Attention cueing in an instructional animation

In modern educational environments, dynamic visualizations such as animations are increasingly used for presenting change-related information. Due to their great appeal and acclaimed benefits to show dynamic processes in real-time, animations have quickly become one of the most popular instructional materials. However, much evidence indicates that animation-based instruction is frequently no more effective than learning from static graphics. Especially inexperienced learners may have difficulties or experience high processing demands when trying to understand animations that depict multiple changes. In such complex animations, the process of locating task-relevant information may require a high amount of ineffective working memory load, because highly salient but irrelevant elements need to be suppressed to avoid unnecessary visual searches. The aim of this dissertation was to investigate whether guiding learners’ attention to an animation’s relevant parts by cueing them would help learners to extract task-relevant information from an animation, use this information for further processing and hence promote learners’ understanding of the animation. Studies were conducted in which cued and uncued animations without textual explanations were compared, presentation speed of the animation was varied, and eye tracking methodology was applied to gain more insight into how and when cueing supports learning. Furthermore, the influence of cueing was investigated when the animation was studied with explanations, either provided to learners in a narration or generated by the learners themselves. One of the main outcomes of the studies is that cueing is necessary to guide learners’ attention to relevant parts of an animation without text but that it is insufficient to foster learning. On the other hand, active processing of the animation with explanations only leads to improved learning if the animation contains cues. So, the combination of cueing to improve the design of the animation and active processing to increase learners’ engagement with the animation is highly effective for promoting learning from an animation that shows multiple simultaneously occurring changes

Facilitating Understanding of Movements in Dynamic Visualizations: An Embodied Perspective

Learners studying mechanical or technical processes via dynamic visualizations often fail to build an accurate mental representation of the system's movements. Based on embodied theories of cognition assuming that action, perception, and cognition are closely intertwined, this paper proposes that the learning effectiveness of dynamic visualizations could be enhanced by grounding the movements of the presentation in people's own bodily experiences during learning. We discuss recent research on embodied cognition and provide specific strategies for how the body can be used to ground movements during the learning process: (1) making or observing gestures, (2) manipulating and interacting with objects, (3) using body metaphors, and (4) using eye movements as retrieval cues. Implications for the design of dynamic visualizations as well as directions for future research are presented

Effects of spatial distance on the effectiveness of mental and physical integration strategies in learning from split-attention examples

Learning from spatially separated text and pictures is improved when learners are instructed to use a physical or mental integration strategy. This study investigated whether varying the spatial distance between text and pictures affects the effectiveness of physical and mental integration strategies. We hypothesized that a larger spatial distance would increase cognitive load and harm learning. Ninety-two university students studied the functioning of an electrical circuit from text and pictures that were presented at a small or large spatial distance from each other, while using a physical or mental integration strategy during learning. Results indicated that participants using the mental integration strategy obtained higher recall scores than participants using the physical integration strategy, but no differences were found for comprehension, transfer, and cognitive load. No effects of spatial distance were found. More research is needed to investigate to what extent spatial distance influences learning with mental and physical integration strategies

Verbal redundancy in a procedural animation: On-screen labels improve retention but not behavioral performance

Multimedia learning research has shown that presenting the same words as spoken text and as written text to accompany graphical information hinders learning (i.e., redundancy effect). However, recent work showed that a “condensed” form of written text (i.e., on-screen labels) that overlaps with the spoken text, and thus is only partially redundant, can actually foster learning. This study extends this line of research by focusing on the usefulness of on-screen labels in an animation explaining a procedural task (i.e., first-aid procedure). The experiment had a 2 × 2 × 2 between-subject design (N = 129) with the factors spoken text (yes vs. no), written text (yes vs. no), and on-screen labels (yes vs. no). Learning outcomes were measured as retention accuracy and behavioral performance accuracy. Results showed that on-screen labels improved retention accuracy (but not behavioral performance accuracy) of the procedure, especially when presented together with spoken text. So, on-screen labels appear to be promising for learning from procedural animations

Attention Cueing as a Means to Enhance Learning from an Animation

The question how animations should be designed so that learning is optimised, is still under discussion. Animations are often cognitively very demanding, resulting in decreased learning outcomes. In this study, we tried to prevent cognitive overload and foster learning by focusing the learners’ attention to one element (i.e. process) of an animation using a cueing technique. Psychology students viewed an animation of the cardiovascular system and were subsequently given a comprehension test and a transfer test. One group studied the animation without a visual cue, while for another group a visual cue was added to the animation. Results indicated that cueing not only enhanced comprehension and transfer performance for cued information, but also for uncued information. It is concluded that cueing can be used as a technique to improve learning from an animation. Results are interpreted in terms of cognitive load theory (CLT)

The influence of spatial distance and signaling on the split-attention effect

The split-attention effect seems a robust finding in the literature and shows that complex learning materials consisting of text and pictures lead to better learning when they are spatially integrated instead of spatially separated. In the current study, two experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of distance and signaling on the split-attention effect. In Experiment 1, a 2 × 2 design was used in which spatial distance (large vs. small) and signaling (signaling vs. no signaling) were manipulated, while in Experiment 2 it was tried to replicate the split-attention effect previously observed with the learning materials used in Experiment 1. In contrast to our hypotheses, spatial distance and signaling did not influence mental effort ratings and transfer performance in Experiment 1. Moreover, no split-attention effect was found on retention, transfer or mental effort ratings in Experiment 2. As no split-attention effect was obtained with the learning materials, it is not possible to examine the effects of distance and signaling on the split-attention effect. Concluding, the current results raise doubts about how robust the split-attention effect is, and demonstrate the importance of replication studies

Size Does Matter: Implied Object Size is Mentally Simulated During Language Comprehension

Embodied theories of language comprehension propose that readers construct a mental simulation of described objects that contains perceptual characteristics of their real-world referents. The present study is the first to investigate directly whether implied object size is mentally simulated during sentence comprehension and to study the potential influence of developmental factors on mental simulation by comparing adults' and children's mental simulation processing. Participants performed a sentence-picture verification task in which they read a sentence that implied a large or a small size for an object and then saw a picture of the object that matched or mismatched the implied size. Responses to pictures were faster when implied size and pictured size matched, suggesting that readers activated perceptual information on object size during sentence comprehension. The magnitude of the match effect was equal across age groups. The results contribute to refining and advancing knowledge with respect to the nature of mental simulations

Does the component processes task assess text-based inferences important for reading comprehension? A path analysis in primary school children

Using a component processes task (CPT) that differentiates between higher-level cognitive processes of reading comprehension provides important advantages over commonly used general reading comprehension assessments. The present study contributes to further development of the CPT by evaluating the relative contributions of its components (text memory, text inferencing, and knowledge integration) and working memory to general reading comprehension within a single study using path analyses. Participants were 173 third- and fourth-grade children. As hypothesized, knowledge integration was the only component of the CPT that directly contributed to reading comprehension, indicating that the text-inferencing component did not assess inferential processes related to reading comprehension. Working memory was a significant predictor of reading comprehension over and above the component processes. Future research should focus on finding ways to ensure that the text-inferencing component taps into processes important for reading comprehension

Gender differences in mental simulation during sentence and word processing

Text comprehension requires readers to mentally simulate the described situation by reactivating previously acquired sensory and motor information from (episodic) memory. Drawing upon research demonstrating gender differences, favouring girls, in tasks involving episodic memory retrieval, the present study explores whether gender differences exist in mental simulation in children (Grades 4 to 6). In Experiment 1, 99 children performed a sentence–picture verification task measuring mental simulation at sentence level. In Experiment 2, 97 children completed a lexical decision task in which imageability of words was manipulated to measure mental simulation at word level. Only for girls we found faster reaction times for matching versus mismatching sentence–picture pairs (Experiment 1) and high-imageability versus low-imageability words (Experiment 2). The results suggest that girls construct more coherent and vivid mental simulations than boys and rely more heavily on these representations. The results emphasize the importance of including gender into reading comprehension research

Examining the use of prompts to facilitate self-regulated learning in Massive Open Online Courses

The limited instructional support in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) inherently demands learners to selfregulate their learning. MOOC research shows that learners are more successful when they engage in selfregulated learning (SRL) behaviors such as planning what to study and reviewing study materials. However, many learners struggle with SRL. In this study, we examined the effect of two types of SRL prompts (i.e., questions or a combination of questions and recommendations) on SRL activities, course engagement, and performance in MOOCs. Learners either received questions supporting SRL, questions supporting SRL followed by recommendations, or neither questions supporting SRL nor recommendations. Log data was used to examine learners’ behavior in the MOOCs. Results showed the SRL prompts, in general, are effective in enhancing SRLrelated activities and course engagement. However, the effectiveness of the SRL prompts may be influenced by the complexity of the MOOCs. The current study adds to the field of SRL by examining prompting as an approach to enhance SRL in MOOCs