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Exploring the Effects of Cognitive Flexibility and Contextual Interference on Performance and Retention in a Simulated Environment Rinki Suryavanshi

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Exploring the Effects of Cognitive Flexibility and Contextual Interference on Performance and Retention in a Simulated Environment Rinki Suryavanshi Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2015 Exploring the Effects of Cognitive Flexibility and Contextual Interference on Performance and Retention in a Simulated Environment Rinki Suryavanshi Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF EDUCATION EXPLORING THE EFFECTS OF COGNITIVE FLEXIBILITY AND CONTEXTUAL INTERFERENCE ON PERFORMANCE AND RETENTION IN A SIMULATED ENVIRONMENT By RINKI SURYAVANSHI A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2015 Rinki Suryavanshi defended this dissertation on July 13, 2015. The members of the supervisory committee were: Aubteen Darabi Professor Directing Dissertation Jonathan Adams University Representative James Klein Committee Member Insu Paek Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the dissertation has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ii To my MOM and DAD for their love and Inspiration & To my son VIHAAN for giving me this aspiration iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS To begin with I would like to thank GOD for unceasingly bestowing, on me all blessing that gave me the strength to complete this thesis. God lies in the details, this has been taught practically to me by my advisor and mentor, Dr. Aubteen Darabi. His eye for perfection, precision and performance was the guiding principle that helped me gain knowledge and understanding of the subject. Thanks always remain unending for my supervisor, for helping me to choose this challenging topic, guiding me with impeccable patience, accommodating my mistakes and transforming them into meaningful conclusions. I also wish to express my gratitude to my committee members, Dr. James Klein, Dr. Jonathan Adams and Dr .Insu Paek who shared their expertise and helped me pave the path for successful completion of the work. It gives me immense pleasure to appreciate the love and affection of my family specially my father (Late Shri Virendra Singh) and my mother (Smt. Leela Singh) for their blessings and inspiration. A special thanks and love goes to my dear husband Vinay and my lovely son Vihaan for their constant support and unconditional love. Oh! What a journey it has been, a constant source of guidance and encouragement came from my sisters, Richa and Reena and their families. I also truly acknowledge the support of my in-laws, my brother-in-laws Vineet and Vivek, and their families. A special thanks goes to all the friends here at FSU who has provided constant encouragement and support. My friends and family back home in India also needs to be appreciated for their moral boosting talks and sending positive vibes throughout this journey and made it a memorable adventure!! iv TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables ................................................................................................................................ vii List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. viii Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................1 Context of Study .....................................................................................................................1 Problem Statement ..................................................................................................................3 Purpose Statement and Research Questions ...........................................................................6 Hypotheses ..............................................................................................................................7 Significance of the Study ........................................................................................................8 CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................................10 Contextual Interference Effect ..............................................................................................11 Cognitive Aspects of the Contextual Interference Effect ..............................................12 Interference Strategies Implemented in a Simulated Environment to Increase Retention ...13 Worked Examples ..........................................................................................................14 Influence of Task (Task Complexity) ............................................................................15 Manipulation of Practice ................................................................................................16 Augmented Feedback.....................................................................................................17 Learning History ............................................................................................................18 Cognitive Flexibility Theory.................................................................................................19 Principles of Cognitive Flexibility Theory ...........................................................................19 Avoidance of Oversimplification ...................................................................................20 Multiple Representations ...............................................................................................20 Centrality of Cases .........................................................................................................20 Conceptual Knowledge as Knowledge of Use...............................................................20 Schema Assembly ..........................................................................................................20 Multiple Interconnectedness ..........................................................................................21 Active Participation and Guidance for Management of Complexity.............................21 Retention Strategies to be Improved by Cognitive Flexibility .............................................21 Summary ...............................................................................................................................23 CHAPTER 3. METHOD ..........................................................................................................25 Participants ............................................................................................................................25 Treatments.............................................................................................................................26 Materials ...............................................................................................................................27 Contextual Interference Strategy ...................................................................................28 Cognitive Flexibility Measure .......................................................................................31 Study Design and Power Analysis ........................................................................................34 Study Design ..................................................................................................................34 Power Analysis ..............................................................................................................35 Procedures .............................................................................................................................36 Variables ...............................................................................................................................37 v Independent Variables ...................................................................................................37 Dependent Variables ......................................................................................................38 Data Analysis ........................................................................................................................38 Model for Regression .....................................................................................................39 CHAPTER 4. RESULTS ..........................................................................................................40 Descriptive Statistics for the Outcomes ................................................................................40 Time to Respond ............................................................................................................43 Cognitive Flexibility ......................................................................................................45 Regression Analysis ..............................................................................................................47 Test for Basic Assumptions ...........................................................................................47 Interaction between the Predictors ........................................................................................51 Regression for Learning Performance Scores ......................................................................52 Regression for Retention Scores ...........................................................................................53
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