Actions can enhance memory, exemplified by the enactment effect. In a typical experiment, participants hear a series of simple action phrases (e.g., "bounce the ball"), which they either carry out (subject-performed tasks, or SPTs), watch the experimenter carry out (experimenter-performed tasks, EPTs), or simply listen to (verbal tasks,…

Stimulus-response binding and retrieval (SRBR) is a fundamental mechanism driving behavior automatization. In five experiments, we investigated the modulatory role of affective consequences (AC) on SRBR effects to test whether binding/retrieval can explain instrumental learning (i.e., the "law of effect"). SRBR effects were assessed in a…

A major question for the study of learning and memory is how to tailor learning experiences to promote knowledge that generalizes to new situations. In two experiments, we used category learning as a representative domain to test two factors thought to influence the acquisition of conceptual knowledge: the number of training examples (set size)…

For nearly half a century now, Garner interference has been serving as the gold standard measure of dimensional interaction and selective attention. But the mechanisms that generate Garner interference are still not well understood. The current study proposes a novel theory that ascribes the interference (and dimensional interaction in general) to…

A classic issue in the cognitive psychology of human category learning has involved the contrast between exemplar and prototype models. However, experimental tests to distinguish the models have relied almost solely on use of artificially-constructed categories composed of simplified stimuli. Here we contrast the predictions from the models in a…

Signal detection theory is one of psychology's most well-known and influential theoretical frameworks. However, the conceptual hurdles that had to be overcome before the theory could finally emerge in its modern form in the early 1950s seem to have been largely forgotten. Here, I trace the origins of signal detection theory, beginning with…

Language is used in communicative contexts to identify and successfully transmit new information that should be later remembered. In three studies, we used question-answer pairs, a naturalistic device for focusing information, to examine how properties of conversations inform later item memory. In Experiment 1, participants viewed three pictures…

Education needs a psychological approach to its process and mechanism. Contemporary psychology is rooted in philosophical thought and physiological inquiry. Psychology cannot be separated from the influence of three schools in philosophy, i.e., materialism, empiricism, and positivism. One of the empiricist thinkers who gave nuances and color in…

Knowing what one knows and accurately monitoring one's own capacities and performance on a moment-to-moment basis are important determinants of task success. Individual differences in such metacognitive monitoring are well documented, but what determines an individual's monitoring accuracy in a particular context is yet to be fully understood. One…

Experimental psychology is witnessing an increase in research on individual differences, which requires the development of new tasks that can reliably assess variations among participants. To do this, cognitive researchers need statistical methods that many researchers have not learned during their training. The lack of expertise can pose…

In this article, we argue that the "science of reading" (SOR) construct is being used to shape the future of literacy teacher preparation and silence the voices and work of literacy teacher education researchers to the detriment of quality science, quality teaching, and quality teacher preparation. First, we briefly inspect the SOR…

In a novel version of the classic dot-pattern prototype-distortion paradigm of category learning, Homa et al. (2019) tested a condition in which individual training instances never repeated, and observed results that they claimed severely challenged exemplar models of classification and recognition. Among the results was a dissociation in which…

In this article, we assess an alternative account of a key experimental pattern thought to index top-down control. The list-wide proportion congruence effect is the well-documented pattern whereby the congruency effect (i.e., Stroop effect) is attenuated in lists containing mostly incongruent trials relative to lists containing mostly congruent…

The testing effect is 1 of several memory effects moderated by experimental design, such that the effect on free recall is larger in a mixed-list than pure-list design (Mulligan, Susser, & Smith, 2016). The current experiments assess hypotheses regarding why this pattern is found. Three extant accounts of design effects (Nguyen & McDaniel,…

In recognition memory, anything that is objectively new is necessarily not-old, and anything that is objectively old is necessarily not-new. Therefore, judging whether a test item is new is logically equivalent to judging whether it is old, and conversely. Nevertheless, a series of 10 experiments showed that old? and new? judgments did not produce…