Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Metacognition01:26

Metacognition

472
Metacognition is a conscious process where individuals are aware of their cognitive and executive processes, such as planning before solving a problem or self-monitoring during reading. For instance, a writer may need help with composing a piece. The situation involves a writer who is working on a piece of writing, but while doing so, they realize that something is missing. They notice that their characters lack depth or details. This realization occurs because the writer is reflecting on their...
472
Cognitive Learning01:21

Cognitive Learning

891
Cognitive learning is based on purposive behavior, incidental learning, and insight learning.
E. C. Tolman's theory of purposive behavior emphasizes that much behavior is goal-directed. He argued that to understand behavior, we must look at the entire sequence of actions leading to a goal. For instance, high school students study hard, not just due to past reinforcement but also to achieve the goal of getting into a good college.
Tolman introduced the idea that behavior is influenced by...
891
Elaborative Rehearsals01:07

Elaborative Rehearsals

228
Elaborative rehearsal is a crucial cognitive strategy that strengthens information encoding in long-term memory by making meaningful connections between new data and pre-existing knowledge. This approach contrasts with maintenance rehearsal, which involves simple repetition without delving into the significance of the information. While maintenance rehearsal might temporarily keep information active in short-term memory, it is less effective for long-term retention.
The effectiveness of...
228
Concepts and Prototypes01:24

Concepts and Prototypes

382
The human nervous system handles vast amounts of information by translating sensory stimuli into neural impulses, which the brain processes, creating thoughts expressed through language or stored as memories. The brain also synthesizes information from emotions and memories, which significantly influence thoughts and behaviors. This intricate process creates a comprehensive mental picture.
The brain organizes this information using concepts, which are mental categories grouping linguistic data,...
382
Piaget's Stage 2 of Cognitive Development01:14

Piaget's Stage 2 of Cognitive Development

569
The preoperational stage, the second of Jean Piaget's four stages of cognitive development, spans approximately ages 2 to 7 and is characterized by the emergence of symbolic thinking. During this stage, children use language, images, and symbols to represent objects and concepts, enabling them to engage in imaginative and pretend play. This symbolic thinking supports children's ability to perform make-believe actions, such as imagining a broom as a horse or their hand as a phone, blending...
569
Piaget's Stage 3 of Cognitive Development01:17

Piaget's Stage 3 of Cognitive Development

837
During Piaget's concrete operational stage, from ages 7 to 11, children exhibit a marked increase in logical thinking skills, specifically in relation to tangible, real-world events. This stage is characterized by the development of several essential cognitive concepts, including conservation, reversibility, and classification, all of which support the child's evolving capacity for structured thought.
Conservation and Constancy of Quantity
A significant cognitive milestone in the...
837

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Investigating the replicability of the social and behavioural sciences.

Nature·2026
Same author

Forgetting as an active process: Attentional withdrawal following a forget instruction.

Memory & cognition·2025
Same author

General knowledge and detailed memory benefit from different training sequences.

Journal of applied research in memory and cognition·2025
Same author

Why Empirical Forgetting Curves Deviate from Actual Forgetting Rates: A Distribution Model of Forgetting.

Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland)·2025
Same author

Working Memory and Instructional Fit: Reintroducing Aptitude-Treatment Interaction in Education Research.

Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland)·2025
Same author

No Simple Solutions to Complex Problems: Cognitive Science Principles Can Guide but Not Prescribe Educational Decisions.

Policy insights from the behavioral and brain sciences·2024
Same journal

Configurational antecedents of employee green behavior: A mixed methods study.

Journal of experimental psychology. Applied·2026
Same journal

The effects of counterfactual thinking on unilateral forgiveness: Can victims do it on their own?

Journal of experimental psychology. Applied·2026
Same journal

Gray swan neglect: Do forecasters account for low(ish) probability events?

Journal of experimental psychology. Applied·2026
Same journal

An inductive learning intervention to improve news veracity discernment.

Journal of experimental psychology. Applied·2026
Same journal

Forgetting and blame: When cognitive lapses excuse and when they backfire.

Journal of experimental psychology. Applied·2026
Same journal

Predecisional distortion of risk information seen in icon arrays.

Journal of experimental psychology. Applied·2026
See all related articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Dec 4, 2025

Problem-Solving Before Instruction PS-I: A Protocol for Assessment and Intervention in Students with Different Abilities
10:26

Problem-Solving Before Instruction PS-I: A Protocol for Assessment and Intervention in Students with Different Abilities

Published on: September 11, 2021

4.2K

Improving conceptual learning via pretests.

Faria Sana1, Veronica X Yan2, Courtney M Clark3

  • 1Center for Social Sciences, Athabasca University.

Journal of Experimental Psychology. Applied
|October 22, 2020
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Pretesting, or answering questions before studying, significantly improves conceptual learning for novice learners by enhancing their focus on critical diagnostic features rather than surface details. This generative process boosts understanding beyond simply directing attention.

More Related Videos

High-definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation over Right Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex to Enhance Metacognitive Sensitivity
06:11

High-definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation over Right Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex to Enhance Metacognitive Sensitivity

Published on: September 26, 2025

312
Using Practice Testing, Public Speaking, and Source Monitoring to Examine the Influences of Learning Strategies and Stress on Episodic Memory
07:59

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

Published on: June 14, 2019

8.2K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Dec 4, 2025

Problem-Solving Before Instruction PS-I: A Protocol for Assessment and Intervention in Students with Different Abilities
10:26

Problem-Solving Before Instruction PS-I: A Protocol for Assessment and Intervention in Students with Different Abilities

Published on: September 11, 2021

4.2K
High-definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation over Right Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex to Enhance Metacognitive Sensitivity
06:11

High-definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation over Right Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex to Enhance Metacognitive Sensitivity

Published on: September 26, 2025

312
Using Practice Testing, Public Speaking, and Source Monitoring to Examine the Influences of Learning Strategies and Stress on Episodic Memory
07:59

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

Published on: June 14, 2019

8.2K

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Educational Psychology
  • Learning Sciences

Background:

  • Novice learners often focus on irrelevant surface features of concepts.
  • Struggles in encoding deeper, diagnostic structures hinder conceptual understanding.
  • Effective learning strategies are needed to guide novices toward deeper processing.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if pretesting enhances novice learners' ability to identify diagnostic features.
  • To determine if pretesting improves conceptual learning by directing attention or through a generative process.
  • To compare the effects of studying deep structure versus surface-emphasizing examples.

Main Methods:

  • Experiment 1: Participants studied statistical concepts with surface or deep structure examples after a pretest, then classified new examples.
  • Experiment 2: Participants studied surface-emphasizing examples after either taking a pretest or receiving correct answers.
  • Classification performance was the primary measure of learning.

Main Results:

  • Studying deep structure examples improved classification performance over surface-emphasizing examples.
  • Pretesting significantly increased classification performance and reduced the benefit of deep structure examples.
  • Pretesting improved performance even when learners received correct answers, indicating a generative effect.

Conclusions:

  • Pretesting is a powerful tool for enhancing conceptual learning in novice learners.
  • The benefits of pretesting stem from its generative nature, not solely from directing attention.
  • Educational interventions should consider incorporating pretesting to foster deeper conceptual understanding.