Dan J. Woltz, Ph.D. |
Selected Publications:Woltz, D. J., Gardner, M. K., & Gyll, S.P. (in press). The role of attention processes in the near transfer of cognitive skills. Learning and Individual Differences. Woltz, D. J., Gardner, M. K., & Bell, B. G. (2000). Negative transfer in sequential cognitive skills: Strong-but-wrong sequence application. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 26, 601-625. Woltz, D. J. (1999). Individual Differences in Priming: The Roles of Implicit Facilitation from Prior Processing. In P. L. Ackerman, P. C. Kyllonen, & R. D. Roberts (Eds.), Learning and individual differences: Processes, traits, and content determinants. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Woltz, D. J. (1996). Perceptual and conceptual priming in a semantic reprocessing task. Memory & Cognition, 24, 429-440. Woltz, D. J., Bell, B. G., Kyllonen, P. C., & Gardner, M. K. (1996). Memory for order of operations in the acquisition and transfer of sequential cognitive skills. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 22, 438-457. |
Professor |
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Program Affiliation(s):Learning and Cognition, Statistical and Research Methods Degrees:PhD, Stanford University, 1986 - Educational Psychology
Bio:I have three main research interests that fall under the category of learning and cognition. I also have some interest in methodological issues in the area of psychometrics (and measurement in general). I will briefly describe my learning and cognition interests below. Much of my recent research has been in the area of cognitive skill acquisition and transfer. One focus of this research has been the memory representation of processing sequences that constitute certain kinds of complex skills (i.e., memory for the order of processing steps used in a multi-step cognitive skill). Our evidence suggests that people can learn sophisticated processing sequences with relatively little repetition of a skill, they can learn many partially overlapping sequences at the same time, the sequence information appears to function independent of other forms of memory for the skill (e.g., memory for operations and instances), and of particular interest, it appears to be implicit in nature (i.e., it is not consciously accessible). This research has also looked extensively at the role of sequence memory in undetected errors (i.e., slips) made by skilled performers in near-transfer conditions. Another related area of interest pertains to conceptual repetition priming. The vast majority of implicit memory research over the past few decades has utilized perceptual repetition priming measures (i.e., demonstrating performance facilitation due to the repetition of a perceptual processing event). However, ‘implicit memory’ properties have also been demonstrated in repetition priming within conceptual processing tasks (e.g., knowledge retrieval, semantic processing, etc.). While these phenomena do not fit as well with most current memory theory for priming that is perceptually oriented, I am interested in these phenomena because of their potential role in knowledge and skill acquisition beyond perceptual learning. Specifically, my past and present research in this area looks at the generality/specificity of such conceptual repetition priming, its longevity, and its potential role in forms of learning such as concept acquisition. Finally, I am interested in models and measures of working memory. My research in this area attempts to identify specific processing limits that are attributed to working memory, and investigate the role of these limits in different kinds of knowledge and skill acquisition. Most of this work uses an individual differences approach. |
