Mayer, R.E., & Sims, V.K. (1994). For whom is a picture worth 1000 words - extensions of a dual-coding theory of multimedia learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 86(3), 389-401.

Mayer, R.; Sims, V.

1994

Mayer, R.E., & Sims, V.K. (1994). For whom is a picture worth 1000 words - extensions of a dual-coding theory of multimedia learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 86(3), 389-401.

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In 2 experiments, high- and low-spatial ability students viewed a computer-generated animation and listened simultaneously (concurrent group) or successively (successive group) to a narration that explained the workings either of a bicycle tire pump (Experiment 1) or of the human respiratory system (Experiment 2). The concurrent group generated more creative solutions to subsequent transfer problems than did the successive group; this contiguity effect was strong for high- but not for low-spatial ability students. Consistent with a dual-coding theory, spatial ability allows high-spatial learners to devote more cognitive resources to building referential connections between visual and verbal representations of the presented material, whereas low-spatial ability learners must devote more cognitive resources to building representation connections between visually presented material and its visual representation.

There was a contiguity effect in which students who received concurrent presentation performed better on the problem-solving test than did students who received successive presentation or no instruction. High-spatial ability students who received concurrent presentation of animation and narration generated approximately 50% more creative solutions on transfer problems than did high-spatial ability students who received successive presentation or no instruction. Low-spatial ability students who received concurrent presentation of animation and narration did not generate significantly more creative solutions on transfer problems than did students who received successive presentation or no presentation.

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