traits predominantly tapping social content, motives shed further light on instrumental aspects of networking – or why people network. We use McClelland’s implicit motives framework of need for power (nPow), need for achievement (nAch), and need for affiliation (nAff) to examine instrumental determinants of networking. Using a facet theoretical approach to networking behaviors, we predict differential relations of these three motives with facets of (1) internal vs. external networking and (2) building, maintaining, and using contacts. We conducted an online study, in which we temporally separate measures (N = 539 employed individuals) to examine our hypotheses. Using multivariate latent regression, we show that nAch is related to networking in general. In line with theoretical differences between networking facets, we find that nAff is positively related to building contacts, whereas nPow is positively related to using internal contacts. In sum, this study shows that networking is not only driven by social factors (i.e., nAff), but instead the achievement motive is the most important driver of networking behaviors.