UCLA

Rewards can enhance memory for important information; however, intrinsic motivation is also an important component of long-term learning. My dissertation explores extrinsic motivation to learn such as point values awarded on memory tasks and grades assigned in classroom settings, while considering intrinsic factors that influence learning like curiosity and interest in the material being studied. I also examined how individual differences in attention, age, and study strategies impact how learners navigate what information they should prioritize when engaging with learning materials. Value-directed Remembering (VDR; Castel et al., 2002) demonstrates the potent effects of rewards on memory for important information. Point values of varying magnitudes paired with information can motivate strategic allocation of cognitive resources that can mitigate age-related deficits in memory recall. Extrinsic rewards often accompany real-world situations to motivate better performance: grades in the classroom, bonuses in the work force, points in video games, etc. However, desired behavior and information associated with rewards are not always easy to identify in real-world contexts. Schematic support or context can make rewards more meaningful, and this may be especially true for older adults who experience age-related declines in cognitive functioning (Castel, 2005). Additionally, extrinsic incentives may not always be enough to motivate all people. Some learners may need intrinsic sources of motivation to reach a goal such as curiosity, interest, or social connection. Thus, I explored whether learners could predict the value of information using rewards and schematic support to guide them, how being able to prioritize and identify important information relates to success in classroom learning, and how prior knowledge and curiosity influence what people remember. Overall, I find evidence that both younger and older adults can benefit from extrinsic rewards paired with explicit schematic knowledge to predict important information (Chapter 2), that selectivity in study strategies can be related to success in real classroom contexts (Chapter 3), and other factors like prior knowledge, curiosity, and collaboration can benefit learning (Chapter 4). Taken together, these findings suggest that learners may decide what is important to learn and remember through various extrinsic and intrinsic factors.