Effect of Question Position and Frequency Upon Learning from Text Under Different Levels of Incentive.

This study explored the influence of motivation in modifying the effect of adjunct questions. 270 undergraduates were promised 01 31 or 10%' for each correct answer on a test given immediately after reading. Questions were placed either frequently or infrequently in a text, before or after the relevant material. Controls read the text without adjunct questions. Learning was contingent upon how much money Ss were offered for performing. The advantage of postover prequestions diminished under high incentive. Prequestions inhibited incidental learning when they were frequent. Infrequent adjunct questions resulted in a take-over by the incentive factor. Inhibitory effects of questions may operate during the selection of text input and during the further processing of that input from short-term memory. ii S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION & WELFARE OFFICE OF EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRODUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM 144E PERSON OR ORGANIZATION URIGINATING IT. PO,MTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OF EDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY. Effect of Question Position and Frequency Upon Learning from Text under Different Levels of Incentive Lawrence T. Frase Edward Patrick Bell Telephone Laboratories University of Massachusetts and Harry Schumer TTniversity of Massachusetts A number of studies, summarized in an article by Frase (1968a), have established that the frequency, and position of questions interspersed in text influence what is learned. Postquestions are generally more effective than prequestions, and greater control of learning is achieved when questions are frequent. Consistent effects have been obtained with different materials and different Ss. tftEf But we have observed that these effects are AVW apparent when the experimental Ss only participate to satisfy some course requirement, The questioning effects are least obvious for the relatively difficult learning items. These informal observations suggest that the undergraduate, who performs only as a course requirement, or for some minimal reward, may lack proper incentive. Hence, we became concerned with the generality of the previous findingsi for they might pertain especially to poorly motivated Ss. In order to determine a range of motivational conditions to which previous findings might apply, we varied incentive by paying Ss different amounts for learning text.