WHAT MAKES INFORMATION IMPORTANT AND ITS INFLUENCE ON LEARNING IN SELF-DIRECTED STUDY

Publication Date

1992

Journal or Book Title

PERCEPTUAL AND MOTOR SKILLS

Abstract

This study investigated what makes text-based information important and what is its influence on learning. College students studied an expository text following their own self-directed study procedures. Data from Exp. 1 (n = 60) and Exp. 2 (n = 40) showed that information was considered important if it (a) began and ended text, (b) began a paragraph, (c) appeared at somewhat equal intervals in text, and (d) contained enumerations of concepts. Subjects recalled information that (a) began the text and (b) contained examples of enumerations. It appeared that text-based variables established what was important and this influenced learning. Implications for the selective attentionhypothesis and its volume-of-attention corollary, the cycles hypothesis, and the slot-filling hypothesis are discussed.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.1992.75.1.323

Pages

323-333

Volume

75

Issue

1

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