The Effects of Interactive Graphic Analogies on Recall of Concepts in Chemistry. Technical Report No. 75.

Forty undergraduate college students participated in a computer-assisted instructional study designed to utilize right cerebral hemisphere functions in the learning and memory process. Two versions of a lesson on how a simple battery works were designed to present conceptual and topographic information either verbally or pictorially on a Plato IV terminal. The unique feature of this terminal for studying imagery is that it can produce animated interactive graphics. The effects of the type of information presentation on learning and attitudinal outcomes were investigated. The lesson that incorporated animated graphics resulted in higher scores on recall tests of knowledge, comprehension, and application. Students found this lesson to be more attractive. Subjects in the treatment providing external imagery reported experiencing more internal imagery than did the group receiving the verbal version. (Recent research about the different information processing functions of the right and left cerebral hemispheres as they relate to imagery in learning and memory is reviewed.) (Author/MKM)