Numerous studies have found better memory for multimodal than unimodal stimuli. In these studies, however, multimodal stimuli consist not only of multiple modalities, but also of more varied information than unimodal. Therefore, in the present study, we investigated encoding variability as an explanation for the multisensory benefit. Written words…

The modality effect refers to the robust finding that memory performance differs for items presented aurally, as compared with visually. Whereas auditory presentation leads to stronger recency performance in immediate recall, visual presentation often produces better primacy performance (the inverse modality effect). To investigate and model these…

Because Western art music is harmonically more complex than popular music and because it is written with musical notation, it may be challenging for certain people with no music training (non-musicians), those who did not grow up with Western art music, or those who did not choose to listen to this type of music for enjoyment to understand and…

Purpose: Multimedia facilitates knowledge acquisition, which has a significant impact on students' learning and is a big potential of information and communication technology. Learning through multimedia has psychological benefits for the learner in addition to being used for recreational learning. To define the cognitive theory of multimedia in…

Multisensory environments rich in modal integration provide cues from various sensory modalities including visually, auditorily, and tactilely. Such modal integration plays a crucial role in cognitive processing, specifically in fostering creativity. Numerous studies highlight that emotional coherence through cross-modal affective integration…

Students desire free textbooks that incorporate multimedia and interactive experiences. Although there is an increased production of e-textbooks, these resources tend to replicate hard copy books and do not take advantage of the functions that technology offers. There is also a shift to creating e-textbooks that are considered open educational…

The family of cognitive models sometimes referred to as the "Learning Pyramid" enjoys a considerable level of authority within several areas of educational studies, despite that nobody knows how they originated or whether they were supported by any empirical evidence. This article investigates the early history of these models. Through…

Three experiments examined the immediate free recall (IFR) of auditory-verbal and visuospatial materials from single-modality and dual-modality lists. In Experiment 1, we presented participants with between 1 and 16 spoken words, with between 1 and 16 visuospatial dot locations, or with between 1 and 16 words "and" dots with synchronized…

This study tested two cognitive models, learning styles and dual coding, which make contradictory predictions about how learners process and retain visual and auditory information. Learning styles-based instructional practices are common in educational environments despite a questionable research base, while the use of dual coding is less…

Using memorials and related nonfiction print and nonprint texts, students explore elements involved in creating a memorial and learn to think critically about the relationship between these elements.

This study was designed to investigate the extent to which the presentation of an auditory model prior to learning a novel melody affects performance during active practice and the overnight consolidation of procedural memory. During evening training sessions, 32 nonpianist musicians practiced a 13-note keyboard melody with their left…

This article notes the convergence of recent thinking in neuroscience and grounded cognition regarding the way we understand mental representation and recollection: ideas are dynamic and multi-modal, actively created at the point of recall. Also, neurophysiologically, re-entrant signalling among cortical circuits allows non-conscious processing to…

This meta-analysis combines the effect size (ES) of 40 explicit memory experiments in populations with intellectual disability (ID). Eight meta-analyses were performed, as well as contrast tests between ES. The explicit memory of participants with ID was inferior to that of participants with typical development (TD). Relatively preserved explicit…

This study investigated the effects of multimedia presentations on the efficiency of learning scientific information (i.e. information on basic anatomy of human brains and their functions, the definition of cognitive psychology, and the structure of human memory). Experiment 1 investigated whether the modality effect could be observed when the…

The study attempted to determine whether the failure of Down Syndrome (DS) individuals to show the modality effect (the tendency to show better short-term memory for brief sequences of auditory rather than visual information) is due to the verbal-expressive demands of oral responding in memory tasks. DS, nonretarded (NR) and MR (non-DS mentally…