The present paper examines possible benefits of spatial audio guides on learning outcomes in the spatial learning setting of an experimental exhibition and attempts to differentiate between different mechanisms underlying such an effect. In Experiment 1, we examined whether the spatial contiguity principle may be such a mechanism. A spatial audio…

Statistical learning (SL), sensitivity to probabilistic regularities in sensory input, has been widely implicated in cognitive and perceptual development. Little is known, however, about the underlying mechanisms of SL and whether they undergo developmental change. One way to approach these questions is to compare SL across perceptual modalities.…

The purpose of this study was to examine if student understanding of new material could be promoted by manipulating the perceptual factors experienced at the time of learning. It was hypothesized that the thematic relevance of perceptual factors would be a significant contributor to learner understanding. To test this hypothesis, one hundred…

While you don't need to be a scientist to understand brain-compatible teaching, you'll be far more effective when you base your teaching practices on the very best scientific information. This expanded and updated ASCD best-seller delivers that essential information in clear, everyday language that any teacher can immediately incorporate into…

An informal study suggested that although auditory input affects and often interferes with learning, especially in learning disabled children, the students learn to cope with the interference. The importance of considering all learning modalities was stressed. (CL)

Primacy and recency aspects of short term memory (STM) were investigated with 30 learning disabled (LD) and 30 normal children, all with a mean age of 113 months. The pretest experiment compared the serial position curve performance of LD and normal children when seven-digit series were presented visually or auditorially. The second experiment…

Analogous auditory and visual central-incidental learning tasks were administered to 24 students from each of the second, fourth, and sixth grades. The visual tasks served as another modification of Hagen's central-incidental learning paradigm, with the interpretation that focal attention processes continue to develop until the age of 12 or 13…

In order to apply appropriate modes of instruction based on readers' learning characteristics, including modality preferences, the diagnostician must evaluate the reading abilities of the individual pupil on tests of word recognition, psycholinguistic abilities, and learning modes. The Dolch Basic Word Test is a tool for evaluating word…

The effects of visual and auditory process training on reading achievement were explored with 24 learning disabled elementary age students assigned to three treatment groups (auditory training and reading group, visual training and reading group, and reading only group). (Author/PHR)

A vocabulary list of 50 words based on children's spoken language was divided into six groups. For each group specific materials incorporating different modality presentations (pictures, tapes, transparencies, and word cards providing tactile emphasis) were developed. The modality preferences of 128 first graders were identified by The New York…