A study investigated the use of visualizing in remembering or understanding difficult abstract prose. Subjects, 40 students in two freshman developmental reading classes in a state college in North Carolina, received either instruction in drawing out images or in writing paraphrases as they read difficult material. Posttests of abstract reading…

Suggestions are offered for applying learning techniques for a variety of learning situations. The approaches are applicable to learning medical school content as well as other advanced educational content. Ways to control external distractors are suggested, including a systematic approach to completing large tasks, such as writing a research…

Two processing abilities used to solve spatial problems are examined: (1) the analog ability of structural visualization; and (2) the non-analog ability of verbal analytic reasoning. The distinction is based on an evaluation of information processing theory and a review of process-oriented studies of individual differences. Criteria are presented…

In order to test the hypothesis that bizarre imagery can be an effective mnemonic aid with delayed testing, a context of mixed materials, and an adequate stimulus presentation pace, a study examined 40 undergraduates who were randomly presented with three paired-associate lists (normal, bizarre, and mixed). Within each list the sentences consisted…

One theoretical model for understanding the visual event suggests that a visual event has both a surface (descriptive) and a deeper (experience) level of understanding. Both levels are needed to comprehend and appreciate images, with each level affecting the other. A person's perspective is an important part of the visual event, which depends upon…

High-ability Jamaican students in grades one, three, five, seven, and nine were asked to draw five three-dimensional objects (cuboid, pyramid, cylinder, cone, cube) from memory, and with the object visible; later they were asked to select the best sketch of each solid from among several presented. Drawings and selections were scored for…

Spatial visualization is not yet clearly understood. Some researchers have concluded that two factors or abilities are involved, spatial orientation and spatial visualization. Different definitions and different tests have been proposed for these two abilities. Several studies indicate that women generally perform more poorly on spatial tests than…

Reports research into the visual fixation of 3- to 11-week old infants as they observed adult faces. Reports a dramatic increase in fixations occurred between 5 and 7 weeks for all conditions. (SL)

Figures that undergo an implied rotation are remembered as being slightly beyond their final position, a phenomenon called representational momentum. Eight experiments explored the questions of what gets transformed and what types of transformations induce such representational distortions. (GDC)

Reports two studies probing the link between speech anxiety and positive thinking. Finds that there is a correlation between communication anxiety and positive and negative thoughts; and the use of visualization lowered self-reported speech anxiety and increased the proportion of positive to negative thoughts. (MS)

"Dimensional analysis" (or "factor-label") is the method most frequently used to teach reaction stoichiometry. However, because it is a strictly arithmetical approach, a pictorial framework that facilitates conceptualization of a reaction as a coherent process is advocated and described. (JN)

Offers evidence that visualization is an effective device to help students reduce their anxiety. (Defines visualization as asking speakers to imagine themselves making an effective presentation.) (PD)

The two experiments reported each varied whether 80 college students learned a vocabulary list using the keyword method or through their own strategies and whether items were experimenter- or subject-paced during presentation. In both experiments, keyword subjects outperformed controls, and there was no Treatment x Pacing interaction. (Author/PN)

Noting the National Reading Panel's suggestions on assessing and improving children's phonemic awareness, this paper discusses how reading can be improved through think-alouds and visualizations. Comprehension strategies that teachers can model during think-alouds are: activating prior knowledge; building vocabulary; determining importance;…

A discussion of the papers, "Representation, Vision and Visualization: Cognitive Functions in Mathematical Thinking. Basic Issues for Learning" (Raymond Duval) and "On the Development of Human Representational Competence from an Evolutionary Point of View: From Episodic to Virtual Culture" (James J. Kaput), is presented. Kaput…