Introduction to Cognitive Psychology - Department of Psychological ...

Prof. Greg Francis 8/14/12SleepSleepSubjects are split in to threegroups, according to whenthey are tested 20 minutes later 12 hours later 24 hours laterBig differences when testedon new pairs that fit theordered structure E.g., A>C, C>E, B>DHalf of the 12 hour grouphad sleep and half did notIt makes a difference forpairs of items that are farapart in the orderedstructure1-degree: A>C, B>D,…2-degree: A>D, B>E,…Advice: study early! Get some sleep!Purdue UniversityPurdue UniversityA common approach to studying isto use flash cards (or somethingsimilar)Two steps to studying 1) Read material on both sides(study) 2) Practice test the material (givenone side, try to recall the informationon the other side)What should you do when yousuccessfully recall the informationduring the practice test? Continue to study? Continue to test? Set aside and focus on other cards?Practicing recall Karpicke & Roediger (2008)Practicing recallSubjects study 40 Swahili - English word pairs mashua – boat kaka -- brother Test for English given Swahili:» mashua --???Four groups of subjects, that differ after an item is correctly recalled ST (study-test): subject studies and continually tested over every pair SnT (study on non-recalled - test on all): when a subject recalls a pair, it is nolonger studied, but it continues to be tested STn (study all, test only on non-recalled): when a subject recalls a pair, itcontinues to be studied, but it is not tested SnTn (study on non-recalled, test on non-recalled): when a subject recalls apair, it is not studied or tested againA week later, everyone is testedPurdue UniversityPurdue UniversityPracticing recallLearning stylesStandard advice is that once you learn something, study something elseThis is not good advicePerformance is best whenevery pair is tested, even ifyou have alreadydemonstrated it ismemorizedThe amount of time spentstudying the words doesnot matter so muchSuggests that you learn howto recall the informationAdvice: Test yourself!Keep practicetestingDont practicetestA common approach in education is to identify a students learning styleand then teach for that styleLots of tests to identify a students learning styleThere do seem to be real differences in what style people indicate theypreferPurdue UniversityPurdue UniversityPSY 200: Intro. to Cognitive Psychology 4