Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2024, Psychology

Previous research has shown that teaching metacognition in schools can be effective at improving students' metacognitive strategy use, and metacognition has been suggested as a possible solution to enhancing academic achievement in students of color. The current study examined teachers' use of metacognitive instruction in middle school math classrooms with a majority of Black and Hispanic students. Using the Metacognitive Support Framework (MSF) protocol and archival data from teachers and students, I aimed to answer the following questions: 1) What metacognitive supports do middle-school math instructors use while teaching classrooms with mostly Black and Hispanic students? 2) What teacher and student factors contribute to the MSF scores and metacognitive supports used in these classrooms? 3) How do teachers' MSF scores in these classrooms correlate with previously collected student achievement scores and classroom observational scores? To answer these questions, I and seven research assistants watched and scored 77 videos of middle-school math classrooms with a majority of Black and Hispanic students, taken from the Measures of Effective Teaching Longitudinal Database. We used a protocol devised by Zepeda et al. (2019), which identifies teachers' metacognitive supports during classroom instruction. This observational method has several features of metacognitive support, including metacognitive knowledge, metacognitive skill, instructional manner, and framing, during three types of instructional activities. Each metacognitive action was assigned one of the three skills for each of the five categories of metacognitive support, and the number of metacognitive actions was calculated for a total MSF score. Results showed that strategy knowledge was most used, while conditional knowledge was least common; instructors used more monitoring skills than planning or evaluating; prompting was the most common instructional manner; domain general framing was used less than prob (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Yvette Harris (Advisor); Michael Edwards (Committee Member); Tamika McElveen (Committee Member); Christopher Wolfe (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; Education Policy; Educational Psychology; Hispanic American Studies; Teaching

PHD, Kent State University, 2024, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of English

This study examines the potential effects that direct language-level instruction has on the metalinguistic awareness of students who were enrolled in stretch and co-requisite courses at two four-year, public universities. Informed by a functional view of language, the instruction made explicit the connections between conventional language-level features and the related socio-rhetorical practices of academic discourse and provided metalanguage for students to describe these connections. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participating students to determine the extent to which the metalanguage from the instruction aided their ability to articulate their awareness of these connections. A comparative analysis of students' writing samples was also conducted to examine students' use of linguistic patterns conventional of academic discourse. The findings suggest that the instruction cultivates a metalanguage that helps students verbalize their metalinguistic awareness in addition to developing students' facility to use the conventional discourse patterns valued in academic argumentation.

Committee: Jennifer Cunningham (Committee Chair); Patricia Dunmire (Committee Member); Derek Van Ittersum (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Linguistics; Literacy; Rhetoric

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2023, Speech Pathology and Audiology

Sentence repetition is a useful way to identify differences in language skills between typical individuals and those at risk for developmental language disorder (DLD). However, current measures do not have adequate diagnostic accuracy when identifying adult populations. This study examined verbal working memory performance on a sentence repetition task in 30 young adults with typical language and English as a first language. Sentences were 8-16 words, 1-3 clauses in active or passive structures, controlled for word frequency and plausibility. Number of words (x2(1) = 42, p < .001) and judgments of accuracy (JOA) (x2 (1) = 177.7, p < .001) predicted repetition accuracy, but number of clauses and structure did not. Variability in JOA peaked at sentences with 11 words, and beyond 11 words, repetition accuracy precipitously declined. The lack of repetition accuracy difference by active versus passive structure was unexpected. Sentences centered on 11 words may approach adults' capacity limit for repetition, eliciting more uncertainty regarding their performance accuracy. The limits of sentence repetition ability can be used to make predictions about the performance accuracy of those with both typically developing language as well as those with DLD in order to better formulate sentence stimuli used within assessment measures.

Committee: Gerard Poll (Advisor) Subjects: Communication; Education; Higher Education; Linguistics; Special Education; Speech Therapy

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2022, Arts and Sciences: Psychology

Background: Pediatric brain tumor survivors (PBTS) are at risk of poorer quality of life (QOL) due to the impact of neurotoxic treatments on their developing nervous systems. There is a need to identify modifiable protective factors, and family factors and metacognition have shown promise as predictors of higher QOL in other populations. In the current study, I hypothesized that adaptive family functioning, parenting behaviors, and metacognition would account for variance above and beyond demographic and treatment factors in psychosocial aspects of QOL. This study considered protective factors which moderate association between neurotoxic treatment and QOL, and examined metacognition as a mediator of family factors and QOL. Method:Families of 55 PBTS survivors (ages 10-25) completed measures of family functioning (Family Assessment Device), parenting (Revised Children's Report of Parenting Behaviors Inventory), and metacognition (Metacognitive Awareness Inventory/Junior version). Caregivers completed measures of QOL (Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System-Pediatric-25 v2.0 or Adult Proxy-29 v1.2). Neurotoxicity was rated using the Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Rating of Treatment Intensity (PNORTI), and the sample was subdivided into high (n=23) and low (n=32) neurotoxicity groups. Multiple imputation with predictive mean matching were utilized to account for missing data within the dyad. Analyses included hierarchical multiple regression models (demographic/treatment factors in step one and protective factors in step two), and PROCESS for moderation/mediation. Results: Survivor-reported protective factors significantly accounted for variance in caregiver-reported QOL above demographic and treatment factors, but no individual protective factors were significant. Significant demographic risk factors for poorer caregiver-reported QOL included receiving chemotherapy and/or radiation and lower family income. Survivor-reported primary caregiver warmth (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Shari Wade Ph.D. (Committee Member); Kristen Jastrowski Mano Ph.D. (Committee Member); Jeffery Epstein Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

Doctor of Education , University of Dayton, 2022, Educational Leadership

This study aims to determine the primary purpose of Early Childhood Education utilizing qualitative data collected from an array of experienced individuals from the target school's kindergarten at Kids Day School. The qualitative approach of phenomenology was utilized to make sense of individual experience of the early childhood context. Systematic sampling of individuals with experience in an early education setting occurred. Participants varied in age, educational experience, and cultural background. Semi-structured interviews and participant observations were conducted to examine how and why young learners learn, focusing on child led learning pedagogy within early childhood education. After axial coding was completed, three themes were identified: foundational learning, metacognition, and empowerment. The findings further the understanding and appreciation of early childhood education.

Committee: Meredith Wronowski (Advisor); Sandra Duncan (Committee Member); Shauna Adams (Committee Member) Subjects: Early Childhood Education; Education Philosophy; Educational Theory

PHD, Kent State University, 2022, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychological Sciences

Understanding number magnitudes is important in life and for math achievement, yet little is known about children's and adults' metacognitive awareness of the accuracy of their whole number and fraction estimates. In Study 1, fourth and fifth graders estimated whole numbers (0-1,000 and 0-100,000) and fractions (0-1) on number lines, made a confidence judgment immediately after each estimate, and rated their familiarity with each number. In Study 2, I randomly assigned third through fifth graders and adults to either a number- or word-familiarity manipulation to test the hypothesis that experiences with numbers increase familiarity and confidence. Older children estimated more precisely than younger children across numerical ranges, yet there were few differences in their item-by-item confidence and familiarity judgments. Additionally, children and adults relied on their familiarity to monitor their estimates of fractions, but not whole numbers. Monitoring accuracy was low across all numerical ranges and grades, inconsistent with evidence that suggests monitoring accuracy is greater in older than younger children. A brief experience with unfamiliar fractions did not lead to greater familiarity or confidence, likely because of participants' extensive prior experiences with numbers. However, in a secondary data analysis, a more time-intensive fraction board game intervention increased children's confidence, despite having no effect on performance on different fraction tasks. Thus, children's and adults' experiences with whole numbers and fractions may influence their confidence judgments. In Study 3, I tested whether monitoring accuracy was greater when there was systematic variability in estimation accuracy and a cue that identified this variability. I randomly assigned participants to estimate fractions on 0-1 number lines in either a non-diagnostic cue condition or a diagnostic-cue condition. In the non-diagnostic cue condition, participants estimated small-compone (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Clarissa Thompson (Advisor); John Dunlosky (Committee Member); Christopher Was (Committee Member); Jeffrey Ciesla (Committee Member); Nora Newcombe (Committee Member); Bradley Morris (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), University of Findlay, 2022, Education

Years of research has indicated that although homework is important, its use and completion among students has declined over the years. Using the positivist and expectancy-value model of achievement motivation theoretical framework homework assignments were created to increase student homework participation. Using the school's learning management system (LMS), online, standards-based homework assignments were created to increase students' perceived value of the homework and therefore their likelihood to complete and reattempt the assignments. Surveys were given to students and teachers asking about homework practices and data was collected from the school's LMS. The online, standards-based homework assignments were completed and reattempted at a significantly higher rate than any other classroom's homework. This was evident from the homework data collected from the LMS and from the teacher surveys. The students indicated on their survey that they completed and reattempted the online, standards-based homework more than homework in other classes. The difference in their answer proved to be statistically significant. Additional survey questions indicate that, although many factors played a role in this change, the most significant one was that the homework was online and therefore provided instant feedback. The results indicate a need for teachers to take advantage of the technology available to staff and students to make homework students perceive as more valuable in order to increase homework participation and self-reflection.

Committee: Gwynne Rife (Committee Chair); Jon Brasfield (Committee Member); Kerry Teeple (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Psychology; Science Education

PHD, Kent State University, 2022, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychological Sciences

Even one-year-olds show the so-called disambiguation effect, which is a tendency to select a novel object rather than a familiar object as the referent of a novel label. The strength of this effect increases over the preschool years. This age trend may be due in part to advances in metacognition. The accuracy of preschoolers' lexical knowledge judgment mediates the association between age and strength of the disambiguation effect. Also, their judgments about object label knowledge accounted for why most 4-year-olds, but only a few 3-year-olds could predict the solution to a new disambiguation problem before hearing the novel label (Henning & Merriman, 2019). Study 1 tested whether more preschoolers could make this kind of prediction if they were told that the labels were ones “you have never heard before.” Results supported this hypothesis, but only for the younger children. Also, children's tendency to make these predictions was positively associated with their ability to give accurate reports of whether various words or pseudowords had known meanings. Study 2, which used an online rather than face-to-face testing procedure, demonstrated that 3-year-olds only learned how to solve the original prediction problem if they received direct rather than indirect feedback. When they receive helpful cues, most 3-year-olds can solve a disambiguation problem before hearing the novel label. Thus, most 3-year-olds can form metacognitive representations of the elements of the disambiguation problem and use these to draw inferences about the reference of a label.

Committee: William Merriman (Advisor); Maria Zaragoza (Committee Member); Bradley Morris (Committee Member); Jeffrey Ciesla (Committee Member) Subjects: Cognitive Psychology; Developmental Psychology; Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2022, Higher Education (Education)

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore how HESA graduate students' conceptions of critical consciousness transform and evolve during a diversity course and the pedagogical practices that foster consciousness-raising. Each of the twelve participants completed two semi-structured interviews and three journal prompts. Using a case study approach, I conducted interviews at the beginning and end of the semester to compare participants' initial understandings (1st Interview) against participants' evolving understandings (journal prompts, 2nd Interview). To create the interview protocol, I followed Castillo-Montoya's (2016) four recommendations by: (a) aligning interview questions to the conceptual frameworks, (b) using follow up questions, (c) requesting feedback, and (d) piloting the protocol. To analyze interview data, I used open, in vivo, and axial coding. I analyzed the journal prompts by compiling the responses into main and sub-categories. In the first, article I use Flavell's (1979) model of metacognition and Watts et al.'s (2011) conceptualization of critical consciousness to explore HESA graduate students' critical consciousness development through metacognitive journaling. Findings illustrated that metacognitive journaling prompted participants to assess their learning by pinpointing the mastery and limitations of their social justice knowledge and preceding presumptions. In the second article, I employ Mezirow's (1978) transformative learning and Watts et al.'s (1999) stages of sociopolitical development to investigate three participants' changing understandings of critical consciousness. Findings indicated that participants made moderate to substantial gains in critical consciousness development, with only one of the three participants displaying action-taking behavior. In the third paper, I apply Mezirow's (1978) transformative learning to explore how three pedagogical approaches foster critical consciousness. Findings highlighted (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: David Nguyen (Committee Chair); Theda Gibbs Grey (Committee Member); Kimberly Rios (Committee Member); Laura Harrison (Committee Member) Subjects: Higher Education Administration

PHD, Kent State University, 2021, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychological Sciences

Learners' metacognitive judgments do not always reflect the memorial benefits of practice testing over restudying (i.e., the testing effect), which could limit their effective use of practice testing during self-regulated learning. The current investigation explored the conditions under which students can learn about the relative effectiveness of practice testing versus restudying for memory. Across two learning cycles, participants studied word pairs, practiced each pair through either restudying or testing, predicted how many pairs they would recall by strategy, then completed a critical test on the pairs. During this test, participants either received feedback about the number of restudied and tested pairs they had correctly recalled or made postdictions about their performance by strategy (i.e., generated their own feedback). During both cycles, participants predicted they would recall an equivalent number of tested and restudied pairs, although they actually recalled more of the tested pairs. However, when participants experienced a larger testing effect, they were able to more accurately estimate recall performance for each strategy and updated their knowledge to reflect the testing effect in their predictions on the second learning cycle. Thus, peoples' ability to learn from experience about the testing effect is primarily constrained not by a failure to initiate the metacognitive processes required to monitor and track recall performance by strategy, but by the metacognitive burden of discriminating between small differences in recall between tested versus restudied material. In a follow-up experiment, I investigated the extent to which learners' knowledge about practice testing can be improved via test experience, direct instruction, or a combination of both techniques. Both techniques – independently and in combination – lead to more accurate beliefs about the testing effect, but no technique was more effective than the other. In summary, people can learn (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: John Dunlosky PhD (Advisor); Rawson Katherine PhD (Committee Member); Thompson Clarissa PhD (Committee Member); Spitznagel Mary Beth PhD (Committee Member); Morris Bradley PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2021, Educational Studies

This dissertation consists of a theoretical review and two empirical studies investigating college students' academic effort beliefs (AEB) and their relationship to academic functioning. The overarching goal of this project was to (a) better understand how college students think about effort as it relates to their academic endeavors, (b) develop a comprehensive self-report measure of these beliefs, the Academic Effort Beliefs Scale (AEBS), and (c) identify the extent to which these beliefs predict important academic outcomes. A comprehensive literature review of the theoretical and empirical research conducted on students' general effort beliefs was conducted and includes an evaluation of several different conceptualizations of effort beliefs, highlighting their multidimensional nature. This review concludes with a proposal to utilize models of self-regulated learning (SRL) as a guiding framework to further explore the nature of AEB and their associations to academic outcomes. In the first empirical study, a cognitive interviewing procedure (Karabenick et al., 2007) was employed to test college students' ability to successfully engage the cognitive processes necessary to respond to self-report items designed to assess their AEB. These items included modified items from several existing scales and newly-developed items. The results of this study demonstrated students were able to understand AEB items, recall relevant memories, and select appropriate responses. These findings suggested that self-report items are an appropriate means of assessing how students think about effort in academic contexts. In the second empirical study, a large sample of college students responded to the AEBS at the beginning and end of a single semester. Factor analyses revealed the AEBS produced a second-order factor structure comprised of four first-order factors: Ineffectual, Outcome, Internalized, and Difficulty beliefs. Results from a mixed-factorial ANOVA revealed that stude (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Christopher Wolters Ph.D (Advisor); Eric Anderman Ph.D (Committee Member); Jerome D'Agostino Ph.D (Committee Member); Lynley Anderman Ph.D (Committee Member) Subjects: Educational Psychology

Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA), Bowling Green State University, 2020, Contemporary Music

Colleges across the country are experiencing an increase in reported student mental health issues. In response to these concerns, college music departments are creating and improving wellness programs designed to support positive lifestyle habits for musicians. This document advocates for the expansion and continued focus of wellness programs through the lens of mindfulness and metacognition. Research has shown that mindfulness training and metacognitive skills are powerful interventive tools for the development of healthy mental behaviors and can result in lasting beneficial neurological changes. This research provides an overview and discussion of twelve collegiate musician wellness programs and research related to mindfulness. Attributes of these initiatives are compared to describe trends in the development of supportive measures taken by university faculties. Research specific to neurological benefits that result from mindfulness practices seems to support the incorporation of these practices within music pedagogy. Evidence of this is provided by studies that investigated lasting structural changes to the brain as a result of meditation and other mindfulness skills. Literature concerning metacognitive skills for mindfulness development is also provided to give context for the first stages of this development. Because music teachers have long discussed mental aspects of performance, an investigation of common instructional texts examining mindfulness practices in musician training is also included. Finally, an implementation guide for collegiate music teachers and students is offered as a resource aid for these teaching practices.

Committee: John Sampen (Advisor); Madeline Duntley (Other); Ryan Ebright (Committee Member); Elaine Colprit (Committee Member) Subjects: Music

MAE, Otterbein University, 2016, Education

The purpose of this capstone project was to determine if assignment attack strategy skills learned in the resource room setting of a middle school would transfer into the general education classroom, and if on-task behavior would increase in the general education setting as a result of the resource room instruction. The project was framed with mixed method, multiple-case study design of self-regulation across multiple settings in a middle school. The elements of the assignment attack strategy skills for my study were committing to an assignment, preparing materials, proceeding, and sustaining attention. For the study, data collection included general education teacher surveys and observations in the science classroom for on-task behavior. The study used means and frequency counts of on-task behavior, to summarize and describe the data collected in the resource room and in the science classroom. In general, through learning how to selfmonitor and self-regulate, the three students in the study improved their on-task behavior in the science classroom. Based on the results of this study, it seems special education teachers can teach assignment attack strategies and teach students how to self-monitor and self-regulate in the resource room in order to increase on-task behavior in other content classrooms. This is important because learning the strategies does not take up valuable content time in which content specific curriculum needs to be taught.

Committee: Kristin Reninger Ph.D. (Advisor); Kristin Bourdage (Committee Member); Grace McDaniel (Committee Member); Daniel Cho (Committee Member) Subjects: Curriculum Development; Educational Evaluation; Educational Theory; Higher Education; Special Education; Teaching

MAE, Otterbein University, 2016, Education

This study attempts to determine whether Mastery Learning (with differentiated reassessment) and Mastery Teaching (within a standards-based curriculum) had a 1) metacognitive and/or motivational effect on how students perceive their learning and 2) whether or not Mastery Teaching had an impact on their mastery of the material when compared to students assessed in more traditional classrooms that did not offer reassessment. Using a standard district American History exam given pre- and post-semester and two student learning and motivation surveys (SMQII and PRO-SDLS), the results showed that being taught in a social studies classroom that utilizes differentiated reassessment and Standards-Based Grading (SBG) does not have a statistically significant metacognitive effect but does have a motivational effect (in particular grade motivation) on non-honors students (U = 1,318, p = .026). Additionally, it was found that students in a SBG classroom produced higher gains on the American History assessment than non-SBG students (t = 1.679, p = .121). Potential interpretations and implications are discussed.

Committee: Paul J. Wendel Ph.D. (Advisor); Dee Knoblauch Ph.D. (Committee Member); Shelley Payne Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Curriculum Development; Higher Education

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2020, Educational Studies

Question-Answer Relationships plays a significant role in developing strategies to aid d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing students to understand the different types of comprehension questions. When readers have the ability to activate their prior knowledge and use metacognitive strategies, research shows that it facilitates high levels of literacy. The purpose of this study was to examine an effective intervention strategy to improve d/Dhh students' ability to answer comprehension questions, particularly text-implicit.

Committee: Peter V. Paul Dr. (Advisor); Moira Konrad Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Early Childhood Education; Education; Elementary Education; Special Education; Teaching

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2019, Psychology

Metacognitive methods that create cognitive distance between an individual and their negative thoughts have demonstrated beneficial effects, including reducing avoidance and distress, and increasing meaning-making in response to negative thoughts. Two dimensions of cognitive distancing, self-distancing and experiential distancing, may help clarify mechanisms through which cognitive distancing leads to adaptive versus harmful outcomes. The current study examined self-distancing and experiential distancing in response to intrusive thoughts, which are unpleasant, unwanted thoughts that have been implicated in the development and maintenance of a variety of clinical problems including obsessive-compulsive disorder. Participants (N=212) wrote about an intrusive thought from one of three perspectives that varied according to whether they were self-immersed or self-distanced, as well as whether they were experientially immersed or distanced. Greater degrees of cognitive distancing were anticipated to reduce negative reactions to an intrusive thought and increase self-compassion. Partial support for the hypotheses was found; simultaneously engaging in self-distancing and experiential distancing increased self-compassion as predicted. Consistent with prior literature, the combination of both distanced perspectives most strongly predicted beneficial outcomes. This study clarifies mechanisms of cognitive distancing and identifies possible benefits of utilizing cognitive distancing in the context of intrusive thoughts.

Committee: Joshua Magee Ph.D. (Advisor); Terri Messman-Moore Ph.D. (Committee Member); April Smith Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology; Experimental Psychology; Psychology

PHD, Kent State University, 2019, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychological Sciences

When shown a familiar and a novel object and asked to pick the referent of a novel label, even one-year-olds tend to favor the novel object (Halberda, 2003; Mervis & Bertrand, 1994). However, this so-called disambiguation effect becomes stronger as children develop through preschool age (Lewis & Frank, 2015). Advances in metacognition may play a role in this developmental trend. Preschoolers' awareness of their own lexical knowledge is associated with the strength of the disambiguation effect (Merriman & Schuster, 1991; Merriman & Bowman, 1989; Wall, Merriman, & Scofield, 2015). It is also associated with whether children can solve purely metacognitive forms of the disambiguation problem (Slocum & Merriman, 2018; Henning & Merriman, 2019). The current experiments tested the hypothesis that as the number of choices in a disambiguation problem increases, the frequency of correct response declines more sharply for children who lack awareness of lexical knowledge than for children who possessed it. The results of the first two experiments supported the main hypothesis. Two experiments also showed that awareness of lexical knowledge was associated with a more gradual increase in latency of correct solutions as number of choices increased. In Experiment 3, children's eye movements were recorded as they attempted to solve 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-choice problems. Various aspects of children's eye movements were analyzed, including the number of familiar object foils checked, the number of revisits to the target, and the proportion of looking time spent on the target object. The current experiments advance our insight into why the “awareness-of-knowledge advantage” in solving disambiguation problems tends to increase as number of choices increases.

Committee: William Merriman PhD (Advisor); Clarissa Thompson PhD (Committee Member); Jeff Ciesla PhD (Committee Member); Bradley Morris PhD (Committee Member); Sarah Rilling PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Cognitive Psychology; Developmental Psychology; Psychology

PHD, Kent State University, 2019, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychological Sciences

When people select material for study, they can make their selections based on how well they believe they have learned the material by selecting easier or more difficult material for study. The goal of the present investigation was to determine why people make different study decisions. Specifically, I investigated possible individual differences that may lead people to select easier versus more different material for study. Participants completed a category learning task and a word pair association task. In the category learning task, they practiced classifying bird stimuli into the correct category, then selected a subset of the categories for restudy. In the word pair task, they studied unrelated word pairs, then selected a subset for restudy. Participants also completed individual differences measures such as working memory, need for cognition, and motivation measures. Variables were put into structural regression models to evaluate if differences in the individual difference measures predicted restudy selections. Some variables were slightly predictive of restudy selections, but none were strong predictors. Participants' study strategy reports suggest that they believed their selected strategy would be effective for the task, regardless of whether they tended to select the easier or more difficult material. These results indicate that participants' selection strategies may not differ based on stable characteristics, but rather on different beliefs about what strategies are effective given the task.

Committee: John Dunlosky PhD (Advisor); Katherine Rawson PhD (Committee Member); Jeffery Ciesla PhD (Committee Member); Bradley Morris PhD (Committee Member); Derek van Ittersum PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Cognitive Psychology; Educational Psychology; Experimental Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2019, Psychology/Experimental

The present study aimed to reconcile two hypothetical mechanisms driving JOL delay effects. The first hypothesis is the monitoring-dual-memories (MDM) hypothesis proposed by Dunlosky and Nelson (1992), which states that increased accuracy of delayed judgments of learning (JOLs) occurs because delayed JOLs activate the same memory storage system as the memory task itself (i.e., long-term memory). The second hypothesis is the accessibility model proposed by Koriat (1993) which states that delayed JOLs are more accurate because they increase retrieval fluency by reinforcing memory activation. Fluency research (e.g., Ball, Klein, & Brewer, 2014; Mueller, Dunlosky, Tauber, & Rhodes, 2014; Reber & Greifeneder, 2017) has not previously applied the accessibility model, but the model may explain fluency's effects on metacognitive illusions, such that increased processing leads to increased encoding fluency creating a false sense of knowing. This dissertation presents two experiments and a combined analysis in which I investigated the effects of fluency and JOL delay on the size of metacognitive illusions measured in ways that replicated previous research and in ways that are novel in learning research. Through an interaction between JOL timing and fluency, the MDM hypothesis explains the retrieval side of the memory process whereas the accessibility model explains the encoding side of the memory process. The remainder of the findings generally supported the MDM hypothesis. The present results also established a new avenue for investigating metacognitive illusions and call into question the findings of previous research. Specifically, participants' prediction of their future memory performance may not be as poor as previously thought. Implications for these findings and future directions are discussed.

Committee: Richard Anderson Dr. (Advisor); Lynn Darby Dr. (Other); Dale Klopfer Dr. (Committee Member); Laura Leventhal Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

BS, Kent State University, 2018, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychological Sciences

Although self-testing provides more long-term learning benefits than restudying content in preparation for a test, many students do not use self-testing and rely on restudying. Could task experience with self-testing allow students to update their knowledge of the benefits of testing? In this study, we replicated and extended Tullis, Finley and Benjamin (2013), evaluating two hypotheses (the cognitive load and spontaneity hypotheses) explaining how feedback affected the limited knowledge updating in our participants. Participants studied a list of word pairs through self-testing and restudying. After practicing, they predicted their test performance, then took a final cued-recall test. Each of the three groups of participants received a different type of feedback: one group received feedback on each test item, another group received feedback on each item and global feedback across all test items, and the final group received feedback on each test item and was asked to judge how many items they correctly recalled on the test. They then predicted their performance on another anticipated test, based on a novel set of word pairs. The results indicated that these second predictions showed limited knowledge updating for the item-by-item feedback group and the self-generated feedback group, as well as greater knowledge updating for the global feedback group. These results follow the pattern of data from Tullis, Finley and Benjamin (2013) and supports an interpretation of the cognitive load hypothesis.

Committee: John Dunlosky PhD (Advisor); Bradley Morris PhD (Committee Member); Angela Neal-Barnett PhD (Committee Member); Christopher Was PhD (Committee Member); Michelle Rivers MA (Other) Subjects: Cognitive Psychology; Educational Psychology; Psychology