Recent modeling work shows that patterns of shared perceptual features relate to the group-level order of acquisition of early-learned words (Peters & Borovsky, 2019). Here we present results for two eye-tracked word recognition studies showing patterns of shared perceptual features likewise influence processing of known and novel…

Sociocultural influences such as family, nation, and personal identity impact undergraduate students' approaches to history in the classroom. In the digital age, social media is an equally powerful force shaping students' perceptions and understandings of history. Social media frames students' reactions to historical content, guides what they pay…

Multimedia analysts are challenged by the massive numbers of unconstrained video clips generated daily. Such clips can include any possible scene and events, and generally have limited quality control. Analysts who must work with such data are overwhelmed by its volume and lack of computational tools to probe it effectively. Even with advances…

The work described here represents an effort to understand and influence visual attention while solving physics problems containing a diagram. Our visual system is guided by two types of processes--top-down and bottom-up. The top-down processes are internal and determined by ones prior knowledge and goals. The bottom-up processes are external and…

Auditory processing of speech is influenced by internal (i.e., attention, working memory) and external factors (i.e., background noise, visual information). This study examined the interplay among these factors in individuals with and without ADHD. All participants completed a listening in noise task, two working memory capacity tasks, and two…

The study reported here tests a model that includes several factors thought to contribute to the comprehension of static multimedia learning materials (i.e. background knowledge, working memory, attention to components as measured with eye movement measures). The model examines the effects of working memory capacity, domain specific (biology) and…

"S"pontaneous "a"ttention to "n"umber (SAN) is the tendency to notice the relatively abstract attribute of number despite the presence of other attributes. According to nativists, an innate concept of one to three directs young children's attention to these "intuitive numbers" in everyday situations--even before they acquire language. According to…

This dissertation presents several studies designed to probe the mental representations that physics experts and novices form when interacting with typical instructional materials, such as diagrams and problem statements. By using recognition tasks and a change detection task, the mental representations of experts and novices are studied in a more…