Learning in Leaps: Spontaneous Self-Derivation through Memory Integration in Young Adults Open Access

Abstract

The present research was an examination of spontaneous (unprompted) self-derivation in young adults (18-22 years old). We investigated young adults’ integration of separate memory representations and subsequent self-derivation of new knowledge without an explicit prompt. In Experiment 1, participants were exposed to 16 sets of four stem facts (two stem-fact pairs) that could be integrated with one another to self-derive novel integration facts. For half of the fact sets, participants were given an explicit prompt to integrate the facts (test condition), and for the other half, participants were asked a semantically-related distractor question (no-test condition) that did not explicitly prompt them to integrate the facts. Experiment 2 was a control experiment in which stimulus sets were tested to ensure that integration was necessary for participants to generate the novel integration facts. Participants were given either both members of a stem-fact pair or only one member of a pair and then asked an integration question. We found a significant difference in self-derivation performance between the test and no-test conditions in Experiment 1, and in Experiment 2, we found that participants were unlikely to answer the integration question without exposure to both stem facts in a pair. These results suggest that young adults do not capitalize on unprompted opportunities to self-derive as well as they do explicitly prompted opportunities to self-derive, and the mechanism of this difference in performance is likely due to underlying memory integration processes. This work may have important implications for academic outcomes, particularly in highlighting the importance of appropriate scaffolding for classroom learning.  

Table of Contents

Learning in Leaps: Spontaneous Self-Derivation through Memory Integration in Young Adults ... 1

The ERISS Model ......................................................................................................... 3

Spontaneous Self-Derivation: Previous Research ...................................................... 3

The Current Study ........................................................................................................ 5

Experiment 1 ..................................................................................................................... 7

Methods .......................................................................................................................... 7

Participants ................................................................................................................ 7

Measures .................................................................................................................... 7

Procedure ................................................................................................................... 8

Data Analysis Strategy ........................................................................................... 11

Results .......................................................................................................................... 13

Initial Integration and Recursive Integration ...................................................... 13

Stem-Fact Recall ..................................................................................................... 14

Cognitive Correlates of Recursive Integration ..................................................... 15

Discussion .................................................................................................................... 15

Experiment 2 ................................................................................................................... 16

Methods ........................................................................................................................ 16

Participants .............................................................................................................. 16

Measures .................................................................................................................. 16

Procedure ................................................................................................................. 17

Scoring and Data Analysis Strategy ...................................................................... 18

Results and Discussion ................................................................................................ 19

General Discussion .......................................................................................................... 21

References .......................................................................................................... 31

Tables ............................................................................................................................... 34

Table 1 .......................................................................................................................... 34

Figures .............................................................................................................................. 35

Fig. 1. ............................................................................................................................ 35

Fig. 2. ............................................................................................................................ 36

Fig. 3. ............................................................................................................................ 37

Fig. 4. ............................................................................................................................ 38

Fig. 5. ............................................................................................................................ 39

Fig. 6. ............................................................................................................................ 40

Fig. 7. ............................................................................................................................ 41 

About this Master's Thesis

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School	Laney Graduate School
Department	Psychology
Subfield / Discipline	Cognition and Development
Degree	M.A.
Submission	Master's Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Psychology, General
Keyword	Learning and Memory
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Patricia Bauer, Emory University
Committee Members	Joseph Manns, Emory University Phillip Wolff, Emory University

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