Deconstructing the effect of self-directed study on episodic memory

Memory & Cognition volume 42, pages1211–1224(2014)Cite this article

Abstract

Self-directed learning is often associated with better long-term memory retention; however, the mechanisms that underlie this advantage remain poorly understood. This series of experiments was designed to “deconstruct” the notion of self-directed learning, in order to better identify the factors most responsible for these improvements to memory. In particular, we isolated the memory advantage that comes from controlling the content of study episodes from the advantage that comes from controlling the timing of those episodes. Across four experiments, self-directed learning significantly enhanced recognition memory, relative to passive observation. However, the advantage for self-directed learning was found to be present even under extremely minimal conditions of volitional control (simply pressing a button when a participant was ready to advance to the next item). Our results suggest that improvements to memory following self-directed encoding may be related to the ability to coordinate stimulus presentation with the learner’s current preparatory or attentional state, and they highlight the need to consider the range of cognitive control processes involved in and influenced by self-directed study.

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Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Notes

  1. 1.

    All model comparisons were performed using likelihood-ratio tests.

  2. 2.

    A measure that is similar to the total number of visits is the total amount of time spent studying an item, which Voss et al. (2011b) found interacted with encoding condition, such that items studied for longer durations led to a specific benefit under self-directed conditions. The same analysis of our data revealed an effect of duration for both recognition and spatial recall, but no such interactions with encoding condition. Since study duration is closely related to number of visits, this analysis is not reported here, but the results are available on request.

  3. 3.

    Note that in Exp. 4, the number of visits was not equal to 2 for all items studied, since items at the midpoint of each sequence (at which point the window doubled back) were only visited once. The effect of number of visits was thus dependent on a relatively small number of items; importantly, removing this explanatory variable from the model did not alter any conclusions from this analysis.

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Author note

The authors thank Patricia Chan, Hao Wang, and Devin Domingo for their help collecting the data. We also thank Joel Voss for sharing the stimuli used in the experiments.

Author information

Affiliations

  1. Center for Adaptive Rationality, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Lentzeallee 94, 14195, Berlin, Germany

    Douglas Markant

  2. Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, USA

    Sarah DuBrow, Lila Davachi & Todd M. Gureckis

  3. Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY, USA

    Lila Davachi

Authors
  1. Douglas Markant
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  2. Sarah DuBrow
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  4. Todd M. Gureckis
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Correspondence to Douglas Markant.

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Markant, D., DuBrow, S., Davachi, L. et al. Deconstructing the effect of self-directed study on episodic memory. Mem Cogn 42, 1211–1224 (2014). https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-014-0435-9

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Keywords

  • Memory
  • Metacognition
  • Self-directed learning
  • Self-regulated learning
  • Volitional control
  • Decision making
  • Metamemory
  • Object recognition
  • Spatial cognition