State Statements and Quest Questions

The notion of module quests leads easily to the title above. A common way to start a module quest is to ask a question. (In answer to that question in your mind, quest and question do have the same Latin root.) And a common way to end a module quest of that sort is with a statement. Of course, you can avoid the module quest entirely if you just give the statement first. That would be faster and surely more efficient.

Or maybe not. Let’s try an analogy on the web. If I go to a website to order something, the system will present me with a page that asks for several items of information. I have files on my computer that carry my name and address. It would be faster and easier for me to copy and paste to give the website the information. That would not be more efficient, however, because the computer would not know how to handle the text string I would paste in. In order for the computer to make effective use of the items, I have to match my response to the computer’s request.

The reason I have to pamper to computer it that it needs to store the text in a way that lets it find any particular item it needs. I think this is analogous to what can happen with those efficient state statements. Efficient input may impose a cost of inefficient retrieval.

It is generally recognized that recall is more successful when the stimulus conditions are similar to those of learning. A quest question is probably a salient cue in learning the answer. Moreover, the experience of closure is clearly satisfying and so probably provides reinforcement.

This line of thinking suggests that recall would be strongly affected by the quest questions. And, at the metacognitive level, self-guided learning would be effective only to the extent that the person is able to frame appropriate quest questions.

Most of this thinking feeds into the homework project and I will pursue it in that context.

Here are a few ideas that will suggest additions to the Thinkerer:

People often use quest questions to set goals for themselves (and others). That is probably especially true for short-term goals. The Thinkerer needs to clarify the role of quest questions and show how they serve in place of (or as precursors to) formally stated goals.

Quest questions evidently set modules to a job. They may be an important channel of communication from the verbal system to the other modules. Furthermore, something about the question may select modules in particular Head Staff types. Examples:

A trivia question would call for the Networker. (And, by the way, illustrate the intrinsic interest in quest questions.)

A question like, “How would I do that?” would call for the Explorer or the Engineer.

Thus we might use quest questions as a way to help people link their long-term goals to their short-term goals. And to take the formality out of goal setting.