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The
Generation Effect & How Instructors Can Take Advantage of It |
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It
seems that nowadays students are expected to learn and retain more and
more information in shorter and shorter periods of time. Many students,
parents, and instructors wonder what can be done to help students
achieve such a daunting and challenging task. Fortunately, researchers
in Cognitive Psychology have discovered a possible solution: the
Generation Effect.
What is the Generation
Effect?
The Generation Effect refers to the psychological
finding that individuals better remember data that they generate on their own than
data that is generated by another and given to them (Foos, et. al, 1994). To
better explain, let's say Student A is given a list of word fragments
such as "hap_y," and from those word fragments, constructs complete
words (ie. "happy"). On the other hand, Student B is given the same
list, but of complete words instead of word fragments, and simply reads
the words. If both students are later given a memory test of the full
words, Student A will perform better than Student B due to the fact
that Student A generated the full words on his own. In many research
studies, word fragments and word pairs have been used to demonstrate
the Generation Effect. In fact, the Generation Effect has been shown in
various studies using words, sentences, numbers, rhyming patterns, and
nonwords (Crutcher & Healy, 1989; Johns & Swanson, 1988).
Why Does It Work?
Researchers have developed two main theories to explain the causes of the Generation Effect:
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The Semantic Memory Involvement Theory
One of the theories of the cause of the Generation
Effect is based upon semantic memory involvement. When an individual generates
a word from a word fragment, his brain searches its semantic memory in order to
complete the word. Due to this search, the brain activates the word’s meanings
and attributes, which can later act as retrieval cues for the generated word.
On the other hand, when a word is simply read, the brain does not activate the
word’s semantic attributes, and therefore, the attributes cannot be used as
retrieval cues. The increased activation caused by generating the word leads to
superior performance on tests of memory (Crutcher & Healy, 1989; Johns & Swanson, 1988).
Some researchers have claimed that
the Generation Effect cannot occur when the cue or target word is a nonword
since nonwords supposedly do not have meaning in the semantic memory. In 1988,
however, Elizabeth Johns and Leila Swanson conducted an experiment in which
nonwords did induce the Generation Effect.
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The Increased Cognitive Effort Theory
The other of the two main theories is based
upon increased cognitive effort. This theory emphasizes that generation creates
a problem-solving task, which leads to deeper stimulation, which causes greater
mental effort, which, in turn, raises retention levels of the information (Crutcher & Healy, 1989). The
study mentioned above (Johns & Swanson, 1988) strengthened the theory of
cognitive effort through their studies concerning nonwords and the Generation Effect.
References:
Begg, I., Snider, A., Foley, F., & Goddard, R. (1989). The generation
effect is no artifact: Generating makes words distinctive. Journal of
Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition, 15, 977-989.
Crutcher, R. J., & Healy, A. F. (1989). Cognitive operations and the
generation effect. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory,
& Cognition, 15, 669-675.
Foos, P.W., Mora, J. J., & Tkacz,
S. (1994). Student Study Techniques and the Generation Effect. Journal of
Educational Psychology, 86, 567-576.
Johns,
E. E., & Swanson, L. G. (1988). The generation effect with nonwords. Journal
of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition, 14, 180-190.
Although
researchers disagree about why the Generation Effect occurs, they do agree that
it does consistently occur and that it has several implications for the
classroom.
So How Can Instructors Take
Advantage of Its Benefits?
1) Have
students write their own study questions
2) Have
students work and verify math and chemistry with pencil and paper
3) Use
Target Words and Cues
Concluding Remarks:
The Generation Effect is an extremely beneficial and influential
pychological finding of which instructors should be taking advantage.
As Begg and his colleagues explained, "The benefit of generation is
real; it is not an artifact" (1989). Simply put, when students
generate material on their own, they are more likely to learn and
retain the material for future assignments, tests, and tasks which
build upon the material. Retention of the material , in turn, will lead
to better understanding of higher level concepts and tasks essential
for success in the students' futures.
Web page created by Sarah Hall, an Undergraduate Student at North Central College
