Context reinstatement in recognition: memory and beyond

Context effects in recognition tests are twofold. First, presenting familiar contexts at a test leads to an attribution of context familiarity to a recognition probe, which has been dubbed ‘context-dependent recognition’. Second, reinstating the exact study context for a particular target in a recognition test cues recollection of an item-context association, resulting in 'context-dependent discrimination'. Here we investigated how these two context effects are expressed in metacognitive monitoring (confidence judgments) and metacognitive control ('don’t know' responding) of retrieval. We used faces as studied items, landscape photographs as study and test contexts and both free- and forced-report 2AFC recognition tests. In terms of context-dependent recognition, the results document that presenting familiar contexts at test leads to higher confidence and lower rates of 'don’t know responses compared to novel contexts, while having no effect on forced-report recognition accuracy. In terms of context-dependent discrimination, the results show that reinstated contexts further boost confidence and reduce 'don’t know' responding compared to familiar contexts, while affecting forced-report recognition accuracy only when contribution of recollection to recognition performance is high. Together, our results demonstrate that metacognitive measures are sensitive to context effects, sometimes even more so than recognition measures

Lebanese Elementary Teachers\u27 Perceptions about Metacognitive Skills for Students with Learning Disabilities

Teachers in Lebanese schools are still using outdated traditional strategies for instructing students with learning disabilities (LD). The purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study was to understand Lebanese elementary teachers\u27 perceived barriers to providing effective metacognition skills instruction and increase the understanding of how teachers are supporting students with LD to use metacognitive strategies to enhance their own learning. The conceptual framework used to ground the study was Flavell\u27s metacognitive theory. The purposeful sample included 12 elementary special and regular education teachers selected from 6 different Lebanese schools in 5 areas in Lebanon. Each teacher participated in a semistructed interview and was observed while teaching in the classroom. Coding and thematic inductive approaches based on elements of the conceptual framework were used to analyze the data. Peer debriefing, member checking, and triangulation by region were used to ensure credibility and trustworthiness. The findings revealed that teachers were knowledgeable about how to teach metacognitive skills, but they were not explicitly instructing those skills to students with LD. Among the reported barriers to teaching these skills included lack of time, perceived nature of the LD students\u27 disability, and cultural expectations. The findings were used to provide recommendations for Lebanese teachers to implement in day-to-day instruction for students with LD and for school leaders to build teachers\u27 capacity to engage LD students in constructing their own learning. This study may affect positive social change by promoting instruction of metacognitive strategies for students with LD to help them build lifelong 21st century skills

Exoskeleton for the Mind: Exploring Strategies Against Misinformation with a Metacognitive Agent

Misinformation is a global problem in modern social media platforms with few solutions known to be effective. Social media platforms have offered tools to raise awareness of information, but these are closed systems that have not been empirically evaluated. Others have developed novel tools and strategies, but most have been studied out of context using static stimuli, researcher prompts, or low fidelity prototypes. We offer a new anti-misinformation agent grounded in theories of metacognition that was evaluated within Twitter. We report on a pilot study (n=17) and multi-part experimental study (n=57, n=49) where participants experienced three versions of the agent, each deploying a different strategy. We found that no single strategy was superior over the control. We also confirmed the necessity of transparency and clarity about the agent's underlying logic, as well as concerns about repeated exposure to misinformation and lack of user engagement.Comment: Pages 209-22

Exploring Female Perceptions of Metacognitive Development in Online Learning

With increased access to higher education through online delivery mediums, it is necessary to evaluate the impact of the learning environment on disadvantaged populations such as female students. As the online learning classroom challenges through distance, isolation, and communication, these factors can influence a positive perception of the learning environment and interfere with deep learning. This qualitative study explored female perceptions of metacognitive development within the online learning environment, as metacognition is a core element of academic success in higher education. Through the design of the conceptual framework and with the support of the literature review, a methodology was selected to holistically explore the female experience in light of deep learning achievement and their use of metacognitive practices. Participants were recruited according to selective criteria and engaged in the study through semistructured interviews, personal journal entries, and the presentation of an artifact. A meticulous coding process was used to analyze the data, which revealed four primary themes and nine subthemes. The analysis supports the importance of metacognitive development as influential in course completion, yet offered insight into factors affecting a positive perception of the learning environment. Key themes of identity, community, self-efficacy, and surface learning prompted a critical look at implications for future practice and policy within the online learning context. A response to these implications that will generate a more targeted metacognitive focus should include a stronger teacher presence within the online classroom, diversified instructional methods, and an increased endorsement of the value of the online classroom community

The Necessity and Importance of Incorporating Media and Information Literacy into Holistic Metaliteracy

Digitalization and the emergence of the Internet have resulted in escalating access to information and communication. Given the circumstances that soaring access to information amounts to the intensification of misinformation and disinformation, a set of critical skills to navigate and critically assess the information is necessary. This paper outlines the significance of these skills, and provides a perspective on metaliteracy as a supplement to media and information literacy, and argues that the ability to conceptualize, access, comprehend, analyze, and use information is crucial in achieving inclusive, pluralistic, and participatory knowledge societies

Consumer conviction and commitment: An appraisal-based framework for attitude certainty

This paper explores consumers' commitment to and conviction about their beliefs in the form of attitude certainty. Based on a review of past research, we present a new framework for understanding attitude certainty and how consumers' attitude certainty is shaped by their resisting or yielding to persuasive messages, or even by their reflections on the evidence supporting their attitudes. We propose that attitude certainty is formed and changed largely through an attribution-based reasoning process linked to a finite set of distinct appraisals. Our framework is used to both organize past research and offer guidance for future research endeavors. In addition, we distinguish our framework of appraisal-based attitude certainty from past models in attitudes and persuasion research that have referenced or taken note of the attitude certainty construct. Implications and future directions for the study of consumer behavior are discussed

Which noncognitive features provide more information about reading performance? A data-mining approach to big educational data

The purpose of this study is to discover which noncognitive variables provide more information about reading performance. To answer this question, data mining based on information gain, decision tree and random forest methods were utilized in the study. The participants of the study consisted of 606,627 15-year-old students (49.8% female) in a total of 78 countries or economies, 37 of which are OECD members. Reading performance and plausible values of reading, the Student, ICT Familiarity, Financial Literacy, Educational Career, Well-Being and Parent Questionnaire data in PISA 2018 were analyzed to answer the research questions. When 108 features were analyzed as independent variables, it was found that SES (home possessions, cultural possessions, and ICT resources at home), metacognitive skills (assessing credibility and summarizing), and liking/enjoying reading were major variables predicting reading performance. The path analysis revealed that these variables explain 53.3% of the variability in reading performance. It is also remarkable that the decision tree model has a 74.61% accuracy value in estimating the reading performance

Comparing Analysis Frames for Visual Data Sets: Using Pupil Views Templates to explore perspectives of learning

A key challenge of visual methodology is how to combine large-scale qualitative data sets with epistemologically acceptable and rigorous analysis techniques. The authors argue that a pragmatic approach drawing on ideas from mixed methods is helpful to open up the full potential of visual data. However, before one starts to “mix” the stages of analysis one needs to be aware of the strengths and weaknesses provided by the various qualitative and quantitative perspectives. This article therefore provides a methodological discussion based on empirical research experiences with one visual data set: Pupil Views Templates (Wall and Higgins). The authors investigate two different approaches to the analysis of these data: inductive and deductive processes. The two approaches are applied separately to the same data set and observations are made regarding the affordances and constraints of each process, and the findings and implications for developing visual analysis in this area are presented. The authors show how both processes provide useful insight, but without clear strategy as to how they can be combined to achieve the intent of the research, the true potential of visual data will remain unlocked

Confidence in the eye of the beholder : the influence of physical attractiveness on attitude confidence

Tese apresentada para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Doutor em Psicologia na área de especialização de Psicologia Social apresentada no ISPA - Instituto Universitário no ano de 2020.Physical attractiveness of a source influences attitudes regarding the attitudinal topic covered in a message. The present thesis aims to test if this attribute is also capable of influencing confidence on attitudes, i.e., the perceived amount of certainty on attitudes towards a topic. We review the literature suggesting the multiplicity of effects of this attribute on attitudes and attitude change, as it is with other persuasive variables, and built on the relevance to approach the influence on attitude confidence. Recent research suggest that judgments of confidence are sensitive to influence from the context, such as the influence of attributes of the source of a message. As it is with attitudes, we test if attitude confidence is sensitive to corrections processes based on the perceived relevance of the source of the message. In this thesis, we test if the influence of physical attractiveness might be dependent on the perception of this attribute as an unwanted source of bias. We start by approaching its impact, as a feature of the source of a message, on judgments of attitude confidence, and build on its relevance as a feature of the recipient of a message. In the first set of studies we demonstrated that the presence of an attractive source, when unrelated with the content of the message, decreases attitude confidence. We show that when asked to report attitude confidence, people seem to correct for the potential influence of physical attractiveness with consequential impact to attitude strength outcomes. In the second set of studies we clarified the role of perceiving the message as contradictory to individuals’ attitudes for the emergence of our effects. Finally, the third set of studies conceptualize the role of physical attractiveness as a self-evaluation from the recipient of the message. We show that this self-evaluation is informative to judgments of attitude confidence, providing an addition mechanism in which physical attractiveness in determining judgments of attitude confidence. We discuss how our findings integrate and expand what was previously known about the influence of physical attractiveness. We highlight the importance of studying features capable of decreasing attitude confidence, regardless of the influence on attitude change