In order to investigate learning theories, media researchers need to explore three variables: (1) the psychological requirements of a given learning task, (2) individual differences in cognitive style, and (3) specific media characteristics. It is necessary to identify the psychological processes which underlie any specific learning task in order…

Any theory of information processing must address both what is processed and how that processing takes place. Most studies investigating variables which alter physical dimension utilization have ignored the large individual differences in selective attention or cue utilization. A paradigm was developed using an individual focus on information…

To investigate the development of the process whereby deaf Ss attend to the orthographic structure of written materials, the perception of words and letter sequences by 108 deaf and hearing Ss matched at three grade levels (grades 1, 2, and 4) of word reading was studied. Ss were shown three sets of structured/unstructured stimuli (such as "VUNS"…

Visual and auditory stimuli were presented to children to measure symbol processing abilities. Slides which required matching the similarities in two objects in a group of three were presented. At times the matching criteria varied between function, color, and form. Reaction time was quicker when matching by color than by function, which was…

A major objective of this study was to seek the relationship of principles derived from traditional paired-associates transfer experiments as applied to the reading task. In this experiment 10 subjects from upper-division education courses, all volunteers, received various types of preliminary training with letter stimuli; then all subjects…

A skilled cognitive theorist might help behaviorists resolve inconsistencies found from their experimentation with imaginal mnemonics in paired-associate and serial learning tasks. Iconic cognition which relegates verbal processes to short-term storage and output systems is inadequate to explain the verbal coding and elaboration processes…

This study sought to determine if there is a change in information processing and channel capacity as the human organism grows older, and if this relationship is altered with a change in stimulus complexity and dimensionality of the stimulus presented. With the human organism considered as a communication system, the use of absolute judgments to…

Presented in this article is a list of practical suggestions designed to aid college teachers of English in instructing disadvantaged students more effectively. (AF)

The primary goal for teachers of English composition is to help students achieve a competent oral and written style compatible with their own environment, age, sex, and socioeconomic background. To help students express their thoughts and perceptions clearly and logically, teachers should (1) exhibit a positive attitude toward writing; (2) provide…

As a step toward developing more controlled studies into children's language, this study attempted to develop standard stimuli to elicit eight basic sentence patterns from kindergarten children. Four stimuli were developed for each pattern. Each stimulus consisted of a stick-figure picture, a description of the picture, and a question or direction…

This research investigated temporal ordering acuity in children, or the ability to perceive the first of an ordered pair of lights, or of a combined light and tone, when the interstimulus time interval within each pair became increasingly short in duration. Two group-related comparisons were made: (1) differences between slow-maturing and average…

The relationship between learning style (impulsivity-constriction and stability-anxiety), reading scores, and scanning performance was investigated. Twenty high school students enrolled in a precollege reading and study skills program participated in an 80-trial (10-session) scanning experiment. The task involved searching for a target sentence…

This report summarizes four components of a research program. In the major investigation (Study 1), a method was developed for making bimodal presentations of discrepant auditory and visual stimuli under conditions which approximately early academic tasks. The goals were to determine (1) which stimulus modality exerts the greater influence on a…

A critical problem in education is the lack of evidence available to serve as a guide for educators, educational product developers, and media researchers in selecting or designing visual illustrations which will be most effective in facilitating student achievement of specific educational objectives. This book summarizes studies evaluating the…

This study explores the effect of visual stimuli on second language vocabulary development. An experiment performed at Georgetown University postulates the hypothesis that concrete target words learned through translation and visual aids should offer better learning than the same words learned through translation alone. Findings are determined…