In this dissertation, I investigate the effects of a grounded learning experience on college students' mental models of physics systems. The grounded learning experience consisted of a priming stage and an instruction stage, and within each stage, one of two different types of visuo-haptic representation was applied: visuo-gestural simulation…

The understanding of core concepts and processes of science in solving problems is important to successful learning in biology. We have designed and developed a Web-based, self-directed tutorial program, "SOLVEIT," that provides various scaffolds (e.g., prompts, expert models, visual guidance) to help college students enhance their…

We conducted 3 studies to explore cultural differences in global versus local processing and their developmental trajectories. In Study 1 ("N" = 363), we found that Japanese college students were less globally oriented in their processing than American or Argentine participants. We replicated this effect in Study 2 ("N" =…

Verbal overshadowing reflects the impairment in memory performance following verbalization of nonverbal stimuli. However, it is not clear whether the same mechanisms are responsible for verbal overshadowing effects observed with different stimuli and task demands. In the present article, we propose a multiprocess view that reconciles the main…

Visuospatial attention prioritizes regions of space for perceptual processing. Knowing how attended locations are represented is critical for understanding the architecture of attention. We examined the spatial reference frame of incidentally learned attention and asked how it is influenced by explicit, top-down knowledge. Participants performed a…

In a simple reaction time (RT) experiment, visual stimuli were stereoscopically presented either to one eye (single stimulation) or to both eyes (redundant stimulation), with brightness matched for single and redundant stimulations. Redundant stimulation resulted in two separate percepts when noncorresponding retinal areas were stimulated, whereas…

Switching tasks prolongs response times, an effect reduced but not eliminated by active preparation. To explore the role of attentional selection of the relevant stimulus attribute in these task-switch costs, we measured eye fixations in participants cued to identify either a face or a letter displayed on its forehead. With only 200 ms between cue…

How does executive attentional control contribute to memory for sequences of visual objects, and what does this reveal about storage and processing in working memory? Three experiments examined the impact of a concurrent executive load (backward counting) on memory for sequences of individually presented visual objects. Experiments 1 and 2 found…

The features of a concept or principle an individual chooses to highlight in an explanation or description may be related to the medium of communication used. Different aspects of understanding can be revealed through words and through drawings. This two-part exploratory study examined the differences between explanations of physical and chemical…

Among the elements required to develop a comprehensive understanding of music is students' ability to perceive, recognize, and label the harmonies they hear. Harmonic dictation is among the strategies that teachers have traditionally chosen to help students develop harmonic awareness. However, the highly idiosyncratic ways that students approach…

The detrimental effect of increased memory load on selective attention has been demonstrated in many situations. However, in search tasks over time using RSVP methods, it is not clear how memory load affects attentional processes; no effects as well as beneficial and detrimental effects of memory load have been found in these types of tasks. The…

Technology has not only changed the work practice of designers but also how design is taught and learned. The emergence of digital technology has made computer labs a central learning space for design students. Since this change, studio-based learning in its traditional sense appears to be in decline in higher education institutions. This is in…

Recent studies reported that training of working memory may improve performance in the trained function and beyond. Other executive functions, however, have been rarely or not yet systematically examined. The aim of this study was to test the effectiveness of inhibitory control (IC) training to produce true training-related function improvements…

Most second/foreign language (L2) learners have difficulty understanding listening input because of its implicit and ephemeral nature, and they typically have better reading comprehension than listening comprehension skills. This study examines the effects of using an interactive advance-organizer activity on the DVD video comprehension of L2…

Distraction during encoding has long been known to disrupt later memory performance. Contrary to this long-standing result, we show that detecting an infrequent target in a dual-task paradigm actually improves memory encoding for a concurrently presented word, above and beyond the performance reached in the full-attention condition. This absolute…