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Related Experiment Video

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Using Practice Testing, Public Speaking, and Source Monitoring to Examine the Influences of Learning Strategies and Stress on Episodic Memory

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Instructional effects on performance in a matching-to-sample study.

Chad E Drake¹, Kelly G Wilson

¹University of Mississippi, USA.

Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior

|June 11, 2008

Summary

Motivating undergraduate participants in studies is challenging. Specifying molar consequences for correct responses significantly improved performance in a matching-to-sample task, reducing variability.

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Area of Science:

Behavioral Psychology
Cognitive Science
Experimental Psychology

Background:

Undergraduate participant pools present challenges in subject motivation and engagement.
End-of-semester timing can negatively impact participant performance in studies.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate methods for improving participant motivation and performance in a matching-to-sample (MTS) study.
To determine if specifying molar consequences enhances engagement with experimental tasks.

Main Methods:

Thirty-one undergraduates completed an MTS study with extensive training and testing of conditional discriminations and equivalence relations.
A subset of participants received additional instructions on molar consequences for high rates of correct responses.

Main Results:

Participants receiving instructions on molar consequences showed markedly improved performance compared to the control group.
Specification of molar contingencies enhanced sensitivity to molecular contingencies within the MTS procedure.

Conclusions:

Instructions detailing molar contingencies can effectively reduce performance variability in human MTS studies.
Enhancing the consequential functions of feedback during MTS trials may improve participant engagement and data quality.