Contextual Influences of Maps and Diagrams on Learning.

In this study, we examined the influence of graphic patterns and their interpretive context on learning accompanying prose. Subjects examined a graphic figure identified as either a map or a diagram and were instructed either to label its vertices with 12 keywords provided or to simply list them below the figure. Groups practiced performing their specific task from memory and given corrective feedback whereupon the entire procedure was repeated. Subjects then heard a narrated story with a different keyword named every third sentence. Order of appearance by the keywords was either similar to or different than that suggested by the display studied. Memory for both story information and the keywords themselves was tested using constructed response questions and a serial recall task, respectively. Subjects were also asked to rate the usefulness of experimental materials and procedures for learning keywords and story content. Results suggest maps, unlike diagrams, are sequentially encoded and that abstract graphic displays can adopt map-like characteristics as a result of the context in which they are presented. Experimental outcomes are discussed in terms of interpretive frameworks and prior knowledge.

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