The effect of multiple internal representations on context rich instruction

This paper presents n-coding, a theoretical model of multiple internal mental representations. The n-coding construct is developed from a review of cognitive and imaging studies suggesting the independence of information processing along different modalities: verbal, visual, kinesthetic, social, etc. A study testing the effectiveness of the n-coding construct in an algebra-based mechanics course is presented. Four sections differing in the level of n-coding opportunities were compared. Besides a traditional instruction section used as a control group, each of the remaining three treatment sections were given context rich problems following the 'cooperative group problem solving' approach which differed by the level of n-coding opportunities designed into their laboratory environment. To measure the effectiveness of the construct, problem solving skills were assessed as was conceptual learning using the Force Concept Inventory. However, a number of new measures taking into account students' confidence in concepts were developed to complete the picture of student learning. Results suggest that using the developed n-coding construct to design context rich environments can generate learning gains in problem solving, conceptual knowledge and concept-confidence.Comment: Submitted to the American Journal of Physic

Decoding Brain Activity Associated with Literal and Metaphoric Sentence Comprehension Using Distributional Semantic Models

Recent years have seen a growing interest within the natural language processing (NLP)community in evaluating the ability of semantic models to capture human meaning representation in the brain. Existing research has mainly focused on applying semantic models to de-code brain activity patterns associated with the meaning of individual words, and, more recently, this approach has been extended to sentences and larger text fragments. Our work is the first to investigate metaphor process-ing in the brain in this context. We evaluate a range of semantic models (word embeddings, compositional, and visual models) in their ability to decode brain activity associated with reading of both literal and metaphoric sentences. Our results suggest that compositional models and word embeddings are able to capture differences in the processing of literal and metaphoric sentences, providing sup-port for the idea that the literal meaning is not fully accessible during familiar metaphor comprehension

Child rearing antecedents of audience sensitivity.

This study is part of a program of research on the nature of "stage fright". The analysis to date has suggested that stage fright is an instance of a more general phenomenon of "social influence" where people in interaction are conceptualized as "actors" presenting themselves before "audiences". [...

a Study of Stage Fright.

In 1935, H. L. Hollingworth wrote that, "among the numerous familiar fears of mankind none is more common than 'stage fright' (22, p. 173). Yet, despite its ubiquitous nature, the phenomenon is only poorly understood. The broad aim of the present study is to extend this understanding in the conviction that "stage fright" is of interest in its own right and that the concept is of theoretical value for psychology, particularly that aspect of social psychology concerned with group phenomena

Imagery value and its effects on verbal memory: A review.

The effect of imagery value on different memory tasks is reviewed in terms of its relationship with other verbal measures, such as frequency, meaningfulness, and associative variety. High correlations between imagery value and other attributes do not yet provide a basis for explaining its effects in terms of alternative variables. Imagery processes seem to explain the effects of imagery value more adequately than any other variabl