Module 1: Factors Influencing Learning

Which of the following is NOT helpful in learning new materials?

Anxiety

Students who have problems with anxiety so that it affects their learning, can be helped if they

write about their anxiety

Katie and Lisa are roommates taking the same psychology class. They have a test in four days during a 10:30 - 11:30 class period. Both intend to study for three hours, but because of different work schedules, Katie will study one hour for each of the next three days, and Lisa will study three hours the day before the exam. What could you predict about their performances?

Katie should perform better because she has spaced her studying over the three days before the exam.

Of the following examples, which is the most important factor in encoding information to be remembered later?

actively processing the meaning of the material

Hugh is studying for his geography exam. He is in a hurry, so he focuses on the main points of the text by highlighting. He skips all the examples that the authors provide to illustrate each main point. Hugh is using which type of strategy?

an ineffective study strategy and will probably not retain many of the main ideas that he reads.

Working memory capacity is related to:

better reading comprehension, better reasoning skills, better attentional control

Which of the following is a good example of a working memory task?

calculating a multiplication problem in your head

Having more knowledge about a subject

helps your ability to learn new related information

This module argues that forgetting may be an important part of learning. Which is a good example of this argument?

our minds would become cluttered with irrelevant information, in order to learn more information we must be able to forget information that is incorrect

The term metacognition refers to:

our thoughts and knowledge about how our learning and memory work

Of the following examples, which is the best way to encode material that you want to learn?

reading a word and thinking about how it relates to you

When your instructor finishes reviewing a new topic in lecture, she often gives a clicker quiz. Clicker quizzes can serve the purpose of:

retrieval practice

An effective way to make sure that you will remember something a long time from now (such as in an upcoming exam) is to:

review the material at regular intervals

As soon as class is over, Karen goes to the Mountainlair, gets a cup of coffee, and reviews the material from class, asking herself what she remembers, and then checking to see if she is correct from her e-text. Karen is utilizing _____ to enhance her learning.

self-testing

According to memory research, studying is most effective if study sessions are:

short and across several days

The individual plays an important role in memory acquisition. Which of the following is LEAST likely to have an effect on memory?

the amount of money that you are reimbursed for learning the materials

Transfer-appropriate processing is likely to occur if:

the type of encoding matches the type of retrieval task

The principle of _____________ states that memory is better when the test taps the same type of knowledge as the original encoding activity.

transfer appropriate processing

Memory performance is enhanced if the type of task at encoding matches the type of task at retrieval. This is called:

transfer-appropriate processing