The power of imagination and perspective in learning from science text.

Autor/inn/en	Leopold, Claudia; Mayer, Richard E.; Dutke, Stephan
Titel	The power of imagination and perspective in learning from science text.
Quelle	In: Journal of educational psychology, 111 (2019) 5, S. 793-808Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Link als defekt meldenVerfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	online; gedruckt; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0022-0663; 1939-2176
DOI	10.1037/edu0000310
Schlagwörter	Imagination; Wahrnehmung; Soziale Rolle; Lernen; Soziale Rolle; Wahrnehmung; Imagination; Lernen; Lernmethode; Verständnis
Abstract	In 2 experiments, college students read a 4-paragraph text on how the human circulatory system works and were instructed to form a mental image of the events described in each paragraph from the perspective of their own body (first-person perspective group) or from the perspective of a fictitious person facing them (third-person perspective group), or were given no imagination instructions (control stoup). Students who imagined from a first-person perspective outperformed the control group on solving transfer problems, retaining important material, and not retaining unimportant material in Experiments 1 and 2, confirming the benefits of combining imagination and perspective into a powerful learning strategy. Students who imagined from a first-person perspective outperformed students who imagined from a third-person perspective on solving transfer problems in Experiments 1 and 2, indicating the value of adding fast-person perspective to imagination for fostering deeper understanding. Students who imagined from a third-person perspective outperformed the control group on solving transfer problems and on not retaining unimportant material in Experiment 1 (which included specific prompts for which items to include in one's images), whereas they did not perform significantly better than the control group on any measures in Experiment 2 (which did not include specific prompts). This finding suggests that imagination without first-person perspective can be ineffective when there is not support for imagining during learning. These findings have theoretical implications for the role of embodiment in generative learning theory, and practical implications for modifying the imagination principle to recommend imagining from a first-person perspective. (ZPID).
Erfasst von	Leibniz-Institut für Psychologie, Trier
Update	2020/3