Generating information, compared to reading, improves learning and enhances long-term retention of the learned content. This so-called generation effect has been demonstrated repeatedly for recall and recognition of single words. However, before adopting generating as a learning strategy in educational contexts, conditions moderating the effect need to be identified. This study investigated the impact of positive and negative mood states on the generation effect with short expository texts. According to the dual-force framework (Fiedler, Nickel, Asbeck, & Pagel, 2003), positive mood should facilitate generation by enhancing creative knowledge-based top-down processing (assimilation). Negative mood, however, should facilitate learning in the read-condition by enhancing critical stimulus-driven bottom-up processing (accommodation). In contrast to our expectations, we found no general generation effect but an overall learning advantage of read compared to generated texts. However, a significant interaction of learning condition and mood indicates that learners in a better mood recall generated texts better than learners in a more negative mood, whereas no mood effect was found when the texts were read. The results of the present study partially support the predictions of the dual-force framework and are discussed in the context of recent theoretical approaches to the generation effect.Keywords: Generation effect, learning with expository texts, mood states Info corresponding author Email: julia.schindler@uni-wuerzburg.de DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14786/flr.v5i4.296
Schindler et al
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IntroductionA common assumption is that learning is most effective when it is easy. However, research suggests that under certain conditions learning is more effective when learners intentionally make it more difficult by, for example, distributing learning sessions, interleaving topics and tasks, testing learned content, and generating knowledge (Bjork & Bjork, 2011). The advantage of generated compared to read information in memory tasks (generation effect) has been investigated extensively (for a meta-analysis, see Bertsch, Pesta, Wiscott, & McDaniel, 2007). In the classical generation paradigm (e.g., McDaniel, Waddil, & Einstein, 1988;Slamecka & Graf, 1978) participants read an associated word pair (PURR -CAT) or they complete a fragment of the target word (PURR -C_ _). In a subsequent learning test, memory for generated target words is better than for read words. Findings like this suggest that using generation in every-day learning situations might be beneficial. However, before adopting generation as a learning strategy in educational contexts, conditions moderating the generation effect such as learners' cognitive abilities, motivation, or mood states need further clarification.Research on the impact of mood on information processing has demonstrated that positive and negative mood states serve a regulatory function in terms of processing depth, processing capacity, and processing strategies (for an overview see B...