How Inspecting a Picture Affects Processing of Text in Multimedia Learning

We investigated how a picture fosters learning from text, both with self‐paced presentation and with short presentation before text. In an experiment, participants (N = 114) learned about the structure and functioning of a pulley system in one of six conditions: text only, picture presentation for 150 milliseconds, 600 milliseconds, or 2 seconds, or self‐paced before text, or self‐paced concurrent presentation of text and picture. Presenting the picture for self‐paced study time, both before and concurrently with text, fostered recall and comprehension and sped up text processing compared with presenting text only. Moreover, even inspecting the picture for only 600 milliseconds or 2 seconds improved comprehension and yielded faster reading of subsequent text about the spatial structure of the system compared with text only. These findings suggest that pictures, even if attended for a short time only, may yield a spatial mental scaffold that allows for the integration with verbal information, thereby fostering comprehension. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cooperative Learning Groups at the College Level: Differential Effects on High, Average, and Low Exam Performers

A repeated-measures mixed-design was used in examining the effects of cooperative learning study teams on exam performance for 378 undergraduate students enrolled in one of 10 large sections of an introductory educational psychology course over a two-semester period. Students were assigned to 5-member cooperative groups based on previous exam achievement (low, average, high). Bonuses (20% of exam score) were offered to groups who improved their mean exam performance to a pre-established criterion in the cooperative-group phase. Results yielded an overall effect size of 0.42 for cooperative study versus individual study. Students who had obtained low and average scores on the preceding exam improved significantly during cooperative study, but the previously high achievers decreased somewhat.     

Reexamining the Nature of Learner Control: Dimensionality and Effects on Learning and Training Reactions

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to advance learner control as a psychological construct by reexamining its dimensionality and effects on learning and reactions in the context of technology-delivered training.

Design/methodology/approach

Learners (n=384) completed a 2-h web-based Microsoft Excel training. The amount of instructional and scheduling control was manipulated in order to introduce variance in control perceptions. Outcome measures included off-task attention, declarative knowledge, and training reactions.

Findings

Learner control is a multidimensional construct with differential effects on training outcomes. By focusing on learners’ perceptions of control, we found that instructional control perceptions decreased learning by increasing off-task attention, while scheduling control perceptions increased learning.

Implications

Though both dimensions of perceived learner control are positively related to training reactions, they differentially predict learning. Combined with factor analytic evidence, our study suggests that learner control research should differentiate between objective and perceived learner control, and between instructional and scheduling control perceptions. Organizations should consider how learner control affects learning prior to designing training.

Originality/value

Scheduling control is an often used but rarely researched form of learner control. We address this gap by expanding the construct domain of learner control to include scheduling control. Further, this study provides the first empirical examination of learner control perceptions. Despite calls for learner control literature to differentiate between objective and perceived control, no study had previously examined control perceptions directly. Our results may be used to inform organizational decisions regarding the amount and type of control included in training.     

不同阅读水平与文章熟悉程度条件下文章标记效应的研究

探讨文章阅读过程中读者的阅读水平与文章熟悉程度对文章标记效应的影响。结果表明,文章标记与文章主题熟悉程度存在显著的交互作用,文章标记对熟悉文章的信息保持无明显的促进效应．但对不熟悉文章信息保持的促进效应非常明显;文章标记对不同阅读水平读者的文章信息保持都有显著的促进效应,但对阅读水平高的读者的促进效应大于对阅读水平低的读者的促进效应。文章阅读中的结构搜索加工的观点得到初步证明。     

学习不良儿童的策略信念与理解水平

使用结构访谈法对120名儿童(其中学习不良儿童60名)的策略信念与策略理解水平进行了研究。结果显示:学习不良儿童组与一般儿童组的差异更多体现在对具体策略的元认知因果解释水平上,他们更多持有较低水平的“信息获得”解释,而对照组儿童则更多持有较高水平的“信息加工”解释,提示对策略理解水平的差异可能是导致学习不良儿童难以将新学到的策略主动应用到其它情景中去的一个重要原因。     

Individual Accountability in Cooperative Learning Groups at the College Level: Differential Effects on High,Average, and Low Exam Performers

Over a three-semester period in a large undergraduate human development course, students were assigned to 5–7 member groups to work together in preparing for an exam in one of the five content units in the course. Their exam performance was tracked over three units: a baseline unit in which students worked only individually, a unit in which they worked in cooperative teams, and a follow-up unit in which the formal cooperative team structure was removed. Three different bonus-credit contingencies were used in the cooperative learning unit across the three semesters: (a) awarding full bonus credit to each individual in the group if the group as a whole improved its exam performance by the specified amount, (b) awarding partial bonus credit to each individual in the group if the group as a whole improved it exam performance by the specified amount and full bonus credit to each individual who also improved by the specified amount, and (c) awarding full bonus credit to an individual in the group if both the group and the individual improved exam performance by the specified amount. The three contingencies produced somewhat similar patterns of change for low and average performers, but the high performers fared better under the last two contingencies than under the group-only contingency.     

多媒体学习中图文加工的认知神经机制

多媒体学习的认知理论和图文理解整合模型指出, 多媒体学习中图片和文字在早期阶段的加工遵循双通道假设, 在晚期不同表征的信息进行整合完成知识建构。理论上的探讨得到了神经科学实证研究的支持。脑成像研究发现, 图、文加工在早期的前语义阶段存在差异, 但晚期的信息整合阶段共享了同一语义系统。事件相关电位研究也发现在早期图片诱发了独特的N300成分, 而晚期图、文均诱发了N400效应。尽管现有研究已经明确了图、文共享同一语义系统, 但是信息是如何在这一系统中进行整合的还需要进一步的研究。     

The Body's Response to Processing Emotional Trauma: Linking Verbal Text with Autonomic Activity

ABSTRACT When individuals talk or think about upsetting experiences, different coping and defensive processes are invoked from one minute to the next. Further, some coping strategies are thought to be more effortful and to be associated with greater biological activity than others. The present research sought to identify how the expression of emotions and the use of different psychological defenses were reflected in momentary changes in autonomic nervous system activity while subjects wrote about emotional topics. A new methodology is introduced that links the production of natural written language with autonomic activity on a word-by-word or phrase-by-phrase basis. Using this technique with a sample of 24 subjects who wrote about traumatic experiences, it was found that certain text dimensions are highly related to skin conductance level (SCL) but not heart rate. In general, subjects' SCLs increased when expressing negative emotions and when using denial and the passive voice. SCLs were more likely to drop when subjects used positive emotion words and self-references and at the conclusion of sentences or thought units. Implications for this methodology for understanding psychological defense and physical health are discussed.     

Job Design and the Employee Innovation Process: The Mediating Role of Learning Strategies

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to examine whether employee learning strategies is a mechanism through which job design affects the employee innovation process. In particular, we test whether work-based learning strategies mediate the relationship between job design characteristics (job control and problem demand) and key components of the innovation process (idea generation, idea promotion, and idea implementation).

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data were collected from a survey of 327 employees in a UK manufacturing organization.

Findings

Structural equation modeling confirmed the mediating role of learning strategies in the relationship between job design and idea generation. The effects of job control on idea generation were mediated by work-based learning strategies and the effects of problem demand on idea generation were partially mediated by work-based learning strategies. Problem demand also had a direct relationship with idea generation and idea promotion. The findings provide support for the general idea that learning is a mechanism thorough which job design affects outcomes.

Implications

The results of the study show practitioners that creating jobs with high control or high problem demand can help to promote the employee innovation process; and that this is partly due to the role that such jobs play in stimulating the use of learning strategies at work.

Originality/Value

This article develops and tests a new theoretical model that explains how learning is a route through which job design influences employee innovation.     

The Effects of Real-World Knowledge on Text Processing Among Older Adults

In the present study, the effects of knowledge on text processing were investigated among older adults. Past research has shown that knowledge reduces processing time among older readers, however, this finding was based on schematic knowledge. Schematic knowledge is a highly prescribed knowledge that draws on commonly held general world knowledge. Domain knowledge, on the other hand, is specialized real-world knowledge within a particular area (e.g., chess, physics, cooking). Past research has shown that domain knowledge engages additional processing resources among younger adults. If this is true of the elderly, then this type of knowledge may pose a challenge to older adults. Regression analyses were used to investigate word-by-word reading time patterns among high- and low-knowledge older adults. Older high-knowledge readers did in fact increase resource allocation to texts that drew on domain knowledge and in turn showed higher levels of recall. These data suggest that knowledge promotes the productive allocation of processing resources among older adults, thus enabling them to take full advantage of knowledge.     

Examining the Relationship Between Text Processing and Text Comprehension in Fourth Grade Readers

This research investigates the relationship among various processing behaviors and their link to comprehension. Thirty-four students from three fourth-grade classrooms orally read the first chapter of a short story. The reading was followed by an unaided recall and probes by the researcher. Each clause as finally read was evaluated for semantics (acceptable/unacceptable) and maintenance of author's meaning (yes/no). Finally, words read per minute and number of total, corrected, and uncorrected miscues was calculated. The impact of miscues on retelling performance on the clause and story event level was evaluated using nonparametric, parametric, and multivariate analyses. On the clause level, findings indicate that a similar proportion of clauses were recalled irrespective of whether the clause had been read with no miscues, corrected miscues, or uncorrected miscues. There was a significant difference, however, in the proportion of recalled clauses depending on miscue type. Uncorrected semantically unacceptable/meaning disrupting clauses were less likely to be recalled, whereas clauses containing uncorrected miscues that did not change meaning were more likely to be recalled than clauses read with no miscues. On the story level, strong retellings were associated with fewer meaning changing and meaning disrupting miscues and with more corrected miscues and reading speed. Total number of miscues, miscues that did not change meaning, and reading grade level were not significantly associated with strong story retellings. These findings suggest that the concept of accuracy may not be as significant as miscue meaningfulness and that speed is best understood as part of a matrix of behaviors associated with strong comprehension.     

背景图相关度与知觉流畅性对意义材料学习的影响

可取难度理论和不流畅理论认为不流畅加工可促进学习,认知负荷理论则认为知觉不流畅所激发的额外认知负荷可能阻碍学习。研究采用2（知觉流畅性：流畅,不流畅）×3（背景图相关度：相关背景图、无关背景图和空白背景）被试间实验设计,考察学习意义材料时认知负荷（通过插入的背景图控制）与知觉流畅性的相互作用。结果发现：（1）知觉流畅性的主效应显著,知觉流畅时的学习成绩显著高于知觉不流畅时的成绩;背景图相关度的主效应显著,相关背景图条件下的成绩显著高于空白背景和无关背景图。（2）知觉流畅性与背景图相关度的交互作用显著,在知觉流畅条件下,呈现相关背景图的得分显著高于空白背景和无关背景图,后二者无显著差异;知觉不流畅条件下,三者间无显著差异。研究结果表明,在知觉流畅的条件下插入相关背景图有利于意义材料的学习;该结果支持认知负荷理论。     

文本组织和结构化水平对中文信息搜索的影响

以高结构化中文信息为实验材料,探讨文本组织和结构化水平对信息搜索的影响。以文本组织形式为自变量,以材料的结构化水平为控制变量,以搜索时间和迷路指数为因变量。结果发现：线性文本的搜索时间显著长于低层次的超文本,但迷路程度显著低于所有类型的超文本;3种超文本无显著差异;对层次型超文本来说,4层次的搜索时问显著短于11层次。综合以前研究的结果提出,信息结构化水平虽然对层次深度的效应具有调制作用,但并不是影响超文本信息搜索的最主要因素。     

合作学习研究的综述

合作学习(cooperative learning)是目前世界上许多国家都普遍采用的一种富有创意和实效的教学理论与策略体系。文章主要阐述了合作学习的概念、类型、方法,及理论。最后,指出我国合作学习研究出现的问题和未来展望。文章认为强化实验研究、探讨与课堂教学相结合的研究,及重视教师在合作学习的作用是今后该领域发展的主要方向。     

不同控制水平下的汉字语义加工

字词语义的加工是否受其它加工过程或操纵手段的控制一直是自动化研究的热点,以往针对英文字词的研究结果不尽一致。本研究以在该类研究中比英文单词更具优越性的汉字为材料,采用部件搜索任务,通过操纵控制水平的强弱探讨汉字的语义加工是否受控制这一问题。实验一考察汉字的语义是否受浅水平加工和无意识操纵的控制（低控制水平）;实验二探讨增强了的控制水平是否能够控制语义的加工。结果在实验一中发现了语义负启动效应;实验二出现了正启动和负启动效应。该结果表明,控制机制并不能阻止汉字语义加工本身的发生,仅能对已经产生激活的语义进行调控,提示汉字的语义加工是不可控的。     

生成性绘图与合作对高中生科学知识学习的影响

生成性绘图是学习心理学中一种有效的学习策略,能够促进学习者对科学文本知识的表征和深层理解。目前关于学习者生成性绘图的研究主要集中在个体学习领域,很少有研究探讨合作学习中生成性绘图的作用。本研究将合作学习与学习者生成性绘图相结合,探讨生成性绘图和合作对高中生科学知识学习的影响。实验1采用单因素(绘图、阅读)被试间设计来验证生成性绘图对学习效果以及认知负荷等主观体验的影响;实验2采用2(合作、个体)×2(绘图、阅读)被试间设计来探讨合作与生成性绘图对学习效果和学习者主观体验的影响。研究表明,生成性绘图和合作都可以有效促进高中生科学知识的学习效果;生成性绘图能够降低学习者的内在认知负荷;合作能够降低学习者的内在和外在认知负荷,提高学习者的相关认知负荷和学习兴趣。     

Effects of Differential Instructions and Anxiety Level on Discrimination Learning

Seventy-seven nonconserver-conserver dyads and 53 nonconserver-nonconserver dyads were given a conservation of length task which encouraged conflicting judgments from the nonconserving dyad. Ss were boys and girls aged 4 through 8. Control tasks for social dominance/compliance were also administered. All sessions were videotaped. The nonconserver-nonconserver dyads did not tend to produce the correct answer by perspective coordination and showed little posttest gain. Nonconservers who had been paired with conservers showed posttest gain on length, mass, liquid, and number conservation problems. Being the winner of an interaction session was associated with opposing the partner's judgment and with producing justifications in conserver-nonconserver dyads, but only with social compliance in nonconserver-nonconserver dyads. Justifications in support of conservation judgments were invariably by logical principles but very rarely so in support of nonconservation judgments. The results are discussed in terms of the relative importance of cognitive conflict and transmission as crucial social experiences in cognitive development, and in terms of the possibility that nonconservers may lack the notion of objective correctness relative to conservers.     

多媒体互动插图对科学说明文学习的影响

48名 1 3岁中学生被分为高低两种学习能力 ,每种被试又被分成两组分别学习配有两种插图 (多媒体静态插图和多媒体互动插图 )的一篇生物说明文 ,结果表明 :( 1 )在重在考查插图加工水平的图片测验上 ,学习能力和插图类型主效应均显著 ,但两者之间不存在显著交互作用 ;( 2 )在重在考查文图整合加工水平的文字测验上 ,学习能力和插图类型之间存在显著的交互作用 ,即只有当学习能力高时 ,两种插图之间存在显著差异。 ( 3 )在被试的填图过程中 ,被试的尝试次数与其插图加工时间及学习效果之间存在显著的相关。这说明 ,多媒体互动插图可促进所有被试对插图的加工 ,但只能促进学习能力高者对图文的整合加工 ,而且多媒体互动插图对学习的促进效果与被试加工插图时的实际加工深度有关     

Effects of Cooperative Learning on Perceived Status of Male and Female Pupils

Abstract

The effects of cooperative and individualistic learning experiences on the status of male and female American pupils were compared. Expectation states theory predicts that male pupils would have higher status than female pupils and, therefore, be more active and more influential. Social interdependence theory predicts that interaction within cooperative learning groups would result in a process of acceptance characterized by equal status of male and female pupils. Seventy-five sixth-grade boys (n = 43) and girls (n = 32) were randomly assigned to three cooperative conditions and one individualistic condition stratifying for sex, ability level, and original classroom. They participated in the study for 55 min per day for 14 instructional days. Cooperative learning resulted in greater retention and higher level learning than did individualistic learning. Although there were initial achievement differences between boys and girls, and although boys gained in status over girls in the individualistic condition, at the end of the study in the cooperative conditions there were no differences between them in achievement, verbal participation in the group, perceived leadership, and status. These results are consistent with the predictions of social interdependence theory and inconsistent with the predictions of expectation states theory. The results were basically the same in male-majority, female-majority, or equal-sex groups.