Learning and Motivation Theory
Five main factors influence the learning process. Working memory capacity, encoding processes, long-term memory retrieval, metacognition, and intrinsic motivation are all a part of the learning process. Each of these factors works on its own as well as in conjunction with the other factors. To understand how learning works, it is important to understand how each of these factors works and how they contribute to the learning process.
Working Memory Capacity
Working memory is the part of memory that allows people to remember when other thinking processes are happening (Ormrod, 2016). This part of memory has limits because working memory capacity is the capability of a person to remember information while working through another task (Wilhelm, Hildebrandt, & Oberauer, 2013). For example, working memory capacity occurs when remembering items on a grocery list while also keeping track of how much money has been spent. If some of the information is forgotten, that person likely has a smaller working memory capacity. If most or all the information is remembered, that individual’s working memory capacity is larger.
It is possible for studies to examine working memory capacity of participants with varying special needs and abilities to potentially find ways to help expand working memory capacity. For example, Swanson and Beebe-Frankenberger (2004) examined working memory and math processes in both at risk for math problem and not at risk for math problem groups. This study focused on word problems in mathematics. The sample included 130 first-grade students, 92 second-grade students, and 131 third-grade students all from a California school district, though public and private school students were both included in this study. The authors used the children’s version (Swanson, 1992) of the Daneman and Carpenter (1980) working memory. This measurement tool examined working memory with relation to reading skills which allows for evaluation of word problems in mathematics as well.
A MANCOVA with a 3 X 2 factorial design was completed to examine the data for working memory when completing word problems (Swanson and Beebe-Frankenberger; 2004). The three grade levels were compared using at-risk and no at-risk groups for math problems. This data included listening sentence span, digit/sentence, semantic association, visual matrix, and mapping/directions. There was a multivariate main effect for age which was significant Wilks’s' Ʌ = .82, F(10,687) = 6.62, p<.0001, η² =.18, as well as for group as Wilks’s' Ʌ = .95, F(5, 339) = 3.10, p<.001, η² =.05.
The results of Swanson and Beebe-Frankenberger (2004) support the idea that executive functioning directly affects working memory and working memory affects learning. The results show that the older the students were, the higher their working memory capacity was. However, this accounted for only a small difference. A larger difference was seen when problem solving was strong versus not as strong in students which was attributed to executive functioning capabilities.
Encoding Processes
Encoding is a process which occurs in the brain to help adequately store information. How a person feels, what they see, what they hear, and how they feel all factor in to the perception of a situation and how it is encoded in the brain’s memory. This, in turn, affects how and when long-term memory retrieval brings the memory back to a current thought in a person’s mind (Ormrod, 2016).
An example of encoding is when a student in a geography class who is studying the differences between two different countries. One country may be cold and have a lot of open space while another country may be tropical and have jungles with large animals. By envisioning characteristics of each country, the student attaches meaning to each country’s name and thus encodes the country’s name along with the other data used to help identify it during the memory retrieval processes.
People with autism often struggle with social skills and have difficulties relating to and socializing with others. Brezis, Galili, Wong, and Piggot (2014) examined how encoding and retrieval affect the learning capabilities of those with autism. The authors note that prior research has found that both encoding and retrieval of social skills information tend to be difficult for those with autism. Participants for this study were found via the UCLA Center for Autism research and included 32 participants with autism and 35 participants without autism.
The Word Recognition Test asked participants to study and later recognize trait words which express perception of or behavior of a person (Brezis, Galili, Wong, and Piggot, 2014). They were asked 3 types of questions and the answers were measured for accuracy and length of time it took to respond. In order to choose words that typical same-age peers would understand, the authors used guides for commonly understood terms by both Anderson (1968) and the Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2009) to create a database of 294 words. Then, the list of words was viewed by nine neurotypical 8-year-old kids who simply crossed out words they did not know. After this, adults also viewed the list with each noting whether they found a term to be positive or negative. Any neutral terms, as perceived by the adults, were taken out of the test as well. This type of word list creation could stand more rigorous evaluation, however, Kuperman, Stadthagen-Gonzalez, and Brysbaert (2012) identified the words as understood by neurotypical children with a mean age of 7.29 years. The Word Recognition Test asked that three types of activities be completed and two phases occurred, a study phase and a test phase. The first activity was pressing a button when a word appears. The second activity was to indicate if the word had a letter “e”. The third activity was asking is the word was a nice word to say to another person.
Brezis, Galili, Wong, and Piggot (2014) completed a post hoc Bonferroni-corrected t test analyses which showed that the neurotypical participants had a significantly more accurate scores (t(60)=2.441,p=.018) than the participants with autism (t(31)=3.332,
p=.002) when making choices about social judgment. On the other hand, the neurotypical group had a lower incidence of correct answers (t(60) =.258, p=.797) when asked to identify words with “e” when compared to the group of participants with autism (t(29)=.726, p=.474). A repeated-measures 3 X 2 ANOVA was completed to find out if there was a significant time difference in answering between the two groups that were tested. The within subjects variables used were visuo-motor, letter-detection, and social judgment as noted above in the list of activities for this study. The between subjects for this ANOVA were the group with autism and the neurotypical comparison group. Visuo-motor prompts provided the fastest response time in milliseconds (comparison group: mean=598 ms,SE=68 ms; autism group :mean=807 ms,SE=66 ms). The letter recognition task yielded slower responses from both groups (comparison group: mean=1,141 ms,SE=64 ms; autism group: mean=1,385 ms, SE=62 ms). Finally, the slowest response times were during the social judgment tasks (comparison group: mean=1,415 ms, SE=76 ms; autism group: mean=1,546 ms,SE=73 ms). There was a main effect of context was (F(2,120) =112.096,p.000,g 2=.651). The most important finding to the topics of encoding and retrieval is that the participants in the autism group were slower than the neurotypical participants, overall, in each task. The type of task did not change this lag in those with autism versus those in the neurotypical comparison group.
The findings showed that those with autism had a more difficult time retrieving a word, even if they correctly responded during the study portion of the Word Recognition Test, when the words were social in nature (Brezis, Galili, Wong, and Piggot, 2014). This can be a problem for those trying to navigate social cues in the workplace or at school. Those with autism may participate in programs which help them learn about social skills, but the information may not be kept in the long-term memory for accurate and timely retrieval if the encoding process is lacking in completion. In this way, learning of social cues and understanding the behaviors of themselves and others may be a struggle for those with autism until successful encoding strategies are employed.
Long-Term Memory Retrieval
Long-term memory retrieval is the process of remembering information one’s brain stored at an earlier point in time. This is usually something which occurred quite some time ago, though current experiences such as smells or sounds may trigger the memory. People generally need to have a linked idea or experience to commit a memory to be a long-term memory and be able to successfully retrieve that memory (Ormrod, 2016).
Tollenaar, Elzinga, Spinhoven, & Everaerd (2008) explored how stress affects long term memory retrieval and whether stress hormones affect retrieval over time or only during the time when stress is occurring. The authors tested participants who were either in a stress or a control group during retrieval at either one day or five days post encoding, then again at six months post encoding with no stress for either the control or stress group. This study included 65 male participants, 31 of whom were tested at one day after encoding and 34 who were tested at five weeks after encoding. Participants were given 20 neutral and 20 emotion words to remember at the time of encoding. The participants were then asked to associate and create a mental picture with each word to assist in the encoding process. The same words were used during the retrieval portion of this study. To induce stress for the experimental group, the Trier Social Stress Task was utilized (Birkett, 2011).
Tollenaar, Elzinga, Spinhoven, & Everaerd (2008) completed a repeated measures ANOVA was completed and no significant main effects of condition was found (F(1, 61) = 0.824,p=.37 ) nor was a main effect for time interval found (F(1,61)=3.09,p=.08). However, there was a main effect found for time interval F(1, 61) =6.57,p=.05. Using post hoc analysis, it was found that those who recalled words at five weeks under stress retrieved significantly less of the words during the six month evaluation than the control group recalled at six months (F(1, 32=4.82, p=.05) and the group that recalled words under stress at one day after encoding did not have a significant difference when compared to the control group (F(1, 29)=1.96, p=.17).
These results showed that retrieval which occurred one day after encoding but under stress was impaired both during neutral and negative memory retrieval. The group which experienced stress at the time of the week five retrieval activity only had lags during negative word retrieval.
Metacognition
Metacognition refers to both awareness of one’s thoughts and learning processes and how well they regulate those processes (Ormrod, 2016). Ideally this means that people can and do focus on expanding their memory and learning using metacognition. By understanding how one learns, that person can utilize strategies that help to retain information in long-term memory.
Wolgast and Barnes-Holmes (2018) studied how students learning about metacognition affects their social skills. The authors focused on social perspective taking which they considered to be a form of empathy which helps one better understand and relate to other’s in their lives. The participants included 973 females and 1,132 males in the fifth grade who attended 127 different classrooms in a variety of 66 schools. The authors used a social perspective taking scale (Davis, 1980) which allowed students to self-report using a scale of one (not true) to four (absolutely true). Higher scores indicate higher empathy abilities and choices. Metacognitive strategies (MCs) were also self-reported using a scale which had students choose from one (never) up to four (always) to explain which strategies they used (Mokhtari & Reichard, 2002). In addition, reading experience (RE) was self-reported by students when they answered how often they read books in the last half year using a scale of one to four at three time periods with one being never and four being almost always. A latent auto-regressive model was used to evaluate the data which showed cross-lags between each variable’s data (X² 2,816.810; df 1,332; CFI .960, RMSEA .042, CI [.039, .043], SRMR = .053). The social perspective taking (SPT) scale showed that Cronbach’s alpha was .84 at Time 1, .81 at Time 2, and .86 at Time 3 which indicates internal consistency. Items were intercorrelated with means of items falling between .56 to .62.
In the study completed by Wolgast and Barnes-Holmes (2018), by time category three, girls’ MCs during classroom activities was significantly associated with their SPT in the second time category as well as with their RE with books while boys’ MCs were not significantly associated in this way. Using a mediation model the authors noted that both boys’ and girls’ SPT was associated, though indirectly, with RE with books in the year before this study and it’s teaching of MCs. This indicates that teaching metacognition skills helps with SPT, but RE helps to solidify the use of MCs in both boys and girls within this study.
Wolgast and Barnes-Holmes (2018) found that student social perspective taking, when using metacognitive strategies in class, was positively related to reading experience overall. Students who had more reading experience were more likely to use the metacognitive strategies which boosted the use of social perspective taking. These findings indicate that learning can occur even when learning means operating on a higher level using metacognition to evaluate one’s behavior and choice patterns to achieve the desired results.
Intrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic motivation is motivation from within (Ormrod, 2016). A person who chooses to read books regularly without prompting does so because the positive internal feelings gained by doing this activity is motivation enough to support continued reading as a regular activity. The same is true for a person who enjoys having a clean house with nothing out of place though nobody will see the clean house in the future.
To better understand intrinsic motivation of college students, Henderson-King and Mitchell (2011) studied 232 undergraduate students from an introductory psychology course at Grand State University. Of these participants, 173 were female and 56 were male with a mean age of 19 years. In addition to demographic information, participants completed the Meaning of Education questionnaire (Henderson-King and Smith, 2006), the Aspiration Index (Kasser, 2007), and the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (Steger et al. 2006) to provide the necessary data for this study.
Henderson-King and Mitchell (2011) used a multiple linear regression analyses where the different meanings of education were used as dependent variables and the predictor variables used included materialism, intrinsic aspirations, search, presence, and age. They found that intrinsic aspirations predicted direction, β = .21, p<.01; learning, β = .46, p<.001; and self, β = .38, p<.001 factors. Also, intrinsic aspirations showed a significant, positive relationship with career, β = .40, p<.001. These findings suggest that intrinsic aspirations can be a motivational factor in learning and academic as well as career advancement. It is important to remember that intrinsic motivation is not the only factor involved in decision-making, learning, and motivation. As such this factor must be studied along with other factors which may strengthen or degrade the effects of intrinsic motivation on the success of individuals.
Learning is a complex process which includes working memory capacity, encoding processes, long-term memory retrieval, metacognition, and intrinsic motivation. It is important to understand each of these five components separately as well as how they work together for learning to take place. Learning will only happen if the information is meaningful, encoded properly so that recall is attainable, and if the information can be used within working memory to reach solutions to problems. This topic is important not only for education of children, but also for adults who are learning new skills, recovering from an illness or injury, or who are working on strategies to help them with psychological issues in their lives.