Applied Behavior Analysis Commons^™

Why Do Cognitive Prompts Hurt Learning In Older Adults?, Kurt Kraiger, Thomas M. Cavanagh, Collin M. G. Willis

Barowsky School of Business | Faculty Scholarship

The purposes of the present investigation were to attempt to replicate the negative effects for learning prompts in older adults reported by Cavanagh, Kraiger and Peters (2016), determine if the impact of learning prompts depends on type of prompt, and investigate the two possible explanations of the negative impact of prompts – increased cognitive load and higher negative affect. Learning prompts refer to short text inserted into training content to encourage trainees to rehearse new content or engage in meta‐cognitive activity. Although learning prompts generally lead to greater learning in training, Cavanagh et al. reported a negative impact for prompts …