We examined younger and older adults' item selection behaviors to assess heuristics for self-regulating learning of English meanings of Chinese characters varying widely in figural complexity. Two study-test trials were used to assess whether (a) item selection behaviors on the first study opportunity would show evidence for a difficulty-based heuristic as posited by Metcalfe's (2002) region of proximal learning (RPL) theory, or alternatively, influences of habitual English-language reading order (i.e. left-to-right, top-to-bottom); (b) whether second-trial selection behaviors were better predicted by RPL or by the discrepancy reduction model (DRM; Dunlosky & Hertzog, 1998); and (c) whether Trial 1 test performance would alter Trial 2 study in a manner predicted by RPL. DRM stipulates people select any item for study at Trial 2 that was not previously recalled. RPL states that people study only items they believe they can learn, avoiding complex items above their subjective RPL. Stimuli were 36 Chinese-English vocabulary pairs randomly presented in six 2 × 3-element grids. Both habitual reading order and stimulus complexity at Trial 1 affected order of study, with participants of both age groups manifesting a preference to study less complex characters. However, older adults showed larger effects of stimulus complexity whereas younger adults had larger effects of habitual reading order. At Trial 2, older adults showed a greater tendency to avoid studying the most complex Chinese characters, consistent with RPL, which contributed to their lower rates of vocabulary acquisition. Older adults' more conservative RPLs appeared to constrain their degree of self-regulated learning. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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项目选择行为和新外语词汇的后续记忆的年龄差异：近端学习启发式区域的证据。


我们研究了年轻人和老年人的项目选择行为，以评估对图形复杂性差异很大的汉字英文含义进行自我调节学习的启发法。两项研究测试试验用于评估（a）第一个学习机会的项目选择行为是否会显示梅特卡夫（2002）近端学习区域（RPL）理论所提出的基于难度的启发式证据，或者影响习惯的英语阅读顺序（即从左到右、从上到下）； (b) RPL 或差异减少模型是否能更好地预测第二次试验选择行为（DRM；Dunlosky & Hertzog，1998）； (c) 试验 1 的测试表现是否会以 RPL 预测的方式改变试验 2 研究。 DRM 规定人们在试验 2 中选择任何先前未回忆起的项目进行研究。 RPL 指出，人们只学习他们认为自己可以学习的项目，避免超出主观 RPL 的复杂项目。刺激是 36 个汉英词汇对，随机呈现在 6 个 2 × 3 元素网格中。试验 1 中的习惯阅读顺序和刺激复杂性都会影响学习顺序，两个年龄段的参与者都表现出偏好研究不太复杂的角色。然而，老年人受到刺激复杂性的影响更大，而年轻人则受到习惯阅读顺序的影响更大。在试验 2 中，老年人表现出更大的避免学习最复杂汉字的倾向，与 RPL 一致，这导致他们的词汇习得率较低。老年人较为保守的 RPL 似乎限制了他们自我调节学习的程度。 （PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2020 APA，保留所有权利）。