Compares the visual and auditory processing factors of the Woodcock Johnson Tests of Cognitive Ability, Revised (WJR COG) and the visual and auditory memory factors of the Learning Efficiency Test, II (LET-II) among 120 college students. Results indicate two significant performance differences between the WJR COG and LET-II. (RJM)

Examines the possibility that at times imagery might be a disadvantage in certain tasks. For example, the notion of a persistent image may be so vivid as to actually block other creative thought. Describes one calculus student's images supporting high levels of mathematical functioning which occasionally became so powerful as to obscure more than…

Compared multimodal instruction with text and pictures with unimodal text-only instruction as 44 college students used a visual or textual manual to learn a complex software application. Results initially support dual coding theory and indicate that multimodal instruction led to better performance than unimodal instruction. (SLD)

A survey of a range of introductory university level textbooks in the social sciences found little use of network diagrams (NDs), i.e., graphic representations of processes, organizations, systems, and mechanisms. NDs can be viewed as a text/picture hybrid medium with titles and captions serving to qualify and identify the meaning and status of…

The investigation reported in this paper uses a method of mapping the course. This mapping method presents the course in a compact visual form. Criterion-referenced test items are drawn up using a less sophisticated method. The parts of the course which would predict good learning from the mapping are checked against the performance on items and…

Uses the planning, drafting, aligning, revising, and monitoring model, as conceived by R.J.Tierney and D.Pearson in their reading-writing relationship theory, as the basis for considering television viewing processes or a viewer protocol. (JK)

Reaction time and accuracy do not always reflect the same perceptual processes; therefore, the convergence of reaction time with accuracy within the context of a specific information processing model should be demonstrated empirically rather than assumed a priori. (Author/PN)

Identifies four judgments that comprise the myth that audiovisual educational technology is superior to traditional instructional methods. Refutes current explanations for the technology's benefits and suggests more substantial undergirdings in visual and learning theory. (Author/GC)

Two experiments examined the relative effects of concrete and abstract advance organizers on students' memory for subsequent prose. Results of the experiments are discussed in terms of the memorability, familiarity, and visualizability of concrete and abstract verbal materials. (JD)

Discusses the suitability of multimedia technology for the representation of complex visual events in the classroom and describes a program that uses videodisk and HyperCard to teach students about the factors involved in the creation of theatrical performances. Principles to guide the design of multimedia applications for the classroom are…

This study investigated conditions for optimizing college students' analogical problem solving. Students given pictorial (not verbal) representations of solutions to source problems were better problem solvers, as were students given a longer time. Students who derived personal solution principles to source problems were not superior to students…

Investigates whether an increased use of techniques of visual design in technical communication improves instructional materials intended for novice writers. Finds that instructional materials incorporating basic visual design principles are more effective than those that are primarily verbal, and that less-capable writers benefit most from…

Presents research on and discusses the redundancy effect, consistent with a dual-channel theory of multimedia learning in which adding on-screen text can overload the visual information-processing channel, causing learners to split their visual attention between two sources. In research, lower transfer performance also occurred when interesting…

Five experiments involving a total of 44 college students addressed the effects of intercomponent consistency on skill acquisition in a class of cognitively demanding tasks requiring rapid integration of information and rapid application of rules. The role of consistency of external stimulus-to-rule linkage in facilitating learning and performing…

Noting that students fail to fully realize the advantages of notetaking as a process to develop a personalized learning system, this paper proposes the use of visual constructions to help students re-establish for themselves the unity of knowledge and to create personalized meanings to this knowledge. The paper summarizes the benefits of…