Recent studies have shown that interim testing of previously studied material facilitates the learning of new material. Such forward testing effect occurs, in part, because interim testing provides learners with an opportunity to evaluate their learning strategies and allows them to use more effective strategies in their subsequent learning. We…

Readers confronted with unfamiliar and controversial scientific debates tend to rely on simple heuristics such as the perceived plausibility to focus their cognitive resources on specific information during comprehension. In the present experiment, we tested the assumption that plausibility judgments as an integral part of comprehension are used…

College subjects (n=106) judged a set of 12 covariation problems structured so that each of four judgment rules would produce a distinctive judgment pattern on a problem set. The findings suggest that self-report is a weak basis for conclusions about sources of error in covariation judgment. (Author/PN)

This study sought to answer whether children can adjust their evaluation of essays according to standards expressed in the instructions. The question of whether the relative difficulty of detecting inconsistencies and falsehoods depends on the type of problem children are trying to find was addressed. (Author/GK)

A training procedure to teach the discrimination of implication from asserted fact was developed and tested with adults in on experiment, and was revised and tested with adults and seventh- and ninth-grade students in another experiment. A marginal developmental trend of better discrimination with increasing age was found. (Author/GK)

Accuracy of students' judgments of learning (JOLs) in predicting recognition versus recall was investigated in 4 experiments involving 263 college students. Accuracy was greater for delayed JOLs than for immediate JOLs, and the accuracy of JOLs was lower in predicting recognition than recall. (SLD)

The accuracy of 210 college undergraduates' judgments of the relative learnability of original (Army training manuals) and rewritten (war or cultural histories) versions of 20 pairs of texts of known difficulty was studied. Students were 95 percent accurate in their judgments of learnability. Implications for college textbook selection are…

An achievement situation describing two children successfully and unsuccessfully performing task in competitive, cooperative, and individualistic reward structures was presented to 400 children across five grade levels. Results showed that different evaluative beliefs about the concepts of ability and reward allocation were associated with each…

The accuracy and relations between 38 undergraduates' knowledge of content and origin of course information were examined. Results indicate a relationship between correct answers on a multiple-choice test and knowledge concerning the origin of information pertinent to the answers. Findings are discussed in terms of a reality-monitoring model. (TJH)

Interactions between levels of learner knowledge in a domain and levels of instructional guidance were investigated. Inexperienced trade apprentices were presented with either worked examples to study or problems to solve. On subsequent tests, inexperienced trainees benefited most from worked examples. With more experience in the domain, worked…

How people evaluate primary and secondary sources when considering historical questions was studied by asking eight historians and eight high school seniors to think aloud while reviewing written and pictorial documents about the Battle of Lexington. Differences between the groups are discussed concerning cognitive processes and beliefs about…

The effects of gender and behavior as perceived by teachers on their judgments of the academic skills of their students were studied for 794 students in kindergarten through grade 2 in public and parochial schools. Results show that teacher perceptions are a significant part of their scholastic judgments. (SLD)