Understanding Multimedia Documents

__Understanding Multimedia Documents__ deals with issues of great interest to an expanding community of multimedia designers and professional users, such as teachers and information workers. Multimedia documents are increasingly used to communicate knowledge in the mass media and educational contexts. In order to improve their practice, designers, teachers, and other professionals interested in the use of multimedia documents must be aware of how multimedia documents impact students' perception, comprehension and use of information. Yet knowledge of multimedia quality and its optimal conditions of use is still rather fragmented. While there have been significant advances in the theoretical and empirical analysis of individual processes of document comprehension, the field is still evolving rapidly. New and sophisticated investigation techniques have been designed in the past few years, e.g., eye tracking, automated data collection, that provide analytical data on the complex mental processes involved. The studies presented in this book reflect those advances. They cover a wide range of situations, tasks and domains where multimedia documents may be used and provide in-depth information about the cognitive processes involved in the comprehension and use of such documents. __Understanding Multimedia Documents__ is of interest to researchers and professionals in a variety of fields, including education and multimedia information systems. "Understanding Multimedia Documents deals with issues of great interest to an expanding community of multimedia designers and professional users, such as teachers and information workers. Multimedia documents are increasingly used to communicate knowledge in the mass media and educational contexts. In order to improve their practice, designers, teachers, and other professionals interested in the use of multimedia documents must be aware of how multimedia documents impact students' perception, comprehension and use of information. Yet knowledge of multimedia quality and its optimal conditions of use is still rather fragmented. While there have been significant advances in the theoretical and empirical analysis of individual processes of document comprehension, the field is still evolving rapidly. New and sophisticated investigation techniques have been designed in the past few years, e.g., eye tracking, automated data collection, that provide analytical data on the complex mental processes involved. The studies presented in this book reflect those advances. They cover a wide range of situations, tasks and domains where multimedia documents may be used and provide in-depth information about the cognitive processes involved in the comprehension and use of such documents."--Publisher's website Front Matter....Pages i-xi Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Understanding Multimedia Documents: An Introduction....Pages 1-14 Front Matter....Pages 15-15 Why Multimedia Learning is not Always Helpful....Pages 17-41 Text and Picture Integration in Comprehending and Memorizing Spatial Descriptions....Pages 43-59 Display of Key Pictures from Animation: Effects on Learning....Pages 61-78 Levels of Verbal Redundancy, Note-Taking and Multimedia Learning....Pages 79-101 Learning from a Multimedia Explanation: A Comparison of Static Pictures and Animation....Pages 103-118 Front Matter....Pages 119-119 Search and Comprehension Processes in Learning from Text....Pages 121-147 Searching User-Controllable Animations During Learning....Pages 149-167 Studying Eye Movements in Multimedia Learning....Pages 169-184 The Interaction of Verbal and Pictorial Information in Comprehension and Memory....Pages 185-200 Front Matter....Pages 201-201 Hypertext Was Born Around 1200....Pages 203-222 From Film and Television to Multimedia Cognitive Effects....Pages 223-247 How Should We Evaluate Multimedia Learning Environments?....Pages 249-265 Memory Processes in Text and Multimedia Comprehension: Some Reflections and Perspectives....Pages 267-280 Back Matter....Pages 281-290 Professionals who use multimedia documents as a tool to communicate concepts will find this a hugely illuminating text. It provides a comprehensive and up to date account of relevant research issues, methodologies and results in the area of multimedia comprehension. More specifically, the book draws connections between cognitive research, instructional strategies and design methodologies. It includes theoretical reviews, discussions of research techniques, ad original experimental contributions. The book highlights essential aspects of current theories, and trends for future research on the use of multimedia documents.