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The authors investigated the metrics of spatial distance represented in situation models of narratives. In 3 experiments, a spatial gradient of accessibility in situation models was observed: The accessibility of objects contained in the situation model decreased with increasing spatial distance between the object and the reader's focus of attention. The first 2 experiments demonstrated that this effect of spatial distance was purely categorical rather than Euclidean: Accessibility depended on the number of rooms located between the object and the focus of attention, not on the size of the rooms. Experiment 3 revealed, however, that participants were able to use information about Euclidean distance in a secondary task when necessary. The implications of these results for theories of narrative comprehension and hierarchical versus nonhierarchical theories of spatial memory are discussed. Many theories of text comprehension assume that readers build situation models of the information described by texts (e.g.,

The study examined viewing behaviour and learning outcome during multimedia learning in order to explore split-attention processes in modality and spatial contiguity effects. Fourty students viewed a computer instruction depicting the process of lightning. Exploratory text was spoken, written near or written far from accompanying animations. Students who received spoken text outperformed students who received written text in recalling the major steps (retention) and in identifying correct solutions to problems (transfer), replicating a modality effect. Differences between near and far written text presentation in retention (d ¼ 0.51) and transfer (d ¼ 0.68) tests failed statistical significance. Two major characteristics concerning the learners' viewing behaviour were identified: (a) in written text presentation, learning was largely text directed and (b) learning success was related to the time learners' spent looking at animations, indicating that the processing of animations is a crucial factor in explanations of modality and spatial contiguity effects.A basic affordance for learners in a multimedia learning environment is to extract and integrate information from different sources of information like words and pictures. A common recommendation for instructional designers is (a) to present words near rather than far from corresponding pictures or, better yet, (b) to present those corresponding words as spoken rather than printed text (e.g. Mayer, 2001). These empirically wellsupported recommendations are known as (a) the spatial contiguity principle (for a recent review of contiguity effects, see Ginns, 2006) and (b) the modality principle (for a recent review of modality effects, see Ginns, 2005).For example, Moreno and Mayer (1999, Experiment 1) presented a sequence of 16 animated illustrations depicting the process of lightning. The animations visualized e.g. the motion of cool air that becomes heated or positive charges moving up to the cloud producing a flash light. Animations were accompanied by an expository text describing each of the major events. Text was spoken, written inside the visualization frame or written below the visualization frame. Participants performed better on subsequent retention and transfer tests when (a) text was spoken rather than written (modality effect) APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

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Slow event-related brain potentials of nine subjects were recorded in an experimentally controlled long-term memory retrieval task (the Fan paradigm) from electrode sites F3, Fz, F4, Cz, P3, Pz, and P4. In all retrieval conditions, a very pronounced DC-like negative potential appeared over the left frontal cortex. This negativity was switched on with the presentation of the probe stimuli and prevailed in some conditions throughout the total recording epoch of 14 s. Particular retrieval conditions became manifest in distinct slow wave effects. The amplitude of a bilaterally distributed frontal negative slow wave increased when a more diversified associative structure had to be searched. The amplitude of another negative slow wave, which peaked bilaterally over parietal areas, was affected by the type of concepts that had to be retrieved. The amplitude was larger with general concepts (category labels) and smaller with specific concepts (category exemplars). These results suggest that distinct strategies are invoked when subjects are required to draw conclusions about different contents stored permanently in an associative network.