The effect of background music with lecture tapes, filmstrips, and films in teaching freshman psychology concepts was investigated. Comparisons were made of media effect on visual or non-visual (haptic) and male or female learners, using experiments of 60 students each, with 20 subjects used for all treatment conditions. Three classes viewed…

This study examined the relationships among presentational stimuli (oral, visual, oral plus visual), types of content (concrete, abstract), and learner ability (high verbal, low verbal). Third grade students either heard a short story, watched pictures showing the same short story, or heard and watched a combination of the oral and picture…

Aspects of children's early representational drawing ability may provide evidence for feature marking in non-linguistic symbol systems. To test this assumption children in kindergarten, second, and fourth grade were asked to draw a set of referent objects in three conditions: a nominal or standard condition with no implied relationship ("two…

The mother of an 11-year-old deaf child compares her daughter's experiences mainstreamed in a traditional school system (a Hebrew school) and in a Montessori school. The Montessori system is seen to be especially advantageous for the deaf child because of the following characteristics: opportunities for the child to be successful, a visual (rather…

This paper examines variations of text density levels for learning in a computer-based instruction (CBI) tutorial from an integrated perspective, and addresses the following questions: (1) What is the text density? (2) What are the relationships among text density approaches? and (3) What are the contributions of text density for learning and how…

There are two categories of representations: figurative and non-figurative. Within the category of figurative representations, there are two groups: visuals and graphic symbols. Graphic symbols include pictorial symbols, abstract symbols, and arbitrary symbols. Symbols can be used for identification, overview, supplying instructions, position,…

This study investigated the interaction between hemispheric specialization and pictorial recognition memory for pictures presented in three different color modes: realistic color, non-realistic color, and monochrome (back and white). The study was also designed to confirm the efficacy of applying signal detection analysis to color recognition…

A study examined the effects of visual-verbal redundancy and recaps on learning from television news. Two factors were used: redundancy between the visual and audio channels, and the presence or absence of a recap. Manipulation of these factors created four conditions: (1) redundant pictures and words plus recap, (2) redundant pictures and words…

This study examined the effects of two cognitive styles--field dependents-independents and reflectivity-impulsivity--on learning from microcomputer-based instruction. In the first of three experimental designs, a programmed instruction text on the human heart was used which contained both visual and verbal information in an instructional display,…

The role of video as a foreign language textbook of the future is discussed. The flexibility of the video format accommodates a wide variety of learning style characteristics. It is maintained that the ideal textbook: (1) empowers the teacher by matching the teacher's objectives, by being under the teacher's control, by condensing time, by…

Noting that the use of captions in television newscasts has grown from simple labeling of newsmakers to more complicated titling of graphics and enumerating important points in a script, a study examined the extent to which captioning assisted viewers in learning from different types of television news stories. Subjects, 100 undergraduate…

A meta-analysis procedure was used to review research on pictorial effectiveness which focused on the use of static iconic visuals in instructional materials. The purpose of this exploratory study was to provide a means for forming future hypotheses based upon a quantitative aggregation of past research. The study was concerned with differential…

This study investigated the effects of (1) verbal instruction alone vs. verbal instruction complemented by simple line drawings; (2) visual testing vs. nonvisual testing; (3) verbal cueing vs. free recall on achievement; and (4) order of testing on subsequent achievement. Interactions among type of instruction, type of testing, and order of…

The effect of verbal and visual (color or black/white) coding strategies in self-paced instruction and test materials in facilitating student retention on different cognitive tasks was studied. The 176 college student subjects received instruction and testing using varied combinations of color or black/white materials. Instructional materials were…

The effect of pictures on reading comprehension under different levels of text organization was investigated. Sixth graders (N=132) read three science passages, presented with or without pictures representing text content. Picture condition was crossed with three levels of text organization. Multiple-choice test scores were analyzed using reading…