The Influence of Signaling on the Disfluency Effect in Multimedia Learning

Do students learn better with texts that are slightly harder-to-read (i.e., disfluent)? Previous research has yielded conflicting findings. The present study identified the boundary condition that determines when disfluent texts benefit learning. We used eye-tracking to examine the joint influence of text legibility (fluent vs. disfluent) and signaling (signaling vs. non-signaling) on multimedia learning. The results revealed that both disfluent text and signaling led to better transfer test performance, and there was also an interaction between them. Specifically, the disfluent text led to better learning outcomes with or without signaling; however, in the fluent text condition, only signaling facilitated learning. Eye movement analyses indicated that signaling guided learners to pay more attention to important content in the learning materials. The current results suggest that signaling can enhance individuals’ perceived fluency or familiarity to the material and guide the attention during multimedia learning, and the positive impact of disfluency on multimedia learning seems to be more stable and ubiquitous. We discuss these under the framework of disfluency effect and attention-guiding effect.

The Effects of Task Selection Approaches to Emphasis Manipulation on Cognitive Load and Knowledge Transfer

Emphasis manipulation is a way to help learners by directing their attention to particular subcomponents of a learning task. This study investigated the effects of different approaches to emphasis manipulation on knowledge transfer and cognitive load. This was done by examining the impact of three task selection strategies: system-controlled, learner-controlled, and shared-controlled. Forty-five students (n = 45) in the first or second year of high school were randomly assigned to three groups and each group used a different type of task selection to manipulate emphasis in a complex learning context. The system-controlled group carried out learning tasks that were identified as essential by the system. The learner-controlled group selected and carried out learning tasks they needed to learn. The shared-controlled group chose and carried out learning tasks that they wanted to learn from a list of suggested learning tasks. The tasks had four learning phases: pre-test, training, mental-effort rating, and transfer test. After participants completed the training, their cognitive load was measured. One week after the training, a transfer test was conducted to measure the constituent skill acquisition. The findings revealed that the system-controlled task selection strategy was the most effective in optimizing cognitive load and enhancing knowledge transfer. In addition, learners benefited from personalized guidance on learning task selection based on their expertise. Given that the shared-controlled task selection method was more effective thank the learner-controlled task selection, this study’s results indicate that learners should be provided with information about how to select learning tasks when they are allowed to do so.

Mental Fatigue Reduces the Benefits of Self-Controlled Feedback on Learning a Force Production Task

This study investigated the impact of mental fatigue and self-controlled versus yoked feedback on learning a force production task. We randomly assigned 44 non-athlete male students (Mage = 21.4, SD = 1.4 years) to four groups; (a) MF&SCF = mental fatigue & self-controlled feedback, (b) MF&Y = mental fatigue & yoked, (c) NMF&SCF = no mental fatigue & self-controlled feedback, and (d) NMF&Y = no mental fatigue & yoked). SCF group participants were provided feedback whenever they requested it, while YK group participants received feedback according to a schedule created by their SCF counterparts. To induce mental fatigue, participants performed a Stroop color-word task for one hour. During the acquisition (practice) phase, participants were asked to produce a given percentage of their maximum force (20%) in 12 blocks of six trials. We recorded the participants’ absolute error at the end of the acquisition phase, the immediate retention test, the first transfer test, and the second transfer test (after 24 hours and without any further mental fatigue). The acquisition phase data were analyzed in a 2 (feedback) × 2 (mental fatigue) × 12 (block) ANOVA with repeated measures on the last factor, while the retention and transfer data were analyzed in 2 (feedback) × 2 (mental fatigue) ANOVAs. We found that all four groups made significant progress during practice ( p < .001), but there were no significant group differences during this phase ( p>.05). There was a significant interaction effect of self-controlled feedback and mental fatigue at retention ( p = .018) and transfer testing ( p < .001). In the mental fatigue condition, participants in the self-controlled group had poorer learning compared to participants in the yoked group; but when not mentally fatigued, participants in the self-controlled group had better learning than those in the yoked group. These findings suggest that mental fatigue reduces typical advantages of self-controlled feedback in motor learning.

Variable Practice May Enhance Ball Catching Skills in Some but Not All Children With DCD

Children with DCD exhibit many motor issues including ball catching, which have not been addressed clinically. The purpose of this study was to examine if variable practice can improve one-handed catching performance of five boys with DCD with severe (M = 11.1 years, SD = .7) and moderate movement problems (M = 11. 7 years, SD = .9). Both groups attended 12 sessions, with 8 blocks of 10 attempts, across four different ball velocities. Children with moderate issues caught more balls at post- and transfer test, as compared to pre-test. Kinematic profiles showed that both groups exhibited stable configuration of the catching arm; however, only children with moderate issues increased (peak) velocity, degree of spatial adaptations, and extended the pre-programmed ballistic phase of the action. Thus, variable practice appeared to be effective for children with moderate issues but not those with severe problems. In line with VPH hypothesis, these improvements were due to strengthening of the schema responsible for spatial and temporal adaptations of the end effector.

Transfer of Learning from a Virtual Tennis Tennis Game to Drinking from a Glass Task in Stroke Patients

Background: Given that stroke is the cause of several neurological impairments, it is necessary to evaluate interventions that can improve patients' motor performance and functionality. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the motor learning transfer of a training program using a virtual table tennis game. We hypothesized that playing the virtual game may improve the performance of stroke patients in a functional activity (drinking from a glass). Moreover, this virtual reality training may have different effects according to the brain injury side. Methods: A non-randomized controlled study was performed. Sampling was by convenience. Evaluation and revaluation of a drinking from a glass task were conducted through kinematic analysis (transfer test). The training was carried out with XBOX 360 table tennis game (20 attempts). Performance (number of hits) in the game and average angular velocity of the drinking task were analyzed by ANOVA. Results: The study included 20 hemiparesis patients (10 left), mean age 50.6 (SD 9.2) years, and 20 healthy individuals, mean age 50.9 (SD 8.8) years. Patients showed worse performance than healthy subjects; however, they improved performance between the first and last attempts (P = 0.001). In the transfer test, left hemiparetic patients exhibited significant improvement in the shoulder (P = 0.0001) and elbow average angular velocity (P = 0.0001), but this did not occur in right hemiparetic patients (shoulder: P = 0.761; elbow: P = 0.666). Conclusions: The results suggest that the virtual game has clinical potential in the motor learning transfer process to a functional activity in the real world, mainly for patients with right brain injury.

How supervision and educational supports impact medical students’ preparation for future learning of endotracheal intubation skills: a non-inferiority experimental trial

Background Professional education cannot keep pace with the rapid advancements of knowledge in today’s society. But it can develop professionals who can. ‘Preparation for future learning’ (PFL) has been conceptualized as a form of transfer whereby learners use their previous knowledge to learn about and adaptively solve new problems. Improved PFL outcomes have been linked to instructional approaches targeting learning mechanisms similar to those associated with successful self-regulated learning (SRL). We expected training that includes evidence-based SRL-supports would be non-inferior to training with direct supervision using the outcomes of a ‘near transfer’ test, and a PFL assessment of simulated endotracheal intubation skills. Method This study took place at the University of Toronto from October 2014 to August 2015. We randomized medical students and residents (n = 54) into three groups: Unsupervised, Supported; Supervised, Supported; and Unsupervised, Unsupported. Two raters scored participants’ test performances using a Global Rating Scale with strong validity evidence. We analyzed participants’ near transfer and PFL outcomes using two separate mixed effects ANCOVAs. Results For the Unsupervised, Supported group versus the Supervised, Supported group, we found that the difference in mean scores was 0.20, with a 95% Confidence Interval (CI) of − 0.17 to 0.57, on the near transfer test, and was 0.09, with a 95% CI of − 0.28 to 0.46, on the PFL assessment. Neither mean score nor their 95% CIs exceeded the non-inferiority margin of 0.60 units. Compared to the two Supported groups, the Unsupervised, Unsupported group was non-inferior on the near transfer test (differences in mean scores were 0.02 and − 0.22). On the PFL assessment, however, the differences in mean scores were 0.38 and 0.29, and both 95% CIs crossed the non-inferiority margin. Conclusions Training with SRL-supports was non-inferior to training with a supervisor. Both interventions appeared to impact PFL assessment outcomes positively, yet inconclusively when compared to the Unsupervised and Unsupported group, By contrast, the Unsupervised, Supported group did not score well on the near transfer test. Based on the observed sensitivity of the PFL assessment, we recommend researchers continue to study how such assessments may measure learners’ SRL outcomes during structured learning experiences.

Assessing the learning and transfer of gaze behaviours in immersive virtual reality

Virtual reality (VR) has clear potential for improving simulation training in many industries. Yet, methods for testing the fidelity, validity and training efficacy of VR environments are, in general, lagging behind their adoption. There is limited understanding of how readily skills learned in VR will transfer, and what features of training design will facilitate effective transfer. Two potentially important elements are the psychological fidelity of the environment, and the stimulus correspondence with the transfer context. In this study, we examined the effectiveness of VR for training police room searching procedures, and assessed the corresponding development of perceptual-cognitive skill through eye-tracking indices of search efficiency. Participants (n = 54) were assigned to a VR rule-learning and search training task (FTG), a search only training task (SG) or a no-practice control group (CG). Both FTG and SG developed more efficient search behaviours during the training task, as indexed by increases in saccade size and reductions in search rate. The FTG performed marginally better than the CG on a novel VR transfer test, but no better than the SG. More efficient gaze behaviours learned during training were not, however, evident during the transfer test. These findings demonstrate how VR can be used to develop perceptual-cognitive skills, but also highlight the challenges of achieving transfer of training.

Errorless Psychomotor Training Modulates Visuomotor Behaviors Among Older Adults

This study investigated whether errorless psychomotor training with psychological manipulation could modify visuomotor behaviors in an everyday reaching motor task for older adults, and whether its benefits could be transferrable. A group of 36 older adults (mean age = 71.06, SD = 5.29) were trained on a reaching motor task (lifting a handled mug to a target) utilizing errorless, errorful, or normal psychomotor training. Results indicated that errorless psychomotor training decreased the reaching distance away from the target and the jerkiness of acceleration during the reaching task and transfer test. Errorless psychomotor training also reduced the duration of gaze fixation as well as horizontal and vertical eye activity. Our findings implicated that errorless psychomotor training could improve movement accuracy and alleviate movement variability during reaching by older adults.

The Virtual Field Trip: Investigating How to Optimize Immersive Virtual Learning in Climate Change Education

Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) is being used for educational virtual field trips (VFTs) involving scenarios that may be too difficult, dangerous, or expensive to experience in real life. We implemented an immersive VFT within the investigation phase of an inquiry-based learning (IBL) climate change intervention. Students investigated the consequences of climate change by virtually travelling to Greenland and exploring albedo and greenhouse effects first hand. A total of 102 7th and 8th grade students were randomly assigned to one of two instructional conditions: 1) narrated pre-training followed by IVR exploration or 2) the same narrated training material integrated within the IVR exploration. Students in both conditions showed significant increases in declarative knowledge, self-efficacy, interest, STEM intentions, outcome expectations, and intentions to change behavior from the pre- to post-assessment. However, there was a significant difference between conditions favoring the pre-training group on a transfer test consisting of an oral presentation to a fictitious UN panel. The findings suggest that educators can choose to present important prerequisite learning content before or during a VFT. However, adding pre-training may lead to better transfer test performance, presumably because it helps reduce cognitive load while learning in IVR.