ON THE FUNCTION OF VISUAL IMAGERY IN ELEMENTARY MATHEMATICS

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the role of notation-related imagery in mathematical problem solving. It explores the extent to which visual imagery penetrates into the structure of the problem solving process. The chapter presents work that is a mixture of subjective and objective methodologies. It discusses eight small empirical studies that constitute a tentative and incomplete exploration into the role of visual imagery in solving elementary mathematical problems. The investigation began with a protocol study in which people were asked to report on their use of visual imagery in the solution of elementary mathematical problems. Study 2 proved the striking spatial integration of image with stimulus reported by subjects in Study 1. Studies 3 and 4 were concerned with the temporal duration of images, Studies 5 and 6 with the relation of generated images to memory for specific visual formats, and Studies 7 and 8 with further spatial properties of generated images.

[1]  L. Brooks.  The Suppression of Visualization by Reading , 1967, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology.

[2]  J M Swanson,et al.  Recoding in a memory search task. , 1972, Journal of experimental psychology.

[3]  S. R. Parkinson,et al.  Short-term memory while shadowing: multiple-item recall of visually and of aurally presented letters. , 1972, Journal of experimental psychology.

[4]  R. Shepard,et al.  A chronometric study of mental paper folding , 1972 .

[5]  M. Posner,et al.  Retention of visual and name codes of single letters. , 1969, Journal of experimental psychology.

[6]  Charles Clifton,et al.  Recoding strategies and the retrieval of information from memory , 1973 .

[7]  Gillian Cohen,et al.  Hemispheric differences in a letter classification task , 1972 .

[8]  Richard C. Atkinson,et al.  Specialization of the cerebral hemispheres in scanning for information in short-term memory , 1971 .

[9]  J. F. Schrot,et al.  The effects of alcohol concentration on schedule-induced alcohol drinking , 1971 .

[10]  Robert C. Calfee,et al.  Modality and similarity effects in short-term recognition memory. , 1969 .

[11]  Roberta L. Klatzky,et al.  Interhemispheric transfer of test stimulus representations in memory scanning , 1970 .

[12]  L. Brooks.  Spatial and verbal components of the act of recall. , 1968 .

[13]  William A. Phillips,et al.  Reaction time and short-term visual memory , 1971 .

[14]  Allen Newell,et al.  A theoretical exploration of mechanisms for coding the stimulus , 1972 .

[15]  R. Shepard,et al.  Second-order isomorphism of internal representations: Shapes of states ☆ , 1970 .

[16]  M I Posner,et al.  Chronometric analysis of classification. , 1967, Psychological review.

[17]  R. Shepard,et al.  Mental Rotation of Three-Dimensional Objects , 1971, Science.

[18]  Barbara Tversky,et al.  Pictorial and verbal encoding in a short-term memory task , 1969 .