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Hertzog, C., Price, J., & Dunlosky J. (2009). Age differences in the effects of experimenter-instructed versus self-generated strategy use. Unpublished manuscript.

Abstract

Patterson, M. M., & Hertzog, C. (in press). The effect of age in four alternative forced choice item and associative recognition tasks. Psychology and Aging.

Abstract

Seventy-three young and 84 older adults were taught interactive imagery as a strategy for learning word pairs. In the control condition, participants viewed word pairs one at a time and formed an interactive image for each. In the experimental condition, participants first formed individual mental images for both the cue and the target, and then formed an interactive image for the pair. Participants in both conditions then completed four alternative forced choice item and associative recognition tasks that avoid influences of age differences in retrieval strategies such as recall-to-reject. Unlike findings with typical yes-no recognition tests, associative recognition was superior to item recognition in the control condition. This effect was attenuated in the experimental condition. Older adults had poorer recognition memory for both associative and item tests, with a larger age difference for recognizing new associations.

Hertzog, C., Price, J., Burpee, A., Frentzel, W.J., Feldstein, S., & Dunlosky, J. (2009). Why Do People Show Minimal Knowledge Updating with Task Experience: Inferential Deficit or Experimental Artifact? Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 62, 155-173.

Abstract

This study evaluated how people learn about encoding strategy effectiveness in an associative memory task. Individuals studied two lists of paired associates under instructions to use either a normatively effective strategy (interactive imagery) or a normatively ineffective strategy (rote repetition) for each pair. Questionnaire ratings of imagery effectiveness increased and ratings of repetition effectiveness decreased after task experience, demonstrating new knowledge about strategy effectiveness. Cued recall confidence judgments, measuring confidence in recall accuracy, were almost perfectly correlated with actual recall and strongly correlated with postdictions—estimates of recall for each strategy. A structural regression model revealed that postdictions mediated both changes in second-list predictions and changes in strategy effectiveness ratings, implicating accurate performance estimates based on item-level monitoring as the key to updating strategy knowledge.

Hertzog, C.,  Price, J., & Dunlosky J. (2008). How is knowledge generate about memory encoding strategy effectiveness. Learning and Individual Differences, 18, 430-445.

Abstract

Age-related differences in updating knowledge about strategy effectiveness after task experience have not been consistently found, perhaps because the magnitude of observed knowledge updating has been rather meager for both age groups. We examined whether creating homogeneous blocks of recall tests based on two strategies used at encoding (imagery and repetition) would enhance people’s learning about strategy effects on recall. Younger and older adults demonstrated greater knowledge updating (as measured by questionnaire ratings of strategy effectiveness and by global judgments of performance) with blocked (versus random) testing. The benefit of blocked testing for absolute accuracy of global predictions was smaller for older than younger adults. However, individual differences in correlations of strategy effectiveness ratings and postdictions showed similar upgrades for both age groups. Older adults learn about imagery’s superior effectiveness but do not accurately estimate the magnitude of its benefit, even after blocked testing.

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Elizabeth A.L Stine-Morrow, E.A.L., Soederberg Miller, L.M., Gagne D.D., & Hertzog, C. (2008). Self-regulated reading in adulthood.  Psychology and Aging, 23, 131-153.

Abstract

Younger and older adults read a series of passages of three different genres for an immediate assessment of text memory (measured by recall and true-false questions). Word-by-word reading times were measured and decomposed into components reflecting resource allocation to particular linguistic processes using regression. Allocation to word and textbase processes showed some consistency across the three text types and was predictive of memory performance. Older adults allocated more time to word and textbase processes than the young did, but showed enhanced contextual facilitation. Structural equation modeling showed that greater resource allocation to word processes was required among readers with relatively low working memory spans and poorer verbal ability, and that greater resource allocation to textbase processes was engendered by higher verbal ability. Results are discussed in terms of a model of self-regulated language processing suggesting that older readers may compensate for processing deficiencies through greater reliance on discourse context and on increases in resource allocation that are enabled through growth in crystallized ability.

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Hertzog, C.,  Dunlosky, J., & Robinson, E. (2007). Intellectual abilities and metacognitive beliefs influence spontaneous use of effective encoding strategies.

Abstract

Intelligence is strongly related to episodic memory. One explanation is that individuals with greater processing capacity are more likely to use effective strategies during encoding, but this hypothesis has not been empirically tested. A sample of 335 participants (ages 26 – 83) completed measures of cognitive abilities (e.g., inductive reasoning, processing speed, working memory), memory beliefs, episodic memory (associative recall and free recall), and strategic behavior on the memory tasks. For both memory tasks, cognitive abilities predicted individual differences in the spontaneous use of effective strategies (e.g., interactive imagery for associative recall), which in turn accounted for individual differences in memory performance. Nevertheless, strategy use only partially mediated the strong ability-memory relationship and could not explain age-related deficits in memory. Intellectual abilities influence human memory, in part, by providing processing resources that can support effective strategic behavior. Memory control beliefs and metacognitive knowledge also have independent influences on strategy use. Keywords: Intelligence, episodic memory, metacognition, strategy use, control beliefs, aging.

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Hertzog, C., & Dunlosky, J. (2006). Using visual imagery as a mnemonic for verbal associative learning:  Developmental and individual differences. In T. Vecchi & G. Bottini (Eds.).  Imagery and Spatial Cognition: Methods, Models and Cognitive Assessment (pp 259-280). John Benjamins Publishers: Amsterdam and Philadelphia, The Netherlands/USA.

Abstract

This chapter reviews some basic features of self-reported imagery use as a mnemonic for associative memory and reports empirical results on predictors of imagery use. Two self-report questionnaires about imagery, the VVIQ and IDQ, were used to predict self-reported imagery use in two studies, one in which people were informed about the existence of strategies like imagery, and one where strategy reports were collected retrospectively, so that spontaneous imagery use could be evaluated. In the second study, a strategy knowledge questionnaire was administered.  The IDQ, which measures a general disposition to use imagery for functional purposes, was a better predictor of imagery use than the VVIQ, which queries self-reported imagery vividness in an image-instruction paradigm.  This finding is consistent with other literature.  However, the best predictor of imagery use was an effectiveness rating for that strategy from the knowledge questionnaire. The results extend existing studies by showing that a process-specific strategy measure is a better predictor of using imagery mnemonic use than a general measure of imagery preference (an aspect of a more general cognitive style).  There were no adult age differences in the pattern of findings.

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Stine-Morrow, E.A.L., Soederberg Miller, L.M., & Hertzog, C. (2006). Aging and self-regulated language processing. Psychological Bulletin, 132(4), 582-606.

Abstract

An adult developmental model of self-regulated language processing (SRLP) is introduced, in which the allocation policy with which a reader engages text is driven by declines in processing capacity, growth in knowledge-based processes, and age-related shifts in reading goals. Evidence is presented to show that the individual reader’s allocation policy is consistent across time and across different types of text, can serve a compensatory function in relation to abilities, and is predictive of subsequent memory performance. As such, it is an important facet of language understanding and learning from text through the adult life span.

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Dunlosky, J., Hertzog, C., & Powell-Moman, A.  (2005).  The contribution of mediator-based deficiencies to age-related differences in associative learning.  Developmental Psychology, 41 (2), 389-400.

Abstract

Production, mediational, and utilization deficiencies, describing how different aspects of strategy use may contribute to developmental trends across the life-span, have been intensively investigated. By employing the mediator report-and-retrieval method, we present evidence concerning the degree to which two previously unexplored mediator-based deficits retrieval and decoding deficiencies account for age-related declines in associative learning shown in later life. During study, older and younger adults were instructed to use a particular strategy (either imagery or sentence generation) to associate words within each paired associate. After study, they reported the mediator that had just been produced. During criterion recall, they attempted to retrieve each response and the mediator produced at study. Age-related deficits were found in criterion recall. Most important, these differences were associated with isolated effects in mediator-based deficiencies. Specifically, age differences were not evident in the production of mediators or in the features of mediators produced, whereas substantial deficits were evident in mediator retrieval and small, but reliable differences were observed in decoding mediators.

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Hertzog, C., & Dunlosky, J. (2004). Aging, metacognition, and cognitive control.  In B. H. Ross (Ed.), Psychology of Learning and Motivation.  San Diego: CA: Academic Press, 215-251.


Abstract

This chapter reviews our research program on strategy use during associative learning.  When learning unrelated paired-associates, such as TICK-SPOON, individuals benefit tremendously from the use of mediational strategies, such as forming a sentence using the two words, or creating a visual image with tokens of the two words interacting.  Our research has examined individual differences in the instructed and spontaneous use of mediational strategies.  Our findings indicate that age deficits in associative learning cannot be attributed to differences in the production of effective mediators.  Older adults produce effective mediators, especially when informed about their existence, but reap less benefit from their use. We have also shown that intellectual abilities and metacognitive beliefs predict spontaneous strategy use in adults of all ages.

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Robinson, A. E., & Hertzog, C.  (2003).  The role of strategies and instructions in relational deductive reasoning.  Proceeding of the Twenty-Fifth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

Abstract

Deductive reasoning is often seen as being composed of an immutable mechanism, universal to all reasoning situations and consisting of either mental models (e.g., Johnson-Laird, 1983) or formal-rules (e.g., Rips, 1994). Many researchers have questioned whether these positions are truly mutually exclusive (e.g., Roberts, 1993, 2000). Most deductive reasoning research has largely ignored the influence of instructions and strategies on the reasoning process. The present experiment was conducted to investigate reasoning strategies along with metacognitive measures of those strategies. Instructions were given to use a particular strategy (e.g., spatial, verbal). Items were separated into two levels: simple and complex, based on the amount of premises. Premise times, accuracy, and strategy reports were collected. Instructions had an effect on performance, as seen in premise times and accuracy. Also, strategy reports indicated a distribution of strategies utilized by participants. Strategy reports proved vital in corroborating differential patterns of performance indicative of varied approaches to solving this task.

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Matvey, G., Dunlosky, J., Shaw, R., Parks, C., & Hertzog, C. (2002). Age-related equivalence and deficit in knowledge updating of cue effectiveness.  Psychology and Aging, 17, 589-597.

Abstract

A critical metacognitive process is the updating of knowledge about cue and strategy effectiveness based on task experience. Prior research, using different methods and measures, has yielded inconsistent conclusions regarding age-related effects on knowledge updating. To resolve this inconsistency, we analyzed the effects of aging on multiple measures of knowledge updating within a single method. Older and younger adults studied cue-target associates during two study-test trials. Cues ranged from less effective rhyme cues to highly effective category cues. On each trial, different items were presented, and participants predicted recall performance, received a cued recall test, and postdicted recall performance. Knowledge updating was operationalized as an improvement in predictive accuracy across trials. An age-related deficits was evident in improvements in absolute accuracy across trials, whereas age differences were negligible in changes in relative accuracy across trials. Evidence from postdictions suggested that deficient inferential processes contributed to the age deficits in knowledge updating.

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Dunlosky, J., & Hertzog, C. (2001).  Measuring strategy production during associative learning: The relative utility of concurrent versus retrospective reports.  Memory & Cognition, 29, 247-253.

Abstract

Strategy production during associative learning can be measured by self reports made either concurrently with study or retrospectively. Both kinds of report presumably have strengths and weaknesses, yet a systematic comparison has not been conducted. Younger and older adults studied paired associates and reported strategy production using one or both kinds of report. Participants either were or were not informed about mediational strategies prior to study. Retrospective reports were not completely consistent with concurrent reports, suggesting that the validity of retrospective reports is somewhat diminished by forgetting. Making concurrent reports did not affect subsequent retrospective reports, but informing participants about strategies did affect reported strategies for both age groups and recall performance for older adults. A production deficiency constrained older adults' recall when there were not informed about strategies prior to study. Discussion focuses on the relative utility of concurrent and retrospective reports of strategy production.

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Dunlosky, J. & Hertzog, C. (2000).  Updating knowledge about encoding strategies: A componential analysis of learning about strategy effectiveness from task experience.  Psychology and Aging, 15, 462-474.

Abstract

Researchers have argued for age deficits in learning about the relative effects of encoding strategies from task experience, partly on the basis of absolute accuracy of metacognitive judgments. However, these findings could be attributed to factors other than age differences in learning about encoding strategies. Forty older adults and 40 younger adults participated in two study-test trials in which they studied paired associates with either interactive imagery or rote repetition, predicted subsequent recall for the items, attempted to recall each item, and postdicted recall performance. Recall was greater for imagery than repetition, yet this effect was not fully reflected by predictions made on Trial 1, allowing for the possibility of knowledge updating about the strategies on Trial 2. Although, both older and younger adults accurately postdicted recall performance during Trial 1, absolute accuracy of the predictions made on Trial 2 showed little improvement. However, both age groups demonstrated increases in between-person correlations of predictions with recall, which is consistent with age deficits in knowledge updating. Thus, both younger and older adults had updated knowledge about the strategies form task experience, but such updating was not evident in the absolute accuracy of the predictions.

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Hertzog, C., McGuire, C. L., & Lineweaver, T. T. (1998).   Aging, attributions, perceived control, and strategy use in a free recall task.  Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 5, 85-106.

Abstract

A cross-sectional sample of adults answered two questionnaires regarding beliefs about memory, took a free recall test, and then answered two open-ended questions obtaining causal attributions for memory task performance. Adults of all ages most frequently attributed memory performance to internal skills (typically, strategies for learning and remembering), although older adults were more likely than younger adults to make internal-ability attributions. Self-reported strategies were classified into three ranked categories: (a) optimal (some form of relational processing), (b) marginal (e.g., rote rehearsal), or (c) none (e.g., nonspecific effort). Use of optimal strategies was positively related to recall performance and perceived control over memory for persons of all ages. Age differences in use of strategies were small and did not account for age differences in memory performance.

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Dunlosky, J., & Hertzog, C. (1998).  Aging and deficits in associative memory: What is the role of strategy use?  Psychology and Aging, 13, 597-607.

Abstract

A new method was developed to investigate the degree to which age differences in strategy production mediate age differences paired-associate recall. Participants were instructed to use imagery or any strategy and were to report the strategy produced for each item. Age similarities in reported strategy production were found for related (Experiment 1) and unrelated (Experiment 2) word pairs; Both age groups (a) reported using effective mediators (imagery and sentence generation) more often than using no mediators and (b) compiled with instructions to use imagery. Although individual differences in strategy production were related to differences in recall performance, differential strategy production accounted for little of the age differences evident in associative memory.

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