TY  - JOUR
A1  - Soemer, Alexander
A1  - Saito, Satoru
T1  - Domain-specific processing in short-term serial order memory
JF  - Journal of memory and language
N2  - Recent studies of short-term serial order memory have suggested that the maintenance of order information does not involve domain-specific processes. We carried out two dual task experiments aimed at resolving several ambiguities in those studies. In our experiments, encoding and response of one serial reconstruction task was embedded within encoding and response of a concurrent serial reconstruction task. Order demands in both tasks were independently varied so as to find revealing patterns of interference between the two tasks. In Experiment 1, participants were to maintain and reconstruct the order of a list of verbal materials, while maintaining a list of spatial materials or vice-versa. Increasing the order demands in the outer reconstruction task resulted in small or non reliable performance decrements in the embedded reconstruction task. Experiment 2 sought to compare these results against two same-domain baseline conditions (two verbal lists or two spatial lists). In all conditions, increasing order demands in the outer task resulted in small or non-reliable performance decrements in the embedded task. However, performance in the embedded tasks was generally lower in the same-domain baseline conditions than in the cross-domain conditions. We argue that the main effect of domain in Experiment 2 indicates the contribution of domain-specific processes to short-term serial order maintenance. In addition, we interpret the failure to find consistent cross-list interference irrespective of domain as indicating the involvement of grouping mechanisms in concurrently performed serial order tasks. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
KW  - Serial order memory
KW  - Verbal memory
KW  - Spatial memory
KW  - Domain specificity
KW  - Working memory
Y1  - 2016
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2015.12.003
SN  - 0749-596X
SN  - 1096-0821
VL  - 88
SP  - 1
EP  - 17
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - San Diego
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Soemer, Alexander
A1  - Schwan, Stephan
T1  - Task-Appropriate Visualizations: Can the Very Same Visualization Format Either Promote or Hinder Learning Depending on the Task Requirements?
JF  - The journal of educational psychology
N2  - In a series of experiments, we tested a recently proposed hypothesis stating that the degree of alignment between the form of a mental representation resulting from learning with a particular visualization format and the specific requirements of a learning task determines learning performance (task-appropriateness). Groups of participants were required to learn the stroke configuration, the stroke order, or the stroke directions of a set of Chinese pseudocharacters. For each learning task, participants were divided into groups receiving dynamic, static-sequential, or static visualizations. An old/new character recognition task was given at test. The results showed that learning both stroke configuration and stroke order was best with static pictures (Experiments 1 and 2), while there was no reliable difference between the groups for learning stroke direction (Experiment 3). An additional experiment, however, revealed that learning with sequential pictures was superior when testing was carried out with sequential pictures, irrespective of the learning task (Experiment 4). The combined evidence from all experiments speaks against task requirements playing a role in determining the effectiveness of a visualization format. Furthermore, the evidence supports the view that a high degree of congruence between information presented during learning and information presented at test results in better learning (study-test congruence). Implications for instructional design are discussed.
KW  - animations
KW  - pictures
KW  - task requirements
KW  - study-test congruence
KW  - Chinese characters
Y1  - 2016
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000093
SN  - 0022-0663
SN  - 1939-2176
VL  - 108
SP  - 960
EP  - 968
PB  - American Psychological Association
CY  - Washington
ER  -