Does a visual mask need to be perceptually present to disrupt processing? In the present research, we proposed to explore the link between perceptual and memory mechanisms by demonstrating that a typical sensory phenomenon (visual masking) can be replicated at a memory level. Experiment 1 highlighted an interference effect of a visual mask on the…

Self-paced reading and eye-tracking can be used to measure microlevel student engagement during science instruction. These methods imply a definition of engagement as the quantity and quality of mental resources directed at an object and the emotions and behaviors entailed. This definition is theoretically supported by models of reading…

The majority of multimedia learning studies focus on the use of graphics in learning process but very few of them examine the role of graphics in testing students' knowledge. This study investigates the use of static graphics versus animated graphics in a computer-based English achievement test from a cognitive load theory perspective. Three…

It is common to see students multitasking or switching between different tasks on the computer while also listening to the teacher lecture in the front of a classroom. In today's classrooms, students have much greater control over how they use their time, with the classroom integration of computers and mobile devices combined with social media and…

Can increasing the speed of audio narration in multimedia instruction decrease training time and still maintain learning? The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of time-compressed instruction and redundancy on learning and learners' perceptions of cognitive load. 154 university students were placed into conditions that consisted of…

This study investigates secondary-task interference on eye movements through learning with multimedia. We focus on the relationship between the influence of the secondary task on the eye movements of learners, and the learning outcomes as measured by retention, matching, and transfer. Half of the participants performed a spatial tapping task while…

University class structure is changing. To accommodate working students, programmes are increasing their offerings of long night classes--some lasting as long as six hours. While these long classes may be more convenient for students, they have unintended consequences as a result of cognitive load. Using a panel of 124 students (372 observations)…

Learning the names of geometric shapes is at the intersection of early spatial, mathematical, and language skills, all important for school-readiness and predictors of later abilities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). We investigated whether socioeconomic status (SES) influenced children's processing of shape names and…

Previous research has indicated the disconnect between example-based research focusing on worked examples (WEs) and that focusing on modeling examples. The purpose of this study was to examine and compare the effect of four different types of examples from the two separate lines of research, including standard WEs, erroneous WEs, expert (masterly)…

The testing effect refers to the finding that retrieval practice in comparison to restudy of previously encoded contents can improve memory performance and reduce time-dependent forgetting. Naturally, long retention intervals include both wake and sleep delay, which can influence memory contents differently. In fact, sleep immediately after…

Previous research into autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has shown people with autism to be impaired at visual perspective taking. However it is still unclear to what extent the spatial mechanisms underlying this ability contribute to these difficulties. In the current experiment we examine spatial transformations in adults with ASD and typical…

Impaired face perception in autism spectrum disorders is thought to reflect a perceptual style characterized by componential rather than configural processing of faces. This study investigated face processing in adolescents with autism spectrum disorders using the Thatcher illusion, a perceptual phenomenon exhibiting "inversion effects"…

Studies on the effects of acute bouts of cardiovascular exercise on cognitive performances show contradictory findings due to methodological differences (e.g., exercise intensity, cognitive function assessed, participants' aerobic fitness level, etc.). The present study assessed the acute effect of exercise intensity on cognition while controlling…

Why are dual-task costs reduced with ideomotor (IM) compatible tasks (Greenwald & Shulman, 1973; Lien, Proctor & Allen, 2002)? In the present experiments, we first examine three different measures of single-task performance (pure single-task blocks, mixed blocks, and long stimulus onset asynchrony [SOA] trials in dual-task blocks) and two…

In this commentary, Martin Holtmann, discusses Doehnert and colleagues' article in this issue (Doehnert et al., 2013). Holtmann comments that the article illustrates the value of longitudinal electrophysiological and experimental approaches to disentangle different pathways underlying the phenotype of ADHD, and points out that their…