The FedEx logo makes clever use of figure-ground ambiguity to create an "invisible" arrow in the background space between "E" and "x". Most designers believe the hidden arrow can convey an unconscious impression of speed and precision about the FedEx brand, which may influence subsequent behavior. To test this…

This Family and Practitioner Brief discusses how deaf children who have not had access to a complete language from birth often encounter unique challenges in developing academic language skills, particularly in the realm of inference-making.

Background: In example-based learning, examples are often combined with generative activities, such as comparative self-explanations of example cases. Comparisons induce heavy demands on working memory, especially in complex domains. Hence, only stronger learners may benefit from comparative self-explanations. While static text-based examples can…

This paper examines university students' perceptions of and experiences with using ChatGPT, a generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tool, to enhance their experiential learning. In this exploratory study, we designed a ChatGPT learning activity flow corresponding to the four experiential learning steps. Analysis of survey data collected from…

Background: The most challenging task in eye-tracking-based multimedia research is to establish a relationship between eye-tracking metrics (or cognitive processes) and learners' performance scores. Additionally, there are current debates about the effectiveness of animations (or simulations) in promoting learning in multimedia settings.…

The present study was to explore whether dynamic visualizations enriched with visuospatial cues can optimize learners' cognitive processing of mechanical systems. The animated conditions and cueing patterns were the independent variables with an attempt to investigate their impacts on retention and transfer tests. Either dynamic or static…

This study explored the effects of prior knowledge and cueing on the learning (retention, transfer, and matching) and mental effort of learners who studied an instructional animation with accompanying narration about photosynthesis. A 4 × 2 between-subjects factorial design with four levels of cueing (no cueing, label cueing, picture cueing, and…

Prior knowledge, represented as a mental schema, has critical impact on how we organize, interpret, and process incoming information. Recent findings indicate that the use of an existing schema is coordinated by the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), communicating with parietal areas. The hippocampus, however, is crucial for encoding…

The relevant studies using a cross sectional view of speech organs supplemented with visuospatial cues and verbal text to explore EFL learners' learning effectiveness and behavior through mobile devices when learning English phonetics are scarce. This study was attempted to investigate whether the presence of visuospatial cues can benefit EFL…

In this article, the contributions of cognitive psychology to research and development of medical education are assessed. The cognitive psychology of learning consists of activation of prior knowledge while processing new information and elaboration on the resulting new knowledge to facilitate storing in long-term memory. This process is limited…

The present empirical study investigated whether progressive visuospatial cues presented in a self-regulatory mode could assist learners in comprehending the operation of a mechanical system. In the present study, the interactivity and cueing were the independent variables in terms of investigating their effectiveness on retention and transfer…

Many studies have demonstrated that testing students on to-be-learned materials can be an effective learning activity. However, past studies have also shown that some practice test formats are more effective than others. Open-ended recall or short answer practice tests may be effective because the questions prompt deeper processing as students…

Many (digital) learning materials are often based on a combination of text and pictures, whereby pictures often only serve a decorative (learning-irrelevant) function. Such decorative pictures were proven as detrimental for learning success. In contrast, research on retrieval cues (also known as "memory cues") showed that a…

Multimedia students' dependence on information from the outside world can have an impact on their ability to identify and locate information from multiple resources in learning environments and thereby affect the construction of mental models. Field dependence-independence has been used to assess the ability to extract essential information from…

In 2 experiments we examined the role of (a) specificity, (b) the type of targeted learning activities, and (c) learners' prior knowledge for the effects of relevance instructions on learning from instructional explanations. In Experiment 1, we recruited novices regarding the topic of atomic structure (N = 80) and found that "specific"…