1. A Cognitive Antidote to Boredom: Motivational Effects of Interspersing Quizzes During Fact Learning Alice F. Healy, Matt Jones, Lakshmi Lalchandani, & Lindsay Anderson Tack

3. Prolonged work on a single task results in performance deterioration Speed-Accuracy Tradeoff (Pachella, 1974; Healy, Kole, Buck-Gengler, & Bourne, 2004) Cognitive Antidote Principle (Kole, Healy, & Bourne, 2008) –Focus of attention can be lost in a long tedious task –Interrupting the task with additional cognitive requirements could counteract task disengagement

4. Experiment Conditions Standard (quizzes interspersed throughout learning) Postponed (quizzes at end of learning) Quiz questions covered only half of learning material. Testing after a delay covered all material.

5. The Task 64 true facts about 8 categories of “plants” 8 exemplars in each category 8 Trees 8 Shrubs 8 Weeds 8 Fungi ……Etc. Exemplars were given novel names to control for prior knowledge.

6. Specific Fact Format A tree that is sacred in Hinduism is the Buttony. General Fact Format A tree that is popular in eastern religion is the Buttony.

7. Design Between-Subjects Variable Learning Condition (standard, postponed) Within-Subject Variables Quiz status (quizzed, not quizzed) Test (immediate posttest, retention test) Test Fact Format (specific, general) Block (1-8) Dependent Variable Proportion of Correct Responses

8. Quiz Performance

12. How Well Does Quiz Performance Predict Subsequent Test Performance? Hierarchical Linear Model Posttest Retention Test Levels of Model: Subject Item Trial (within subjects and items) Predictors: Learning Condition (standard, postponed) Test Format (specific, general) Quiz Performance (not quizzed, correct, incorrect)

13. SubjectItem Trial How Well Does Quiz Performance Predict Subsequent Test Performance? Quiz ConditionFormat

14. Effect of Quiz on Posttest Trial Level Interaction of learning condition and quiz performance Postponed:.060Standard:.186 Interaction of test format and quiz performance Specific:.197General:.048

15. Effect of Quiz on Retention Test Trial Level Interaction of test format and quiz performance Specific:.118General:.014 Subject Level Interaction of learning condition and quiz performance Postponed:.697Standard:.352

16. Posttest Trial Level Interaction of test format and quiz performance Specific:.197General:.048 Interaction of learning condition and quiz performance Postponed:.060Standard:.186 Retention Test Trial Level Interaction of test format and quiz performance Specific:.118General:.014 Subject Level Interaction of learning condition and quiz performance Postponed:.697Standard:.352

17. Conclusions  Interspersed quizzes can serve a motivational function as a cognitive antidote to boredom. Interrupting learning with quiz questions is desirable because it can enhance learner engagement.  The interspersed quizzes can effectively predict delayed test performance on particular items by individual subjects.

18. Practical Implications These findings imply that clicker questions interspersed throughout a lecture should be useful for the students to dispel their boredom and for the teachers to enable them to predict subsequent test performance.

19. NSF Grant DRL1246588 to the University of Colorado Alice Healy and Matt Jones, Principal Investigators