Acquisition of false certainty: Learners increase their confidence in the correctness of incorrect answers after online information search

Abstract

Background: Explorative online information search activities are self-regulated learning processes that require monitoring in the form of accurate metacognitive judgments about one's own knowledge. People have to judge what they know, but also understand what they do not know. Previous research has explored those two aspects in relation to each other mostly by employing measures of metacognitive calibration and points toward a potential detrimental effect of using the internet to answer knowledge test items.Objectives: This research aimed to disentangle those two aspects of knowledge and to describe a false certainty effect (FaCE), indicating an increase in confidence in the correctness of incorrect responses in a knowledge test after online information search. We also aimed to further explore the conditions under which this effect occurs. Methods:In two studies participants' knowledge and on-item confidence ratings were measured before and after a short online information search activity. In Study 1, we analyzed data of two samples with and without knowledge gain. In Study 2, we manipulated the familiarity of knowledge test items and whether there was an information search activity.Results: Study 1 showed that false certainty occurred even when a search activity did not lead to any learning success. This FaCE, however, was stronger when there was actual knowledge gain. In Study 2, we found that the effect was caused by the information search activity itself and not by the pre-post methodology of identical knowledge-test items.Implications: Our results demonstrate the emergence of increased confidence in the correctness of incorrect responses in knowledge tests after online information search activities. Educators and researchers should be aware of this undesired false certainty effect of computer-assisted learning on individuals' knowledge monitoring.

False certainty in the acquisition of anatomical and physiotherapeutic knowledge

“…This could mean that after a learning experience, although students are able to better judge what they know, they also display false certainty—hence are worse in knowing what they do not know. Similar findings have been reported for short online information search scenarios [ 34 ]. Also, another recent study reports that more knowledgeable students are able to give a high confidence response more adequately than low performing students when they are actually correct [ 35 ].…”

“…Our study investigated confidence change after learning only for knowledge in anatomy and gait analysis. Although similar confidence effects have been demonstrated for topics like meteorology [ 44 ], scuba diving [ 34 ], and overall clinical knowledge [ 17 ], to infer about its generalizability, the causes of this effect have yet to be investigated.…”

Where less is more: Limited feedback in formative online multiple‐choice tests improves student self‐regulation

“…However, when score-only feedback was provided, the discussion board showed a higher frequency of references to evidence-based information from online sources. This finding is notable given the challenges students have seeking out reliable sources of information, and evidence that online information-seeking activities can result in misplaced confidence in acquired knowledge (von Hoyer et al, 2022).…”

CollabGraph: A Graph-Based Collaborative Search Summary Visualization

“…The graph visualisation can guide students through the adjustment of their learning behaviours by optimising the learning strategies they put in place. Several studies connect SaL to self-regulated learning activities [20,21,22]. The metacognitive dimension is often related to the knowledge gains and to other factors that intervene in the knowledge acquisition process in SaL environments [23].…”