Role of the isolation effect in a formal educational setting.

Cashen, Valjean M.; Leicht, Kenneth L.

doi:10.1037/h0030286

Cited by 61 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Columns two and three indicate that students receiving annotated materials were no more likely than others to recall contextual information when it was not specifically annotated. This finding is consistent with previous research on annotations and recall [3,4,7,20].…”

Section: Selected Findings Recallsupporting

confidence: 83%

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Effects of annotations on student readers and writers

Wolfe¹

2000

Proceedings of the Fifth ACM Conference on Digital Libraries

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Recent research on annotations has focused on how readers annotate texts, ignoring the question of how reading annotations might affect subsequent readers of a text. This paper reports on a study of persuasive essays written by 123 undergraduates receiving primary source materials annotated in various ways. Findings indicate that annotations improve recall of emphasized items, influence how specific arguments in the source materials are perceived, decrease students' tendencies to unnecessarily summarize. Of particular interest is that students' perceptions of the annotator appeared to greatly influence how they responded to the annotated material. Using this study as a basis, I discuss implications for the design and implementation of digitally annotated materials.

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Section: Selected Findings Recallsupporting

confidence: 83%

“…The few studies conducted from the perspective of a subsequent reader have focused on the effects of annotations upon recall. These studies generally conclude that reading texts that have been highlighted by expert readers improves recall on the emphasized items [3,4,7,20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of annotations on student readers and writers

Wolfe¹

2000

Proceedings of the Fifth ACM Conference on Digital Libraries

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“…Memory for uncued content is unaffected (Foster 1979;Golding and Fowler 1992), inhibited (Glynn and DiVesta 1979), or sometimes even enhanced (Cashen and Leicht 1970). These findings suggest that emphasizing particular content may guide learners' attention to essential information but does not necessarily reduce attention for uncued information.…”

Section: Guiding Attention To Essential Informationmentioning

confidence: 70%

“…Numerous studies on text comprehension that have used memory performance (i.e., recall) as an indicator of attentional processing have consistently shown that cues improve the recall of the content they emphasize (Cashen and Leicht 1970;Dee-Lucas and DiVesta 1980;Fowler and Barker 1974;Hartley and Trueman 1985;Lorch and Lorch 1996). Memory for uncued content is unaffected (Foster 1979;Golding and Fowler 1992), inhibited (Glynn and DiVesta 1979), or sometimes even enhanced (Cashen and Leicht 1970).…”

Section: Guiding Attention To Essential Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a Framework for Attention Cueing in Instructional Animations: Guidelines for Research and Design

et al. 2009

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This paper examines the transferability of successful cueing approaches from text and static visualization research to animations. Theories of visual attention and learning as well as empirical evidence for the instructional effectiveness of attention cueing are reviewed and, based on Mayer's theory of multimedia learning, a framework was developed for classifying three functions for cueing: (1) selection-cues guide attention to specific locations, (2) organization-cues emphasize structure, and (3) integration-cues explicate relations between and within elements. The framework was used to structure the discussion of studies on cueing in animations. It is concluded that attentional cues may facilitate the selection of information in animations and sometimes improve learning, whereas organizational and relational cueing requires more consideration on how to enhance understanding. Consequently, it is suggested to develop cues that work in animations rather than borrowing effective cues from static representations. Guidelines for future research on attention cueing in animations are presented. Keywords Instructional animations . Cognitive load theory . Instructional designRecent advances in software and computer technology enable designers of computer-based instruction to use dynamic visualizations, such as animation and video, to help learners remember complex dynamic systems and, ultimately, understand the materials (Lowe 2004). At present, the majority of animations present information in close correspondence with the referential situation, without highlighting the information or providing cues to help learners process the material. However, manipulating the visuospatial characteristics of animations may make them more effective, just as manipulating these aspects in static

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“…Color, which has been used as an isolating variable for 90 years (Calkins, 1894), has elicited superior recall of color-highlighted information throughout a large age range: 4-year-olds (Jones, 1965), ll-year-olds (Rabinowitz & Andrews, 1973), 8th-graders (Hershberger & Terry, 1965), high school students (Gabassi, 1980), and adults (Cashen & Leicht, 1970). Consequently, color will be used here as the isolating variable.…”

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confidence: 99%

On the development of the isolation effect in free recall: Isolation by color

Winters¹,

Hoats²

1989

Bull. Psychon. Soc.

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In Experiment 1, three groups of subjects (ages 8, 11, and 14 years) read nine lists of nine words and immediately recalled each list. The middle item in each list was presented either in red (isolated) or in the same color as the other items (nonisolated). As age increased, the difference in recall between items isolated or nonisolated decreased, suggesting that the isolation effect and age are inversely related in free recall. Experiment 2 was conducted to determine whether this relationship was purely a function of responsiveness to the perceptual aspects of the stimuli, or was influenced also by memory capacity. Two more groups (ages 11 and 13) read lists 11 or 13 words long, respectively, with the middle item either isolated or not. The isolation effect was invariant over age. The proportion of yoked nonisolated items that were recalled varied with task difficulty, whereas the proportion of isolated items did not, thereby influencing the extent of the isolation effect. We concluded that, in this context, maturational changes in memory capacity influence the isolation effect.The von Restorff phenomenon, also referred to as the isolation effect, is demonstrated when an item that is in some way unique or different from other items in a group is recalled significantly better than when it is the same as the other group items. That is, recall of the same item(s) is compared under two different experimental conditions. The proposed explanations for this phenomenon are described by Wallace (1965).One of the explanations is that each item sets up its own neural trace. The homogeneous list items form an aggregate (background) of traces against which the heterogeneous item (figure) forms its own unique trace, resulting in superior recall compared with recall when the item is homogeneous. Another explanation maintains that generalization occurs between list items, causing interitem interference. Increasing the differentiation of an item will reduce interference of that item and facilitate its recall. Other explanations are offered in terms of mediation, of using organizational aids to enhance recall of the isolated item, of the surprise and attention-getting value of the isolated item, and, most recently, of the greater rehearsal of the isolated item. At the theoretical level, the causes of the isolation effect remain unresolved, and it is not clear which hypothesis is the most appropriate one under which set of circumstances. What is clear is that the effect is robust, is demonstrated when different isolating variables are used, and has been found in different population samples.

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Role of the isolation effect in a formal educational setting.

Cited by 61 publications

References 8 publications

Effects of annotations on student readers and writers

Effects of annotations on student readers and writers

Towards a Framework for Attention Cueing in Instructional Animations: Guidelines for Research and Design

On the development of the isolation effect in free recall: Isolation by color

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