Research on quality issues of business process models has recently begun to explore the process of creating process models by analyzing the modeler's interactions with the modeling environment. In this paper we aim to complement previous insights on the modeler's modeling behavior with data gathered by tracking the modeler's eye movements when engaged in the act of modeling. We present preliminary results and outline directions for future research to triangulate toward a more comprehensive understanding of the process of process modeling. We believe that combining different views on the process of process modeling constitutes another building block in understanding this process that will ultimately enable us to support modelers in creating better process models.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1511.0405

Studies indicate that a brief period of wakeful rest after learning supports memory retention, whereas distraction weakens it. It is open for investigation whether advanced age has a significant effect on the impact of post-learning wakeful rest on memory retention for verbal information when compared to a cognitively demanding distraction task. In this study, we examined (1) whether post-learning rest promotes verbal memory retention in younger and older adults and (2) whether the magnitude of the rest benefit changes with increasing age. Younger adults and older adults learned and immediately recalled two consecutive word lists. After one word list, participants rested wakefully for 8 min; after the other list, they solved matrices. Memory performance was again tested in a surprise free recall test at the end of the experimental session. We found that, overall, younger adults outperformed older adults. Also, memory retention was higher following a wakeful rest phase compared to distraction. A detailed analysis revealed that this wakeful rest benefit was significant for the older adults group, whereas the younger adults group retained a similar amount of information in both post-encoding conditions. We assume that older adults can profit more from a wakeful rest phase after learning and are more prone to distraction than younger adults. With increasing age, a short break immediately after information uptake may help better retain the previously learned information, while distraction after learning tends to weaken memory retention.

Evidence exists that a brief period of wakeful rest after learning supports memory retention, while interference after learning weakens memory retention. We tested this so-called resting effect for second language learning material. In two counterbalanced within-subject designs, participants were involved in two identical successive learning phases. In each phase, they learned one of two second language stories, immediately followed by a recall phase in the first language. The critical manipulation took place after the immediate recall. Here, participants either rested or worked on a distractor task for 8 min. In Experiment 1, participants worked on a spot-the-difference task (visual distractor condition), and in Experiment 2, they read a New York Times article (verbal distractor condition). After 7 days, all participants were again invited to a second experimental session, where a surprise free recall test took place. Our results showed that second language story retention over a period of 7 days was not supported by a brief period of wakeful rest following learning and recall, independent of the distractor condition. Our findings contribute to an important characterization of the wakeful resting effect in younger adults, which is discussed in the light of existing studies.

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Recent work shows that post-encoding wakeful rest, in contrast to a cognitive task delay period, supports memory performance. The present study aimed at investigating whether study time modulates the impact of post-encoding rest on delayed memory performance. Healthy young adults were allocated to one of two "study time" groups (fixed-paced vs. self-paced). Participants encoded two word lists. After immediate recall of one word list, participants wakefully rested for 8 min, after the other, they performed a visual problem solving task. A delayed recall took place at the end of the experimental session (Experiment 1) and again after 7 days (Experiment 1 + 2). We found that participants in the self-paced group outperformed those in the fixed-paced group. In Experiment 1, participants showed higher memory performances after 7 days in the resting condition independent of study time. No significant differences between post-encoding (rest vs. problem solving) and study time conditions were found in Experiment 2. Combined analyses of both experiments revealed that an additional recall (Experiment 1) supported memory retention in both post-encoding conditions. Our findings suggest that resting is beneficial over the long term, but only when the encoded information is repeatedly retrieved at the end of a learning session.

Evidence primarily exists in adults that engaging in task‐related mental activity after new learning results in increased forgetting of learned information, compared with quietly resting in the minutes that follow learning, where less forgetting is observed. The current study investigated whether the beneficial effect of post‐encoding rest can be observed in children aged 13–14 years. Each child ( N = 102) encoded two word lists. After the presentation and immediate recall of one word list, children wakefully rested for 10 min (resting condition), after presentation and immediate recall of the other word list, they solved visuo‐spatial problems for 10 min (problem‐solving condition). Seven days later, a surprise free recall test for the two word lists took place. Our results showed that children retained more words over 7 days in the resting condition than with the problem‐solving condition. Post‐hoc analyses revealed that the resting effect was a function of the number of words recollected during the immediate recall. Specifically, those children who recalled fewest words (≤ 13/30 words) in the immediate recall showed a significant resting effect. There was no resting effect in those who recalled a mid‐range (14–16/30 words) or a high number (>16/30 words) of words. These results provide new insights into the factors that influence memory in children, and suggest that a few minutes of wakeful rest benefits memory, relative to engaging in an ongoing task. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Task‐related mental activity after encoding weakens memory retention more than wakeful resting. Beneficial effect of resting after encoding was found primarily in younger and older adults. What does this study add? We investigated children at the age of 13–14 years. 8‐min post‐encoding wakeful resting supports memory retention over 7 days. Individuals differ in the impact of a brief period of wakeful resting after learning. Only children with lower immediate memory performances profited from wakeful resting.

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Biased cognition during high arousal states is a relevant phenomenon in a variety of topics: from the development of post-traumatic stress disorders or stress-triggered addictive behaviors to forensic considerations regarding crimes of passion. Recent evidence indicates that arousal modulates the engagement of a hippocampus-based “cognitive” system in favor of a striatum-based “habit” system in learning and memory, promoting a switch from flexible, contextualized to more rigid, reflexive responses. Existing findings appear inconsistent, therefore it is unclear whether and which type of context processing is disrupted by enhanced arousal. In this behavioral study, we investigated such arousal-triggered cognitive-state shifts in human subjects. We validated an arousal induction procedure (three experimental conditions: violent scene, erotic scene, neutral control scene) using pupillometry (Preliminary Experiment, n = 13) and randomly administered this method to healthy young adults to examine whether high arousal states affect performance in two core domains of contextual processing, the acquisition of spatial (spatial discrimination paradigm; Experiment 1, n = 66) and sequence information (learned irrelevance paradigm; Experiment 2, n = 84). In both paradigms, spatial location and sequences were encoded incidentally and both displacements when retrieving spatial position as well as the predictability of the target by a cue in sequence learning changed stepwise. Results showed that both implicit spatial and sequence learning were disrupted during high arousal states, regardless of valence. Compared to the control group, participants in the arousal conditions showed impaired discrimination of spatial positions and abolished learning of associative sequences. Furthermore, Bayesian analyses revealed evidence against the null models. In line with recent models of stress effects on cognition, both experiments provide evidence for decreased engagement of flexible, cognitive systems supporting encoding of context information in active cognition during acute arousal, promoting reduced sensitivity for contextual details. We argue that arousal fosters cognitive adaptation towards less demanding, more present-oriented information processing, which prioritizes a current behavioral response set at the cost of contextual cues. This transient state of behavioral perseverance might reduce reliance on context information in unpredictable environments and thus represent an adaptive response in certain situations.