Aging and Metacognition in Strategic skill Acquisition

战略技能获取中的老龄化和元认知

• 批准号: 7092077
• 负责人: CHRISTOPHER K HERTZOG
• 金额: $ 26.28万
• 依托单位: GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-08-15 至 2009-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7092077
• 关键词: adult human (21+); age difference; aging; association learning; behavior test; behavioral /social science research tag; choice; clinical research; cognition; human subject; learning; memory; neural information processing; performance; university student

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A critical issue regarding aging and cognition concerns the impact of strategic behavior as a cause of age differences in cognitive performance. Can the influence of strategies be identified in conjunction with the role of age-related changes in basic information processing mechanisms - such as a slowing in rates of associative learning or slowing in information processing speed? To what extent do age differences in strategic behavior in cognitive tasks produce, enhance, or reduce estimates of age changes in basic cognitive mechanisms taken from standard cognitive tasks? Although it is clear that age differences in cognitive strategies do not determine (i.e., completely account for) age differences in cognitive task performance (Light, 1996; Salthouse, 1991 ) they can play an important role in affecting age differences in performance on several classes of complex cognitive tasks (Dunlosky & Hertzog, 2001; Lemaire & Arnaud, 2002; Kausler, 1994; Rogers, Hertzog, & Fisk, 2000). The proposed research will clarify the influence of strategic factors on age differences in skill acquisition. We have adopted the noun-pair learning (NP) task (Ackerman & Woltz, 1994) to assess how quickly individuals switch from a slower form of controlled processing (visual search, or scanning, of an array to find target word pairs) to more fluent performance based on memory-retrieval (made possible by repeated exposure to the same pairings). Initial work with this task demonstrated that a substantial proportion of older adults do not rely on retrieval from memory to make rapid judgments in the NP task (Rogers & Gilbert, 1997; Rogers et al., 2000), opting instead to stay with the slower but effective strategy of scanning the array of possible answers. We have previously shown that both older and younger adults learn new associations and utilize this learning to guide skilled performance in the NP task (Touron & Hertzog, in press; Touron & Hertzog, 2003). A critical feature of our approach is collecting trial by trial strategy reports as well as online recognition memory probes, which allow us to track the way in which associative learning at the level of specific items leads to changes in strategic behavior for each person. Using this approach, we have shown that older adults are reluctant to rely on a memory retrieval strategy despite adequate noun-pair learning (item knowledge), and that this reluctance contributes to age differences in rates of skill acquisition. Persistent scanning behavior cannot be fully explained by deficient noun-pair learning - the shift toward retrieval is also influenced by age differences in strategy choice. A number of competing explanations for age differences in strategy choice are available, including: cognitive abilities, personality characteristics, metacognitive beliefs, performance monitoring, or the mental task model. The proposed research will consider these alternative mechanisms for and influences on older adults' retrieval reluctance. Our specific aims are to: (1) conduct an extensive individual differences study that evaluates the relationship of strategic choice to (a) background abilities, such as perceptual speed, associative memory, and fluid intelligence and (b) personal characteristics, including conservatism, conscientiousness, impulsivity, memory self-concept, and online monitoring of the accessibility of item knowledge; (2) assess age and individual differences in online metacognition, including differences in the experience of or access to a fast feeling-of-knowing as well as differences in updating of knowledge for latency differences across strategies.; (3) test the flexibility of initial response criteria and strategy preferences, by experimentally manipulating instructional sets, reward contingencies, and response deadlines; and (4) check the generality of these effects by extending to a separate skill acquisition task. Our goals are to demonstrate that older adults' skill acquisition behavior is governed both by age-related information processing constraints as well as by volition and strategic choice, to evaluate the role of that strategic behavior which impedes rates of learning in older adults can be overcome through intervention.

描述（由申请人提供）：关于衰老和认知的关键问题涉及战略行为作为认知表现年龄差异的原因的影响。是否可以结合与年龄相关的基本信息处理机制变化的作用来确定策略的影响 - 例如，关联学习速度放缓或信息处理速度放缓？认知任务中战略行为的年龄差异在多大程度上产生，增强或减少从标准认知任务中获得的基本认知机制的年龄变化估计值？尽管很明显，认知策略的年龄差异并不能（即完全解释）认知任务绩效的年龄差异（Light，1996; Salthouse，1991）在影响几类复杂认知任务的表现中的年龄差异中起重要作用Fisk，2000）。拟议的研究将阐明战略因素对技能获取年龄差异的影响。我们已经采用了名词对学习（NP）任务（Ackerman＆Woltz，1994），以评估个人如何从较慢的受控处理形式（视觉搜索或扫描阵列）切换到阵列以查找目标单词对的方式，以基于内存（通过重复接触到同一配对的记忆）的表现，从而更加流畅的性能）。该任务的最初工作表明，很大一部分老年人不依赖从记忆中的检索来快速判断NP任务（Rogers＆Gilbert，1997; Rogers等人，2000年），而是选择与较慢但有效的策略一起扫描可能的答案。我们以前已经表明，大小的成年人都学习新的协会，并利用这种学习来指导NP任务中的熟练表现（Touron＆Hertzog，印刷中； Touron＆Hertzog，2003年）。我们方法的一个关键特征是通过试验策略报告以及在线识别记忆探针收集试验，这使我们能够跟踪特定项目级别的关联学习导致每个人的战略行为的变化。使用这种方法，我们表明，尽管有足够的名词对学习（项目知识），但老年人不愿依靠记忆检索策略，并且这种不愿导致技能获取率的年龄差异。持续的扫描行为不能通过不足的名词对学习来充分解释 - 向检索的转变也受到策略选择年龄差异的影响。提供了许多关于策略选择年龄差异的竞争解释，包括：认知能力，人格特征，元认知信念，绩效监控或心理任务模型。拟议的研究将考虑这些替代机制，并影响老年人的检索。我们的具体目的是：（1）进行广泛的个体差异研究，以评估战略选择与（a）背景能力的关系，例如感知速度，联想记忆和流体智力以及（b）个人特征，包括保守主义，认真的性，冲动性，冲动性，记忆自我概念以及在线访问项目知识的访问性； （2）评估在线元认知中的年龄和个体差异，包括在快速感受的经验或访问方面的差异以及跨策略延迟差异的知识更新的差异。 （3）通过实验操纵教学集，奖励意外事件和响应截止日期来测试初始响应标准和策略偏好的灵活性； （4）通过扩展到单独的技能获取任务来检查这些效果的一般性。我们的目标是证明老年人的技能获取行为既由与年龄相关的信息处理限制以及意志和战略选择来控制，以评估可以通过干预来克服这种战略行为的作用。