Mood Moderates the Effect of Self-Generation During Learning

Abstract

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 | F L R 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...

Why the Cells Look Like That – The Influence of Learning With Emotional Design and Elaborative Interrogations

“…To roughly summarize the results, the authors observed that learners with a positive emotional state showed better recall performances from self-generated information than learners in a negative emotional state, who profited more from the completely formulated words. Similarly, very recently, Schindler et al (2017) found that learners were better able to remember generated words in a positive compared to a negative emotional state, whereas this was not the case for the recall of completely formulated words. Therefore, it seems that a positive emotional state seems to be more beneficial when an additional learning task requires cognitive flexibility or the generation of new information.…”

“…Therefore, it seems that a positive emotional state seems to be more beneficial when an additional learning task requires cognitive flexibility or the generation of new information. If we translate the results of this rather basic research from Fiedler et al (2003) as well as Schindler et al (2017) to our study, we can assume that the beneficial effect of elaborative interrogations compared to text is especially pronounced for learners with a positive emotional design, and only to a lesser extent for learners with a neutral design. This can be supported by the explanation that learners in a positive emotional state may especially show increased motivation to engage in a task if confronted with an SGL activity.…”

Emotions, memory and reading comprehension among high school student

“…Así mismo, con inducción de estados anímicos positivos y negativos, Kuhbandner y Pekrun (2013) evaluaron el fenómeno de «olvido inducido por la recuperación selectiva» y observaron que dicho efecto era mayor en los participantes de ánimo negativo respecto al control y al ánimo positivo y que estos últimos eran los que mejor recordaban aquello que se le solicitaba en la evaluación final, pero que no había sido solicitado inicialmente. Finalmente, Schindler et al, (2017) indagaron en estudiantes universitarios el efecto de inducir un estado de ánimo positivo o negativo en la recuperación tanto de aspectos literales como de aspectos inferenciales y encontraron que los pacientes con un ánimo positivo inducido se desempeñaron mejor que el resto de los grupos solo en información inferencial.…”

“…Los resultados también son acordes con los obtenidos en investigaciones previas sobre emoción y lectura (Boyle, 1986;Ellis et al, 1995Ellis et al, , 1997Kuhbandner & Pekrun, 2013;Schindler et al, 2017;Tornare et al, 2016), todos vinculados con diseños experimentales diferentes al presente, ya que partieron de modelos discretos. En estos experimentos, se observa que la tristeza se correlaciona con resultados inferiores respecto a la alegría.…”

“…En estos experimentos, se observa que la tristeza se correlaciona con resultados inferiores respecto a la alegría. Especialmente, acorde con lo encontrado en este artículo, resultan las conclusiones a las que arriban autores como Bohn-Gettler y Rapp (2011) y Schindler et al (2017) quienes específicamente observan que las personas con ánimo positivo generan más inferencias durante la lectura.…”