Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

Making a judgment of learning (JOL) during study can improve later test performance, a phenomenon called JOL reactivity. In paired-associates learning, JOLs improve memory for strongly (not weakly) related word pairs. JOLs appear to strengthen cue-target associations, enhancing future performance on tests sensitive to those associations. We investigated whether JOL reactivity would emerge in feedback-based category learning, wherein participants learn novel stimulus-response associations. We investigated whether this effect would be present for novel test items and if it would depend upon stimulus-category relatedness. Participants completed a category learning task; some performed JOLs throughout learning. At test, participants categorized novel and previously studied stimuli of varying degrees of stimulus-category relatedness. We found JOL reactivity for both novel and previously studied stimuli, and no effect of relatedness. Our experiment provides preliminary evidence that JOL reactivity can be produced in feedback-based category learning. COVIS theory provides an excellent framework for future investigations.