The spatial contiguity principle is that people learn and perform better when corresponding printed text and graphics are placed near rather than far from each other on the screen or page. This is a well-established design principle in multimedia learning. However, there is insufficient research to establish the appropriate distance between text…

The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of instruction enriched with either simple or complex graphics on perception, interpretation of visuals in terms of the visual language used, and on the orientation of attention on visuals during perception and interpretation of visuals. The study was designed based on the randomised…

Previous studies demonstrated that dual-task impairments are higher in children than in young adults. A previous study systematically assessed the sources of these larger dual-task impairments by identifying age-related differences in capacity limitations during dual-task processing. Capacity limitations in central cognitive processes were present…

This study assessed the extent to which visuospatial processing, as measured by visual scanning behaviour, was associated with infants' ability to recognize mirror image and structurally distinct three-dimensional objects. Simplified Shepard and Metzler (1971) images were employed. Using a remote eye-tracker, infants ages 10 to 17 months (n = 130)…

Background: Investigating the relationship between the human body and its spatial environment is a critical component in understanding the process of acquiring spatial knowledge. However, few empirical evaluations have looked at how the visual accessibility of an environment affects spatial learning. To address this gap, this paper focuses on…

In line with the attention-to-affect model, this study employed a game that encompasses Gestalt perception to explore how extraneous cognitive load (ECL) and gameplay anxiety correlate with attitude towards exploitative learning and attitude towards explorative learning as students play the Visual-Saliency game (VSG) with images of artworks. The…

Scholars and researchers generally believe that scientific inquiry is an important activity for cultivating students' applied knowledge and high-level thinking ability. The process of scientific inquiry can promote students' learning motivation and trigger their higher-order thinking ability. However, students may not have enough prior knowledge…

In this qualitative case study, we investigated the role of an advanced math curriculum with language scaffolding on the development of geometric and visual-spatial reasoning skills in young mathematically promising English learners (MPELs). Specifically, we examined the effects of providing MPELs with challenging and supportive math curriculum to…

Referential gaze has been shown to benefit language processing in situated communication in terms of shifting visual attention and leading to shorter reaction times on subsequent tasks. The present study simultaneously assessed both visual attention and, importantly, the immediate cognitive load induced at different stages of sentence processing.…

Aiming to enhance understanding of visual obstacles inherent in two-dimensional (2-D) sketches used in high school spatial geometry instruction, we propose a measure of visual difficulty based on two attributes of the sketches: potentially misleading geometrical information (PMI) and potentially helpful geometrical information (PHI). The…

This article reports on the influence of three modalities used in three versions of instructional software designed for different learning styles. Students having visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning styles are grouped and experimentally investigated through three different versions of the software. The results indicated that cognitive load…

Typical physics textbook problems often include supportive diagrams that visualize the physical situation although the potential benefits of providing such diagrams is not yet fully established. We used eye tracking to explore the role of supportive diagrams in problem solving. Including a supportive diagram with the text of the problem improved…

In this study we investigated whether the beneficial effect of adding illustrations to text can be explained by the fact that illustrations facilitate analogous mental representation construction from text in visuospatial working memory. For this the secondary task paradigm was used. It was expected that the secondary task interfered only with…

In STEM domains, students are expected to acquire domain knowledge from visual representations that they may not yet be able to interpret. Such learning requires perceptual fluency: the ability to intuitively and rapidly see which concepts visuals show and to translate among multiple visuals. Instructional problems that engage students in…

Recent research on individual differences in object cognition (OC) focused on determining how objects group together, and what type of processing lies behind the clusters--a single domain-general or multiple domain-specific processes. The expertise hypothesis suggests that all object categories are processed by the same mechanism that is…