my research

My research explores child and adolescent learning by examining the interplay between self-regulation and executive functioning, socio-cultural factors, and inductive reasoning in relation to real-world outcomes. This spans early childhood to adolescence, employing both laboratory and field-based methodologies.

The skills needed to be an effective, self-directed learner, are in fact different than the skills to be an on-task “well-behaved” academic performer. This trade-off has cognitive costs, especially for children, and the development of these skills will affect their outcomes over time. In the presence of an adult, young learners expect information to be provided to them. Studies of children in the first decade of life have suggested a trade-off between instruction and exploration, with more autonomy from a teacher supporting young children’s exploration. As teachers provide more input, though, children constrain their exploration. I have studied autonomy as a context— a culture where individuals are offered opportunities to freely engage. With this tension in education, a trade-off of how much freedom to give learners to explore on their own, versus how much control and direct instruction to provide for what they “need to know” is in question.

In my work, I show that the ability to control your thoughts (i.e., cognitive regulation) is a foundational skill for promoting self-directed learning. Surprisingly, cognitive regulation greatly outweighs the benefits of the ability to control your behavior (i.e., behavioral regulation). This suggests the type of learning that involves some degree of self-direction on the part of the student, where the student does not know in advance exactly what will be learned and is not told precisely how the learning should proceed, comes from cognitive self-regulation, not behavioral.

My work has identified cognitive regulation (i.e., the ability to control your thoughts) as foundational for promoting self-directed learning. Surprisingly, cognitive regulation greatly outweighs the benefits of behavioral regulation (i.e., the ability to stay on task and control your behavior). My research has found that the type of learning that involves some degree of self-direction on the part of the student, where the student does not know in advance exactly what will be learned and is not told precisely how the learning should proceed, comes from cognitive self-regulation, not behavioral.

Modrek, A. S., & Ramirez, G. (2021) Metacognition and Learning, 16(1), 113-134. [PDF]

Modrek, A. S. et al. (2019) Learning and Instruction, 60(C), 237-244. [PDF]

Modrek, A. S., & Kuhn, D. (2017). Cognitive Development, 44, 12-20. [PDF]

Contexts that promote autonomy and deep thinking can promote greater learning. One way parents and educators alike have attempted to support learning is by placing a high value on scholastic achievement. If learners are to be able to learn, and do so effectively, they must have the opportunities to do so. This points us to the construct, and context of autonomy – the freedom to choose how to act, think, behave, etc. In theory, when individuals are afforded greater autonomy, they are more often put into situations of having to consider multiple options, or causes, leading to an outcome. They need to evaluate all possible outcomes of an action of choice, a form of self-directed thinking and reasoning. Indeed, when we tested this across child and adolescent samples, we found that more autonomy is associated with the type of critical, self-directed thinking and learning we want.

Modrek, A. S. et al. (2021) Journal of Adolescence [PDF]

Modrek, A. S., & Sandoval, W. A. (2020) Cognitive Development.  [PDF]

Modrek, A. S. (2020) Philosophical Psychology. [PDF]

During the transition from childhood into adolescence, the stakes may become even higher as some degree of autonomy may be a condition for learners to buy into intellectual pursuits, beyond the minimum expected of them. Where, then, does this leave children before they transition into adolescence, and learning opportunities provided to them?

My current research pursues experience-driven developmental science of learning and broader socio-cognitive outcomes of children and adolescents. Learning contexts are both cause and consequence but can also be the answer if the right skills are supported, not thwarted. One feasible approach to enhancing learners’ ability to use their experience to drive learning is creating opportunities where they can elaborate and explain their thinking. Learners, however, do not always have the opportunities to do so. My new projects have found more frequent explaining predicts state standardized test performance (even after controlling for prior scores, challenging the idea that associations reflect a common cause, such as intelligence or test-taking skill).

Modrek, A. S. & Lombrozo (2024) Cognitive Science. [PDF]

Thinking of explaining as a general strategy developing skill helps explain why effects may be both long-lasting and domain-general (i.e., found to generalize across subjects). Cognitive skills have been identified as critical predictors of later outcomes, specifically in relation to academic achievement and are known to transfer because they are domain-general, supporting applications across contexts and tasks. Consider an implementation opportunity: if we focus on developing skills that transfers across contexts, can we cut costs?

Tying in my previous lines of inquiry, recent experiments have found that giving learners, as young as 12, freedom to explain their thinking increases their sense of autonomy while supporting their learning when confronted with disconfirming evidence.

Modrek & Kuhn (under review) Explaining during inquiry supports belief revision.

That is, explaining may give learners autonomy over their thinking. When we allow people to explain, including ourselves, we might open up room to change what we know, and end up knowing more. A strong narrative, such as an explanatory account of an event sequence, may guide attention to relevant evidence that otherwise would escape attention. Explaining facilitates skill learning that many don’t have the opportunity for, particularly in controlled environments such as classrooms. At minimum, allowing learners to explain might give autonomy over their own thinking and learning, and cut costs to opportunity loss of skill development.

Now taking a sociocultural lens, my new projects focus on context, culture, and interventions that answer questions about how to support, not thwart, development. Children are born with a universal cognitive architecture, and the development of such architecture depends on environments in which they develop. Differences in expectations, such responsibilities put on children at a young age may alter this architecture, such as the development of executive functioning, i.e., constructs like working memory. My recent work has found that executive functioning is potentially contextually contingent and experience-driven, and not fully age dependent. More specifically, when children adhere to cultural expectations, there might be some behaviors considered favorable in one environment, but not another – such as that of a high-stress environment, rendering a child to respond more frequently with rapid and reactive responses (i.e., fight response) appropriate from an adaptative perspective, which is in contrast to employing self-restraint, like inhibitory control (i.e., freeze response). This would lead to, e.g., inhibitory control, developing differently between these two contexts. In high-adversity environments, with tasks with a high cognitive load put on children more frequently, executive functioning will necessarily develop to adapt to such environmental demands and tasks.

Modrek & Wolf (2024). Social Development. [PDF]

My forthcoming research will study sociocultural influences on development, specifically on learning, executive functioning (inhibitory control and working memory) and social development. By taking a contextual, experience-driven approach to development, we will better understand, inform, and intervene on environments guiding the development of learning as a skill. Doing so might be our last, best chance to support children before they transition into adolescence.