词汇学习任务中，做JOL能够反应性地提高个体对所学词汇的再认记忆成绩，表现出积极的反应性效应。本研究开展四个实验考察再认记忆积极反应性效应的内在产生机制：学习投入增强理论与策略改变理论。实验1采用交替做JOL范式探讨积极反应性效应是否具有可迁移性，进而检验策略改变理论；实验2-4分别采用不同编码方式（分散学习范式、产生效应范式以及节省时间范式）考察学习投入对反应性效应的调节作用，进而检验学习投入增强理论。结果发现：(1)积极反应性效应不具有可迁移性；(2)学习投入水平显著调节反应性效应的强度。上述结果表明做JOL通过提高词汇编码过程中的学习投入水平，而不是改变学习过程中的策略，进而诱发了积极反应性效应。研究结果为学习投入增强理论提供了支持证据，并为反应性效应在真实教育情景中的应用提供了依据。

Making judgments of learning (JOLs) can reactively change memory, a phenomenon termed the reactivity effect. The current study was designed to explore whether the reactivity effect transfers to subsequent learning of new information. Participants studied two blocks of words (Experiment 1) or related word pairs (Experiments 2 & 3). In Block 1, participants in the experimental (JOL) group made a JOL while studying each item, whereas the control (no-JOL) group did not make item-by-item JOLs. Then both groups studied Block 2, in which they did not make JOLs, and finally, they took a test on Blocks 1 and 2. Across Experiments 1 -3, the results showed superior Block 1 test performance in the JOL than in the no-JOL group, demonstrating a positive reactivity effect. Critically, there was minimal difference in Block 2 test performance between the two groups, implying little transfer of the positive reactivity effect to subsequent learning of new information. Furthermore, Experiment 3 demonstrated that the reactivity effect still failed to transfer even when participants explicitly appreciated the benefits of making JOLs. Educational implications are discussed.

Considerable evidence highlights the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) as a key region for hierarchical (i.e. multilevel) learning. In a previous electroencephalography (EEG) study, we found that the low-level prediction errors were encoded by frontal theta oscillations (4-7 Hz), centered on right DLPFC (rDLPFC). However, the causal relationship between frontal theta oscillations and hierarchical learning remains poorly understood. To investigate this question, in the current study, participants received theta (6 Hz) and sham high-definition transcranial alternating current stimulation (HD-tACS) over the rDLPFC while performing the probabilistic reversal learning task. Behaviorally, theta tACS induced a significant reduction in accuracy for the stable environment, but not for the volatile environment, relative to the sham condition. Computationally, we implemented a combination of a hierarchical Bayesian learning and a decision model. Theta tACS induced a significant increase in low-level (i.e. probability-level) learning rate and uncertainty of low-level estimation relative to sham condition. Instead, the temperature parameter of the decision model, which represents (inverse) decision noise, was not significantly altered due to theta stimulation. These results indicate that theta frequency may modulate the (low-level) learning rate. Furthermore, environmental features (e.g. its stability) may determine whether learning is optimized as a result.

Many mental processes are reactive – they are altered as a result of introspection and monitoring. It has been documented that soliciting trial-by-trial confidence ratings (CRs) reactively improves decision accuracy and lengthens response times (RTs), but the cognitive mechanisms underlying CR reactivity in decision-making remain unknown. The current study conducted two experiments and employed the drift-diffusion model (DDM) to explore why reporting confidence reactively alters the decision-making process. The results showed that CRs led to enhanced decision accuracy, longer RTs, and higher response thresholds. The findings are consistent with an increased conservatism hypothesis which asserts that soliciting CRs provokes feelings of uncertainty and makes individuals more cautious in their decision making.

BACKGROUND:Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a common problem associated with dangerous outcomes. Dysfunction of goal-directed behavioral control may contribute to NSSI. To test this, we used a novel experimental paradigm (Pavlovian-to-Instrumental Transfer, PIT) to test whether patients with NSSI utilize Pavlovian conditioned stimuli (CSs) during goal-directed control of ongoing behavior.METHODS:Thirty-five depressed patients with NSSI (D-NSSI) and thirty-four healthy controls performed a PIT task. We measured the influence of positive and negative background CSs on instrumental responses for rewards.RESULTS:The results showed that D-NSSI performed significantly lower PIT than controls, and PIT measures were negatively correlated with NSSI frequency. Furthermore, in a subset of patients exhibiting high levels of compulsivity, PIT positively moderated the relationship between compulsivity and NSSI frequency.CONCLUSIONS:These results indicate that D-NSSI patients have difficulties in using different CSs to control ongoing behavior in a goal-directed manner, and the dysfunction of goal-directed control may contribute to NSSI.

Human perception and learning is thought to rely on a hierarchical generative model that is continuously updated via precision-weighted prediction errors (pwPEs). However, the neural basis of such cognitive process and how it unfolds during decision making, remain poorly understood. To investigate this question, we combined a hierarchical Bayesian model (i.e., Hierarchical Gaussian Filter, HGF) with electrophysiological (EEG) recording, while participants performed a probabilistic reversal learning task in alternatingly stable and volatile environments. Behaviorally, the HGF fitted significantly better than two control, non-hierarchical, models. Neurally, low-level and high-level pwPEs were independently encoded by the P300 component. Low-level pwPEs were reflected in the theta (4-8 Hz) frequency band, but high-level pwPEs were not. Furthermore, the expressions of high-level pwPEs were stronger for participants with better HGF fit. These results indicate that the brain employs hierarchical learning, and encodes both low- and high-level learning signals separately and adaptively.

Recent studies found that making judgments of learning (JOLs) can reactively facilitate memory, a phenomenon termed the reactivity effect of JOLs. The current study was designed to explore (1) whether making judgments of forgetting (JOFs) can also enhance memory and (2) whether there is any difference between the reactivity effects of JOFs and JOLs. Experiment 1 found that soliciting JOFs significantly enhanced retention of single words. Experiments 2 and 3 observed minimal difference in reactivity effects between JOFs and JOLs on learning of single words and word pairs. Finally, a meta-analysis was conducted to integrate results across studies to explore whether retention of items studied with JOLs differed from that of items studied with JOFs. The meta-analytic results showed minimal difference. Overall, the documented findings imply that (1) making JOFs reactively enhances memory, and (2) there is little difference in reactivity effects between JOFs and JOLs. These findings support the positive-reactivity theory to account for the reactivity effect.