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PaperclipPerfector  10mo ago (text post)   2794 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for January 21, 2024

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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I don't think the reward is actually causing the learning, but maybe you're not saying that. The reason flash cards are better than plan reading is because they require recall while reading (mostly) does not. A student who doesn't care about getting improving their flash card score will still benefit as long as they genuinely try to answer correctly.

But our willing to recall is likely predicated on a reward being pursued. A student makes an effort to recall and is either successful (rewarded) or unsuccessful (punished) and the strength of these are based on their desire for some contingent reward tied to the material.

"the strength of these" : these=the efforts?

It seems like this collapses into saying that learning requires effort/strategy and that people only expend effort on things they want to do. Do you intend to make a stronger claim?

The strength of learning is more tied to the salience of reward and punishment than mere quantity of repeated behavior. That is the most interesting variation of the thesis I suppose. Per my OP, we have cases of strong learning that do not involve repetition or effortful recall.

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