Keynotes | K&Ts | GACs | Talks | Posters | Search

Poster C in Poster Session C: Wednesday, August 5, 9:30 – 11:15 am, Kimmel Center, Shorin & Rosenthal Rooms

A resource-rational model of self-paced learning

SI MA¹, Qiong Zhang¹; ¹Rutgers University

Presenter: SI MA

Self-paced learning, where individuals freely decide how much time to spend encoding each item, is often associated with better long-term memory retention and is further regulated by time pressure. Multiple competing verbal theories exist, yet a computationally explicit explanation is lacking. We hypothesize that the relationship between self-paced learning and memory emerges from people’s optimizing task performance under limited cognitive resources during encoding. Without a pre-determined presentation schedule, self-paced participants can better allocate and recover cognitive resources according to both endogenous and exogenous factors, leading to better learning. These hypotheses were validated via a metacognitive model, where an object-level process uses allocated resources to strengthen memory encoding, and a meta-level process controls how to optimize total recall by adaptively allocating and recovering resources. Our model predictions align with empirical findings and reconcile previous verbal accounts of self-paced learning.

Topic Area: Memory, Learning & Knowledge Structures