Gavriel Salomon

The differential investment of mental effort in learning from different sources

It is argued that learning from different sources greatly depends on the differential way in which these sources are perceived, for these perceptions determine to an important extent the mental effort expended in the learning process. Two ideas are discussed in some detail: (a) amount of mental effort investment (AIME), defined as the number of nonautomatic elaborations applied to a unit of material, and measured by self reports; it is seen as capturing the essence of such constructs as depth of processing and mindful processing, and (b) the role played by perceptions, beliefs, and preconceptions which pertain to the nature of a particular class of materials and the effort it demands. Evidence is provided from studies that examined the ways in which TV is perceived, in comparison to print, and how these perceptions affect the actual ways of handling specific materials from each medium. The case is then generalized to other kinds of sources.

Can We Affect Cognitive Skills Through Visual Media? An Hypothesis and Initial Findings

INTRODUCTION Do visual communication media have any power of affecting cognition and perception? Can communication media be made to have such effect? There are numerous speculations concerning the ways media affect cognition. At present we will disregard influences which stem from the contents conveyed by mass media, as studied for instance by Schramm, Lyle, and Parker (1961). We will also disregard shaping of cognition in terms of differential strengthening of particular modes of information processing, while weakening others (e.g., Travers, 1970). Rather, we will focus on the effects that specific modes of communication, which characterize different media, may have on the minds of those who are exposed to them-that is, the development of certain covert representational capacities which are relatable to modes of visual communication. More specifically, we wish to examine the question of whether the

Relevant Subjective Response Uncertainty as a Function of Stimulus-Task Interaction12:

An important aspect of problem solving and judgment is the ability to generate subjective response uncertainty, that is, two or more mutually exclusive response tendencies to the same stimulus. These response tendencies may be of various kinds such as beliefs about the nature of the problem, solution hypotheses, procedural approach, factual observations, or free associations. The kind of response uncertainty which aids judgment depends, of course, on the nature of the problem and the way in which it is being solved. Much of the literature on problem solving may be construed as showing that the kind of response uncertainty required depends on the definition of the problem. However, we have no systematic knowledge of how persons learn to generate the relevant kind of subjective response uncertainty or of the role of situational cues in eliciting relevant uncertainty.An important aspect of problem solving and judgment is the ability to generate subjective response uncertainty, that is, two or more mutually exclusive response tendencies to the same stimulus. These response tendencies may be of various kinds such as beliefs about the nature of the problem, solution hypotheses, procedural approach, factual observations, or free associations. The kind of response uncertainty which aids judgment depends, of course, on the nature of the problem and the way in which it is being solved. Much of the literature on problem solving may be construed as showing that the kind of response uncertainty required depends on the definition of the problem. However, we have no systematic knowledge of how persons learn to generate the relevant kind of subjective response uncertainty or of the role of situational cues in eliciting relevant uncertainty. Within the context of this general question, the present experiment was performed to clarify the notion of relevant versus irrelevant sub-

The use of visual media in the service of enriching mental thought processes

Visual media of communication are not just convenient and indifferent technologies for the transmission of knowledge but also, and perhaps mainly, different “languages” for gathering, packaging and conveying knowledge. The real differences among the media are not so much in the kinds of knowledge they can convey, but rather in the “languages”, that is — the symbol systems — they uniquely employ. The experienced horrors of “Clockwork Orange”, or the possible better understanding of group processes after viewing “Twelve Angry Men” are greatly due to the visual mode and the unique “languages” of such films, not just the content (which can be read in a book).Medias different and often unique symbol systems have been studied in recent years. It has been found, for example, that different symbol systems call upon different kinds of mental skills and convey different meanings. But above all, medias unique symbol systems cultivate unique mental skills by either activating or overtly supplanting them. By doing so, these symbol systems offer new ways for internal, cognitive, representation. Thus, they can be seen as potentially serving as cultivators of mental abilities.