Detecting Cognitive Load during Working Memory Tasks utilizing a Digitizer Tablet

The purpose of this line of research is to determine whether the ‘Digitizer’ is a reliable and valid way to measure cognitive load during dual working memory-drawing tasks. A quasi-experimental study was conducted at the University of Arkansas in a research laboratory, and participants included seven right-handed healthy adults with normal or corrected vision and no reading difficulty. The participants were selected on a volunteer basis. The study required participants to draw circles while continuously performing in three conditions – one baseline and two working memory experimental tasks, administered in counterbalanced order. The baseline task was to read an 8th grade level passage at comfortable speed and loudness level. The working memory tasks were symmetry span and operation span tasks. The operation span task required the participants to remember letters in sequence while simultaneously verifying arithmetic operations presented after each letter. The symmetry span task required participants to remember the position of the highlighted square in a grid in sequence while simultaneously determining the symmetricity of a figure presented afterwards. Both tasks were completed while drawing continuous circles on the ‘Digitizer’. A separate repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted for each measure. A significant omnibus effect was found for the stroke duration measure only. Post-hoc paired tests showed that baseline was higher (p=.01) in stroke duration than in operation span task and symmetry span task. In this literature review, the results and elements of the study are described in full to inform future research. It was initially assumed that the working memory load would be significantly less in the baseline task as compared to the two working memory tasks; however, the data alternatively indicated that it taxed working memory more. With reading comprehension as a reference condition, it is logical to conclude that there is evidence of cognitive load in working memory tasks as measured by manual disfluencies. This literature review outlines potential adaptations and highlights primary weaknesses for future study in this area

Adaptive Instruction for Elementary School Children: The Interplay of Giftedness, Working Memory, and Hypermedia Learning

Several studies have shown that promotion offers for gifted students have positive effects on the students’ educational achievement and development (e.g., Wai, Lubinski, Benbow, & Steiger, 2010). However, it is not entirely clear which promotion offers actually work best for gifted children. According to aptitude-treatment interaction (ATI) research (Cronbach & Snow, 1977), promotion or learning offers that are matched to a learner’s specific prerequisites are assumed to be most beneficial. In line with this, promotion offers that take advantage of the specific aptitudes of gifted children should be most effective for this ability group. Unfortunately, however, studies that focus on the particular aptitudes of gifted children in order to develop appropriate learning offers are rare. Therefore, the present dissertation aimed at closing this research gap by not only exploring the specific learner characteristics of gifted children, but also by investigating whether learning offers that are designed based on the particular strengths of these children might be more beneficial than other, more common learning offers. More precisely, it was first investigated whether the construct of working memory (WM; Baddeley, 2002) represents a crucial cognitive characteristic in gifted children, even beyond intelligence. Second, it was explored whether learning offers that capitalize on the students’ high WM resources, such as hypermedia environments, would be more beneficial for these students than learning offers that require lower WM resources. To this end, the present dissertation focused on the students’ learning performance as well as on their navigational processing during hypermedia exploration. In total, three empirical studies were conducted within the present dissertation.Die Wirksamkeit von Angeboten für hochbegabte Kinder zur Förderung ihrer schulischen Leistung und kognitiven Entwicklung konnte bereits mehrfach gezeigt werden (z.B. Wai, Lubinski, Benbow, & Steiger, 2010). Allerdings ist bisher unklar, welche Förderangebote für diese Zielgruppe am effektivsten sind. Basierend auf dem Aptitude-Treatment Interaction Ansatz (Cronbach & Snow, 1977) sind generell solche Förder- oder Lernangebote am effektivsten, die auf die spezifischen Fähigkeiten einer Person abgestimmt sind; im vorliegenden Fall also auf die spezifischen Fähigkeiten von Hochbegabten. Leider gibt es bislang kaum Studien, die basierend auf den spezifischen Lernvoraussetzungen bzw. Fähigkeiten von hochbegabten Kindern adäquate Lernangebote entwickelt haben. Aus diesem Grund war das Ziel der vorliegenden Dissertation sich genau mit dieser For-schungslücke zu beschäftigen. Im Rahmen von drei Studien sollte neben der Untersuchung und Feststellung der spezifischen Lernvoraussetzungen von hochbegabten Kindern auch die Effektivität von entsprechenden Lernangeboten, die auf diese Voraussetzungen angepasst sind, überprüft werden. So wurde in Studie 1 konkret untersucht, ob das Arbeitsgedächtnis (Baddeley, 2002) neben der Intelligenz eine essentielle kognitive Charakteristik von hochbe-gabten Kindern darstellt. Weiterhin wurde in Studie 2 untersucht, ob Lernangebote, die das Arbeitsgedächtnis besonders beanspruchen, so wie zum Beispiel Hypermedia Lernumgebun-gen, zur kognitiven Förderung von Kindern mit entsprechend hohen Arbeitsgedächtnisres-sourcen geeigneter sind als Lernangebote mit geringerer Beanspruchung des Arbeitsgedächt-nisses. Zur Beurteilung der Effektivität wurden Lern- und Leistungsmaße der Kinder beim Explorieren der Hypermedia Lernumgebung herangezogen. In Studie 3 stand das Navigationsverhalten der Kinder beim Explorieren der Hypermedia Lernumgebung im Fokus. So sollte überprüft werden, ob bestimmte Navigationsstrategien für den höheren Lernerfolg von Kindern mit hohen Arbeitsgedächtnisressourcen verantwortlich sind. Die Ergebnisse und Implikationen der drei Studien werden dargestellt und zusammenfassend diskutiert

A ciência da leitura e a produção acadêmica: caminhos trilhados

Linguistics focuses on the different phenomena of language. In macrolinguistics areas, there is Psycholinguistics. This subfield researches (de)coding processes of messages with verbal codes. Thus, one of its influential fields of activity is reading. Reading is one of the most complex information processing tasks. It begins with the graphemes decoding and it finishes with the text comprehension. Regarding the assessment of reading, there are several exams and large-scale tests, such as Pisa, Saeb (Aneb and Anresc/Prova Brasil), ENEM. Alarming statistics come with the indicators from these evaluative instruments. There are, among Brazilians, low levels of reading comprehension and marked functional illiteracy rate. Therefore, this study aimed to research what scientific communication has shared in terms of knowledge about reading. Specifically, the objectives were synthesize, considering the psycholinguistic approach of reading research, studies and research with the most recurrent theme in the reading field evidenced from the electronic communication, in order to investigate the dimensions and limitations of knowledge about this subject. For this, through WebQualis system, Qualis A1 and A2 scientific journals with electronic format and with focuses/scopes related to reading from the areas of (1) Language Arts/Linguistics, (2) Psychology and (3) Education were selected. With the selected journals and through Capes Journals Portal, all their volumes and issues from 2011 to 2015 were analyzed. With this, scientific articles related to reading were mapped. With the mapped articles abstracts, the recurrent themes in reading in the scientific production were observed. Finally, with the full articles that had the recurrent theme, the researches results were integrated, synthesizing and pondering about them. With a critical-reflexive assessment of the data, relevant information was found. First, on one hand, it was noted that the reading has achieved a stable and upward space through the electronic communication. On the other one, it was checked that the contributions of Psychology have a great influence in reading and comprehension research. Second, it was shown that the most frequent theme in electronic productions is comprehension. Finally, with the synthesis, it was found that, increasingly, comprehension topics related to reading neurobiological aspects were empirical and directly investigated. In addition, there are several studies that propose reading teaching methods as well as strategies for improving the comprehension, including the use of TICs. Moreover, it was found that many research results are limited. This is because the comprehension involves several components – cognitive processes and skills. Researches often focus attention on one or the other component of it only, and each research fixes a specific methodology design and that vary considerabably. Regarding the assessment of reading, many of the methodological apparatus tasks evaluate only the product of comprehension and not its process. In other words, built mental representations are evaluated and not how the encoding of this text occurred. Therefore, in short, both the researches advancement in the comprehension field and several limitations were observed.A Linguística atém-se aos mais diferentes fenômenos da língua(gem). Nos domínios macrolinguísticos, há a Psicolinguística. Essa subárea tem como foco de investigação os processos de (de)codificação de mensagens de códigos verbais. Assim, um de seus influentes campos de atuação é o de leitura. A leitura é uma das tarefas de processamento de informações mais complexas. Ela tem como princípio a decodificação grafêmica e como fim a compreensão textual. Em relação à avaliação da leitura, existem diversos testes e provas em larga escala, como o Pisa, o Saeb (Aneb e Anresc/Prova Brasil), o ENEM. Com os indicadores desses instrumentos avaliativos, vêm estatísticas alarmantes. Há, entre os brasileiros, baixos níveis de compreensão leitora e acentuado índice de analfabetismo funcional. Por conseguinte, este trabalho pretendeu investigar o que a comunicação científica tem compartilhado em termos de conhecimento sobre leitura. Especificamente, objetivou-se sintetizar, considerando a abordagem psicolinguística de investigação da leitura, estudos e pesquisas cuja temática evidenciada da comunicação eletrônica fosse a mais recorrente no campo da leitura, a fim de investigar dimensões e limitações do conhecimento a respeito dessa temática. Para isso, selecionaram-se, por meio do sistema WebQualis, periódicos científicos Qualis A1 e A2 em formato eletrônico e com focos/escopos relacionados à leitura, das áreas de (1) Letras/Linguística, (2) Psicologia e (3) Educação. Com os periódicos selecionados e por meio do Portal de Periódicos Capes, analisaram-se todos os seus volumes e números de 2011 a 2015, a fim de mapear artigos científicos com assunto em leitura. Com os resumos dos artigos mapeados, evidenciaram-se temáticas mais recorrentes na produção científica em leitura. Por fim, dos artigos completos cuja temática era a mais recorrente, integraram-se resultados das pesquisas, fazendo-se uma análise, com fins de síntese e reflexão. Da apreciação crítico-reflexiva dos dados, constataram-se relevantes informações. Em primeiro lugar, de um lado, observou-se que a leitura tem conquistado um estável e ascendente espaço em meio à comunicação eletrônica. De outro, demonstrou-se que contribuições da Psicologia têm forte influência na pesquisa de leitura e compreensão. Em segundo, evidenciou-se que a compreensão é a temática mais frequente nas produções eletrônicas. Por fim, com a síntese, constatou-se que, cada vez mais, se investiga empírica e diretamente facetas da compreensão em relação às bases neurobiológicas da leitura. Igualmente, há diversas pesquisas que propõem metodologias de ensino da leitura, bem como estratégias para a melhoria da compreensão, incluindo a utilização das TICs. Além disso, concluiu-se que muitos resultados de pesquisas são limitados. Isso porque a compreensão envolve diversos componentes – processos cognitivos e habilidades. E as pesquisas, muitas vezes, apenas focam a atenção em um ou em outro componente, além de definirem específicos e variados designs de metodologia. Em relação à avaliação da leitura, muitas das tarefas do aparato metodológico das pesquisas apenas avaliam o produto da compreensão e não o seu processo. Ou seja, avaliam-se representações mentais construídas e não como ocorreu a codificação desse texto na mente do leitor. Por conseguinte, em suma, tanto o avanço de pesquisas no campo de compreensão quanto, também, diversas limitações ficaram evidentes

Directing Attentional Resources Toward the Appropriate Information Processing System: A Test of the Effects of Processing Preference and Information Presentation Mode

Many studies have been interested in how people process information and follow instruction. The current study was developed to add to the existing knowledge about working memory through having participants receive instructions in different presentation mediums. It was further theorized that two processing preferences, need for cognition and need for affect, may moderate the relationship between instructions and performance. These processing constructs represent an individual\u27s motivation to experience cognitive-based earning or emotion. Both the processing preferences and presentation types have been linked to hemispheric specialization. It was also hypothesized that an individual\u27s level of creativity may influence their performance on a task. Two models were developed for each performance outcome (time and error). A multiple regression for categorical and continuous variables was used to determine whether presentation types, and processing preference can predict the performance based time and error scores. It was found that only presentation type predicted performance. The results of the study along with specific relationships that were found, have major implications for future research on training and working memory

DAEL framework: a new adaptive e-learning framework for students with dyslexia

This paper reports on an extensive study conducted on the existing frameworks and relevant theories that lead to a better understanding of the requirements of an e-learning tool for people with dyslexia. The DAEL framework has been developed with respect to four different dimensions: presentation, hypermediality, acceptability and accessibility, and user experience. However, there has been no research on the different types of dyslexia and the dyslexic user’s viewpoint as they affect application design. Therefore, in this paper a framework is proposed which would conform to the standards of acceptability and accessibility for dyslexic students. We hypothesise that an e-learning application, which will adopt itself according to individuals’ dyslexia types, will advantage the dyslexics’ individuals in their learning process

How does the Type of Task Influence the Performance and Social Regulation of Collaborative Learning?

In this paper we analyze the effects of the type of collaborative task (elaboration of concept map vs elaboration of expository summary) on the performance and on the level of collaboration achieved by Mexican university students in the multimedia learning of a social sciences content (Communication Psychology). Likewise, the processes of social regulation that are put into play in these collaborative tasks are described. Forty-five students (17 women and 28 men) grouped in 15 triads participated in the study. Each triad was assigned to one of the two collaborative conditions: elaboration of concept map (8 groups) and elaboration of an expository summary (7 groups). It was monitored that there were no significant previous differences between two conditions regarding: reading comprehension, reading comprehension regulation strategies and domain-specific prior knowledge. To evaluate the performance in learning, the quality of the proposals made in concept maps and summaries were taken adapting the procedure proposed by Haugwitz, Nesbit and Sandmann (2010), and also the results obtained by the students in a multiple-choice questionnaire about the knowledge area. Likewise, the level of collaboration perceived by each member of the teams was examined using a Collaboration questionnaire developed by Chan and Chan (2011). The identification and characterization of the processes of social regulation was carried out through a qualitative analysis of the exchanges registered during the collaborative activity, considering the type (co-regulation and shared regulation) and the regulation orientation (directed to the task or to the management of collaboration). The quantitative results analysis showed the existence of significant effects working with collaborative concept maps in the knowledge acquired during the collaborative task and in some of the indicators of perceived collaboration. Although no significant statistical differences were found, in the teams that elaborated expository summaries, a predominance of episodes of regulation directed towards the cognitive activity of the collaborative task was observed, being scarce, in both conditions, the episodes of social regulation directed towards collaboration within the triadsThis work integrates a series of studies in progress on collaboration and digital technologies that were carried out within the framework of the research project called "Communicative innovation and management in organizations" of the Thematic Network of Academic Collaboration "Management, Culture and Communication in Organizations", which was supported by PRODEP-SEP (México) DSA/103.5/15/11048 (UASLP-CA-232), in which the first author participate

DAEL framework: a new adaptive e-learning framework for students with dyslexia

This paper reports on an extensive study conducted on the existing frameworks and relevant theories that lead to a better understanding of the requirements of an e-learning tool for people with dyslexia. The DAEL framework has been developed with respect to four different dimensions: presentation, hypermediality, acceptability and accessibility, and user experience. However, there has been no research on the different types of dyslexia and the dyslexic user’s viewpoint as they affect application design. Therefore, in this paper a framework is proposed which would conform to the standards of acceptability and accessibility for dyslexic students. We hypothesise that an e-learning application, which will adopt itself according to individuals’ dyslexia types, will advantage the dyslexics’ individuals in their learning process

Are Pictures Always Worth a Thousand Words? Interactions Between Reader, Text, and Diagrams in Multimodal Comprehension

This study investigates the influence of diagrams and spatial layout on interactive effects of text cohesion, domain knowledge, and reading skill on the comprehension of multimodal science text. College undergraduates read either a low or high-cohesion text about cell mitosis that was or was not augmented with diagrams, and then answered text-based and bridging-inference comprehension questions. Results showed overall effects of diagrams and cohesion, but these effects largely depended on an integrated configuration as well as on ability level. Low-knowledge and less-skilled readers benefited from cohesion when the text did not contain diagrams, and only benefited from diagrams when presented with a low-cohesion text in an integrated configuration. In contrast, high-knowledge and skilled readers benefited from high-cohesion text accompanied by diagrams, but only skilled readers benefited independently of configuration. Results offer support for a linear contiguity effect and a text cohesion effect as either new multimedia design principles or as extensions of existing principles