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| Name |
Bjork, Robert A. |
| Location
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University of California, Los Angeles |
| Primary Field
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Psychological and Cognitive Sciences |
 Election Citation
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Bjork's research examines how people learn and remember, focusing on the implications of the science of learning for the optimization of teaching and training. |
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Research Interests
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Robert Bjork's research focuses on how people learn and remember, versus how people think they learn and remember, and the implication of that research for upgrading teaching and self-regulated learning. Research from his laboratory has demonstrated that people often assume that human memory works in ways similar to recording devices-such the memory in a computer-whereas human learning processes differ from such devices in truly fundamental ways. Conditions that promote forgetting and impair performance during instruction and practice, for example, can actually enhance long-term retention and transfer. Conversely, conditions that retard forgetting and enhance performance during training frequently fail to support long-term training retention and transfer. From a theoretical standpoint, such findings have implications for the functional architecture of humans as learners. From a practical standpoint, they point to reasons instructors are susceptible to choosing less-effective conditions of instruction over more effective conditions; why learners are prone to illusions of competence; and why real-world instruction and practice are seldom as effective as they might be. |
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