Concept attainment, transfer, and retention through observation and rule-provision

The effects of observing a model and of providing a response rule on the learning, transfer, and retention of a dial-reading, numerical concept were studied in 144 third graders. Different Es conducted the immediate learning procedures versus the measurements of retention. No extrinsic reinforcers were promised or dispensed. The children profited both from modeling and from rule-provision, with the strongest learning, transfer, and retention displayed by the group that watched the model and also received the rule summary. Sequence of presenting the sets of retention stimuli (including a series of novel generalization items not previously encountered) did not influence the strength of concept retention 6 weeks after training.     

Effects of modeling and videotape feedback with knowledge of results on motor performance

On the basis of social learning theory it can be hypothesized that information acquired through model observation can provide as rich a basis for a cognitive representation as that acquired by means of the usual KR procedure. A source of external information similar to that of model observation is videotape feedback (VTFB). Therefore, it was the purpose of this study to test the potency of these two sources of information with KR. The design was a 4 (groups) × 10 (blocks) factorial ANOVA with repeated measures on the last factor. Both immediate transfer and 48-hr retention effects were assessed. The immediate transfer analysis indicated a significant main effect for group. This effect appeared to be due to the poor performance of the VTFB group. The same effect approached significance after the 48-hr retention. Subsequent variance analysis indicated significant differences between transfer and retention within all conditions except modeling.     

视觉、听觉情绪设计对多媒体学习的影响

以大学生为被试,特异性免疫工作原理为材料,通过实验法研究视觉、听觉情绪设计对多媒体学习的影响。实验1发现视觉情绪设计诱发了学习者的积极情绪,提高了保持成绩。实验2发现听觉情绪设计可以诱发学习者的积极情绪,提高相关认知负荷、保持和迁移成绩。研究表明视觉、听觉情绪设计都能显著提高多媒体学习效果。听觉情绪设计的发现突破了已有研究仅从视觉角度优化学习材料的方式,拓展了多媒体学习情绪设计的内涵。     

Pictorial concreteness and mode of elaboration in children's learning

Paired-associate learning by children was investigated as a function of age (4 vs 7 yr), stimulus type (line drawing, color photograph, or object) and mode of elaboration (visual or verbal). Photographs and objects were associated with more learning than drawings at both ages and with both types of mediational elaboration. Only indirect evidence could be obtained for the prediction that differences among the three types of pictorial stimuli decrease with age. A previously reported Age × Elaboration interaction suggesting a relative disadvantage of visual elaboration for the younger children was not replicated.     

Specificity of task constraints and effects of visual demonstrations and verbal instructions in directing learners' search during skill acquisition

In the present study, the efficacy of visual demonstrations and verbal instructions as instructional constraints on the acquisition of movement coordination was investigated. Fifteen participants performed an aiming task on 100 acquisition and 20 retention trials, under 1 of 3 conditions: a modeling group (MG), a verbally directed group (VDG), and a control group (CG). The MG observed a model intermittently throughout acquisition, whereas the VDG was verbally instructed to use the model's movement pattern. Participants in the CG received neither form of instruction. Kinematic analysis revealed that compared with verbal instructions or no instructions, visual demonstrations significantly improved participants' approximation of the model's coordination pattern. No differences were found in movement outcomes. Coordination data supported the visual perception perspective on observational learning, whereas outcome data suggested that the modeling effect is mainly a function of task constraints, that is, the novelty of a movement pattern.     

Specificity of Task Constraints and Effects of Visual Demonstrations and Verbal Instructions in Directing Learners' Search During Skill Acquisition

In the present study, the efficacy of visual demonstrations and verbal instructions as instructional constraints on the acquisition of movement coordination was investigated. Fifteen participants performed an aiming task on 100 acquisition and 20 retention trials, under 1 of 3 conditions: a modeling group (MG), a verbally directed group (VDG), and a control group (CG). The MG observed a model intermittently throughout acquisition, whereas the VDG was verbally instructed to use the model's movement pattern. Participants in the CG received neither form of instruction. Kinematic analysis revealed that compared with verbal instructions or no instructions, visual demonstrations significantly improved participants' approximation of the model's coordination pattern. No differences were found in movement outcomes. Coordination data supported the visual perception perspective on observational learning, whereas outcome data suggested that the modeling effect is mainly a function of task constraints, that is, the novelty of a movement pattern.     

视频教学中教师的眼神注视能否促进学习?

教师的眼神注视是在视频学习中重要但易被忽视的元素。以往理论存在两种对立的观点：其中准社会交往理论和社会代理理论支持教师的眼神注视促进学习; 而基于多媒体学习认知理论与认知负荷理论认为教师的眼神注视会阻碍学习效果。通过汇总以往实证研究得出如下结论：首先, 教师的眼神注视对学习效果具有小的促进效应, 即教师的眼神注视能够促进学习者的保持成绩(d_保持 = 0.41)和迁移成绩(d_迁移 = 0.39); 其次, 在主观体验上, 教师的眼神注视对准社会交往也具有小的促进效应(d_{准社会交往} = 0.35), 而教师的眼神注视对认知负荷影响十分微弱(d_认知负荷 = -0.02); 最后, 在对学习材料的注意加工上, 教师的眼神注视总体上影响比较微弱(d_注视时间 = 0.06, d_{首次注视时间} = -0.15)。未来研究需要对不同注视类型、先前知识经验、学习材料性质以及认知神经方法进一步探究。     

Perceptual learning in visual conjunction search.

Perceptual learning in colour/orientation visual conjunction search was examined in five experiments. Good transfer occurred to other conjunction arrays when only one element of the conjunction (either colour or orientation) was changed. When both elements (colour and orientation) were changed, but the same feature spaces were used (i.e. other colours and orientations) or when a new dimension was introduced to the transfer task (shapes instead of orientation), transfer was poor. The results suggest that perceptual learning of visual conjunction search is constrained mainly by stimulus parameters rather than by changes in cognitive strategies which are common to all search tasks. Contrary to other reports we found little evidence of long-term retention of learning.     

Locus of the effect of specific practice in continuous visual search

Specific practice in a visual search task can result either in a selective elaboration of the feature lists of the task stimuli or in a selective emphasis of their status within the task (targets vs. nontargets). According to the first explanation, which is related to the differentiation principle of perceptual learning, specific practice enhances the operation of stimulus identification. According to the second explanation, which is related to the enrichment principle of perceptual learning, it enhances the operation of response selection. Evidence from two transfer experiments with a reversal paradigm argues in favor of the second view, at least for tasks with easily codable letter stimuli. The results are discussed in the framework of a recent model of information integration in visual search.     

Engaging Environments Enhance Motor Skill Learning in a Computer Gaming Task

Engagement during practice can motivate a learner to practice more, hence having indirect effects on learning through increased practice. However, it is not known whether engagement can also have a direct effect on learning when the amount of practice is held constant. To address this question, 40 participants played a video game that contained an embedded repeated sequence component, under either highly engaging conditions (the game group) or mechanically identical but less engaging conditions (the sterile group). The game environment facilitated retention over a 1-week interval. Specifically, the game group improved in both speed and accuracy for random and repeated trials, suggesting a general motor-related improvement, rather than a specific influence of engagement on implicit sequence learning. These data provide initial evidence that increased engagement during practice has a direct effect on generalized learning, improving retention and transfer of a complex motor skill.     

视觉单通道还是视听双通道?——通道效应的元分析

多媒体学习中的通道效应认为,学习者对"画面+声音解说"组成的视听双通道材料的识记或理解效果要好于"画面+视觉文本"组成的视觉单通道材料,而逆转通道效应则发现了与之相反的结果。针对以往研究缺陷,重新采用元分析技术,以保持测验和迁移测验作为结果变量,考察通道效应的稳定性。经文献检索、纳入与排除后,共获91篇符合元分析的文献。经数据事先合并处理后,保持测验上生成94个独立效应量(8088人),迁移测验上生成83个独立效应量(6664人)。主效应检验发现:视听双通道在保持测验(d=0.24)和迁移测验(d=0.25)上均显著高于视觉单通道;调节效应检验发现:呈现步调、画面动态性和材料时长在保持测验和迁移测验上均对通道效应起到调节作用,通道效应主要在系统步调(d_(保持)=0.43,d_(迁移)=0.44)、动态画面(d_(保持)=0.50,d_(迁移)=0.59)及短时材料(d_(保持)=0.38,d_(迁移)=0.33)条件下出现;所有结果均未发现逆转通道效应。结论认为:相比视觉单通道,当图文信息以视听双通道呈现时更有利于促进学习者对多媒体学习材料的识记和理解,支持了多媒体学习认知理论;呈现步调、画面动态性以及材料时长是通道效应的重要边界条件。     

Visual discrimination learning and strategy behavior in the fat-tailed dunnart (Sminthopsis crassicaudata)

Fat-tailed dunnarts (Sminthopsis crassicaudata) were trained on visual discrimination learning-set, reversal-set, and spatial delayed-alternation tasks. The learning set involved 36 2-way black-and-white pattern discriminations and 5 probe reversals. Ten reversals of a black-and-white pattern discrimination were followed by 5 novel tasks. Spatial alternation was tested at delays up to 20 s. Learning-set and reversal-set formation, including 1-trial learning and spontaneous transfer from learning set to reversals and vice versa, was found. Learning-set-experienced dunnarts showed no retention of previously learned tasks 1 week after testing but demonstrated consistently high Trial 2 performance, indicating the retention of a response strategy. Delayed-alternation tasks were learned up to 10-s delays. These results provide the first evidence of a visually guided "win-stay, lose-shift" strategy in a marsupial.     

Multimedia instructions and cognitive load theory: Effects of modality and cueing

Background: Recent research on the influence of presentation format on the effectiveness of multimedia instructions has yielded some interesting results. According to cognitive load theory (Sweller, Van Merriënboer, & Paas, 1998) and Mayer's theory of multimedia learning (Mayer, 2001), replacing visual text with spoken text (the modality effect) and adding visual cues relating elements of a picture to the text (the cueing effect) both increase the effectiveness of multimedia instructions in terms of better learning results or less mental effort spent. Aims: The aim of this study was to test the generalisability of the modality and cueing effect in a classroom setting. Sample: The participants were 111 second‐year students from the Department of Education at the University of Gent in Belgium (age between 19 and 25 years). Method: The participants studied a web‐based multimedia lesson on instructional design for about one hour. Afterwards they completed a retention and a transfer test. During both the instruction and the tests, self‐report measures of mental effort were administered. Results: Adding visual cues to the pictures resulted in higher retention scores, while replacing visual text with spoken text resulted in lower retention and transfer scores. Conclusions: Only a weak cueing effect and even a reverse modality effect have been found, indicating that both effects do not easily generalise to non‐laboratory settings. A possible explanation for the reversed modality effect is that the multimedia instructions in this study were learner‐paced, as opposed to the system‐paced instructions used in earlier research.     

Bottom-up and top-down factors of motion direction learning transfer

Perceptual learning of motion discrimination has long been believed to be motion direction specific. However, recent studies using a double-training paradigm, in which the to-be-transferred condition was experienced through practicing an irrelevant task, found that perceptual learning in various visual tasks, including motion direction discrimination, can transfer completely to new conditions. This transfer occurred when the transfer stimulus was subconsciously presented, or when top-down attention was allocated to the transfer stimulus (which was absent). In the current study, observers were exposed subconsciously, or directed top-down attention, to the transfer motion direction, either simultaneously or successively with training. Data showed that motion direction learning transferred to the transfer direction, and suggest that motion direction learning specificity may result from under-activations of untrained visual neurons due to insufficient bottom-up stimulation and/or lack of top-down attention during training. These results shed new light on the neural mechanisms underlying motion perceptual learning and provide a constraint for models of motion perceptual learning.     

Four-year-old children's visual attention in direct and observational learning

The study was designed to compare direct learning (learning by performing) with observational learning (learning by observing) on a memory task that assessed 4-year-old children's selective attention. 17 pairs of kindergarteners of the same sex (aged 3 yr., 8 mo. to 4 yr., 4 mo.) participated in a central-incidental memory task. Data from a retention test indicated that the performers' mean central learning score was higher than their mean incidental score, while the observers showed no difference between their central and incidental learning scores, performers had a higher mean central learning score than observers. On the other hand, the frequency of the subjects' overt visual attention to the task in their learning phase was also counted. Both observers and performers showed high frequency of visual attention.     

Connectionist models of social learning: a case of learning by observing a simple task]

This article proposes a connectionist model of the social learning theory developed by Bandura (1977). The theory posits that an individual in an interactive situation is capable of learning new behaviours merely by observing them in others. Such learning is acquired through an initial phase in which the individual memorizes what he has observed (observation phase), followed by a second phase where he puts the recorded observations to use as a guide for adjusting his own behaviour (reproduction phase). We shall refer to the two above-mentioned phases to demonstrate that it is conceivable to simulate learning by observation otherwise than through the recording of perceived information using symbolic representation. To this end we shall rely on the formalism of ecological neuron networks (Parisi, Cecconi, & Nolfi, 1990) to implement an agent provided with the major processes identified as essential to learning through observation. The connectionist model so designed shall implement an agent capable of recording perceptive information and producing motor behaviours. The learning situation we selected associates an agent demonstrating goal-achievement behaviour and an observer agent learning the same behaviour by observation. Throughout the acquisition phase, the demonstrator supervises the observer's learning process based on association between spatial information (input) and behavioural information (output). Representation thus constructed then serves as an adjustment guide during the production phase, involving production by the observer of a sequence of actions which he compares to the representation stored in distributed form as constructed through observation. An initial simulation validates model architecture by confirming the requirement for both phases identified in the literature (Bandura, 1977) to simulate learning through observation. The representation constructed over the observation phase evidences acquisition of observed behaviours, although this phase alone is not sufficient to ensure accurate reproduction and must be made functional through the production phase (Deakin & Proteau, 2000). Results obtained through a second simulation replicate those produced by Bandura & Jeffery (1973), who observed that the individual tested following the retention phase recalled recorded information better than he realized in the production phase. The outcome of a third simulation shows that, when performing the transfer task, agents performed the task all the more effectively when they were required to learn a simple path which facilitated knowledge transfer to an adjacent situation. New explanatory assumptions of the mechanics of learning through observation may be produced through OLEANNet. Thus, observed deterioration between memorization and production is caused by successive approximations which occur in the acquisition phase then in the production phase. Further, depending on the type of learning undergone by agents, use of representation as a production guide induces a more or less stringent constraint in the approximation of actual behaviour. This results, during the transfer task, in the ability to effectively generalize acquired knowledge where such knowledge is not specifically related to the task at hand. In conclusion, connectionist model architecture appears valid for modeling learning through observation as defined by Bandura (1977). However, certain limitations appear during implementation, especially in terms of the observed behaviour's availability and the planning of produced behaviours that future developments are liable to counter.     

Oculomotor behavior and the level of repetition in motor practice: Effects on pupil dilation,eyeblinks and visual scanning

The benefits of less repetitive practice in motor learning have been explained by the increased demand for memory processes during the execution of motor skills. Recently, a new perspective associating increased demand for perception with less repetitive practice has also been proposed. Augmented information gathering and visual scanning characterize this higher perceptual demand. To extend our knowledge about mental effort and perceptual differences in practice organization, the association between oculomotor behavior and type of practice was investigated. We required participants to press four keys with different absolute and relative timing goals during the acquisition phase. An eye-tracker captured visual scanning of the skill’s absolute and relative information displayed on the screen. Participants were tested 24 h after acquisition by a retention and transfer test. A higher level of both pupil dilation and amount of eyeblinks indicated an increased mental effort in less repetitive practice compared to more repetitive practice. Visual scanning of the skill’s relative and absolute information was specific to the type of practice. The findings indicate many differences in oculomotor behavior associated with the practice schedule.     

Role of action observation and action in sequence learning and coding

A complex sequence learning task was used to determine if the type of coding acquired through physical practice (PP), observation of the stimulus (Obs-S), or observation of stimulus and action (Obs-SA) differs between conditions and whether the type of observation influences subsequent learning of the task when physical practice was permitted. Participants in the Obs-S group were permitted to watch the sequentially illuminated stimuli on the screen. In the Obs-SA group participants could see both flexion-extension movements of the model's arm performing the sequence and the sequentially illuminated stimuli on the screen. Participants in the PP group actually performed the 16-element sequence with their dominant right arm. Delayed retention tests and two inter-manual transfer tests were completed following each of two acquisition sessions. First, the data indicated that learning the sequence structure, as revealed by response time per element, occurred similarly irrespective of the initial practice condition. Secondly, the movement sequence appeared to be coded in abstract visual-spatial coordinates resulting in effector-independent performance. Finally, observing the model's action and sequential stimuli allows participants to transfer the perceived aspects of the movement sequence into efficient coordination patterns when additional physical practice is permitted.     

The role of eye movements in motor sequence learning

An experiment that utilized a 16-element movement sequence was designed to determine the impact of eye movements on sequence learning. The participants were randomly assigned to two experimental groups: a group that was permitted to use eye movements (FREE) and a second group (FIX) that was instructed to fixate on a marker during acquisition (ACQ). A retention test (RET) was designed to provide a measure of learning, and two transfer tests were designed to determine the extent to which eye movements influenced sequence learning. The results demonstrated that both groups decreased the response time to produce the sequence, but the participants in the FREE group performed the sequence more quickly than participants of the FIX group during the ACQ, RET and the two transfer tests. Furthermore, continuous visual control of response execution was reduced over the course of learning. The results of the transfer tests indicated that oculomotor information regarding the sequence can be stored in memory and enhances response production.     

Acquisition and transfer of conceptual learning by normals and retardates: the effects of modeling, verbal cues, and reinforcement

The present study compared the effects of modeling, verbal cues, and reinforcement on conceptual learning of normals and retardates. Performance on both original learning tasks and a transfer task was examined. The results indicated that, relative to a control group, modeling alone, modeling plus verbal cues, and exposure to the completed task plus verbal cues facilitated original conceptual learning. Furthermore, modeling plus verbal cues was more effective in reducing errors than modeling alone. Original learning was not affected by tangible reinforcement, social reinforcement, or IQ level. No significant effects were found for a transfer task.