When Enough Is Not Enough: Information Overload and Metacognitive Decisions to Stop Studying Information

Autor/inn/en	Murayama, Kou; Blake, Adam B.; Kerr, Tyson; Castel, Alan D.
Titel	When Enough Is Not Enough: Information Overload and Metacognitive Decisions to Stop Studying Information
Quelle	In: Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 42 (2016) 6, S.914-924 (11 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0278-7393
DOI	10.1037/xlm0000213
Schlagwörter	Cognitive Processes; Difficulty Level; Metacognition; Study Habits; Self Control; Independent Study; Decision Making; Memory; Recall (Psychology); Experiments; Control Groups; Undergraduate Students; Word Lists; Learning Processes; Age Differences; Statistical Analysis; California (Los Angeles) + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Cognitive process; Kognitiver Prozess; Schwierigkeitsgrad; Meta cognitive ability; Meta-cognition; Metakognitive Fähigkeit; Metakognition; Study behavior; Study behaviour; Studienverhalten; Selbstbeherrschung; Selbststudium; Decision-making; Entscheidungsfindung; Gedächtnis; Abberufung; Erprobung; Wortliste; Learning process; Lernprozess; Age; Difference; Age difference; Altersunterschied; Statistische Analyse
Abstract	People are often exposed to more information than they can actually remember. Despite this frequent form of information overload, little is known about how much information people choose to remember. Using a novel "stop" paradigm, the current research examined whether and how people choose to stop receiving new--possibly overwhelming--information with the intent to maximize memory performance. Participants were presented with a long list of items and were rewarded for the number of correctly remembered words in a following free recall test. Critically, participants in a stop condition were provided with the option to stop the presentation of the remaining words at any time during the list, whereas participants in a control condition were presented with all items. Across 5 experiments, the authors found that participants tended to stop the presentation of the items to maximize the number of recalled items, but this decision ironically led to decreased memory performance relative to the control group. This pattern was consistent even after controlling for possible confounding factors (e.g., task demands). The results indicated a general, false belief that we can remember a larger number of items if we restrict the quantity of learning materials. These findings suggest people have an incomplete understanding of how we remember excessive amounts of information. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01