Self-derivation of new knowledge through memory integration

该项目解决了儿童如何随着时间和经验积累有关世界的事实知识的基本问题。人们不会在一次经历中获得关于一个主题的所有知识。相反，它是建立在时间上分离的经验或教训之上的。这些课程也可能来自不同的来源，如书籍，讲座，视频，博物馆展览。一个主要的挑战是如何解释个人，独立的学习片段是如何相互整合的，这样知识库就随着时间的推移而积累起来。这种知识基础超出了我们明确学到的知识，包括通过归纳和演绎等逻辑过程获得的自我衍生信息。先前的研究发现，与年龄相关的能力增加，超越明确的信息，通过整合不同的学习片段，自我获得新的知识。它还发现了这个过程中的个体差异，这与学术成就有关。这项新的研究将突出这些差异的来源。这些发现将为促进这些过程的干预措施提供信息，从而提高学习的深度和广度。除了其翻译潜力外，该项目还将通过提高本科生和研究生的科学素养以及吸引来自不同背景的儿童来造福社会。这个项目关注的是通过整合独立但相关的新学习片段来自我推导新事实知识的具体生产过程。这发生在学习者在一节课中整合新获得的信息时（例如，液体受热膨胀）与另一个（温度计含有液体）中新获得的信息相结合，并富有成效地获得新的事实知识（温度计工作是因为液体受热膨胀）。在整个学年中，通过融合进行自我推导的情况与年龄有关。该项目的主要目标是测试改进的来源。这项研究是在一个更广泛的文献记忆整合。它的特点是注重发展，注重过程，注重产生事实知识。指导性假设是，年龄相关的改善是由五个组成过程的效率和功效的发展变化来解释的：编码，再激活，整合，选择和自我推导。学龄前至小学年龄儿童的行为与成功参与这些过程的发展进程一致。该项目将直接测试4至9岁儿童的建议进展。行为测量将通过眼动跟踪进行补充。跟踪视觉注意力提供了一个认知努力的窗口，表明参与的组成过程，以及它们与新知识的自我推导的关系。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

The project addresses the fundamental question of how children build up factual knowledge about the world over time and experiences. People do not acquire all knowledge about a topic in a single experience. Instead, it is built up over experiences or lessons that are separated in time. The lessons also may come from different sources, such as books, lectures, videos, museum exhibits. A major challenge is to explain how individual, separate episodes of learning are integrated with one another, such that the knowledge base accumulates over time. This knowledge base extends beyond what we have learned explicitly, to include self-derived information, through logical processes such as induction and deduction. Prior research has found age-related increases in the ability to extend beyond explicit information to self-derive new knowledge through integration of separate episodes of learning. It also has found individual variability in the process, that relates to academic achievement. This new research will highlight the sources of these differences. These discoveries will inform interventions to promote these processes, thereby improving the depth and breadth of learning. In addition to its translational potential, the project also will benefit society by increasing the scientific literacy of undergraduate and graduate students, and by engaging children from diverse backgrounds. This project concerns the specific productive process of self-derivation of new factual knowledge through integration of separate yet related episodes of new learning. This occurs when learners integrate information newly acquired in one lesson (e.g., liquids expand with heat) with information newly acquired in another (thermometers contain liquid), and productively derive new factual knowledge (thermometers work because liquid expands as heat increases). There are age-related increases in self-derivation through integration across the school years. The major objective of the project is to test the source of the improvements. The research is situated in a broader literature on memory integration. It is distinguished by its focus on development, on process, and on producing factual knowledge. The guiding hypothesis is that age-related improvements are explained by developmental variability in the efficiency and efficacy of five component processes: encoding, reactivation, integration, selection, and self-derivation. The behavior of preschool to elementary-age children is consistent with a developmental progression in successful engagement of these processes. The project will directly test the suggested progression in 4- to 9-year-olds. Behavioral measures will be complemented by eye tracking. Tracking visual attention provides a window on cognitive effort, indicating engagement of component processes, and their relation to self-derivation of new knowledge.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.