This paper aims to answer two questions. The first is how screen captures in software manuals should be used to support learning. Four functions of screen captures in software manuals are presented. Three studies report the influence of these functions on the effectiveness and efficiency of the learning process. The second question is how users of visual manuals process combinations

In a previous study, Paivio and Lambert (1981) reported superior recall for imaged than for verbally coded words and superior recall for bilingually than unilingually coded words in French-English bilinguals. While these results support a dual coding view of bilingual memory, they do not rule out a levels-of-processing account, since the bilingual coding task (translation) involved a deeper level of processing than the unilingual one (copying). In the present study, a synonym generation task was compared to translation, copying, and imaging in Spanish-English bilinguals and English monolinguals. Although words in the synonym condition were better recalled than copied words, imaged and translated words were better remembered than synonyms. It is argued that a dual coding view offers a more parsimonious account of these findings.

This paper examines the research evidence behind two alternate and mutually exclusive learning models-learning styles and dual coding. The most common incarnation of each model is based on learning modalities, and each makes predictions about how learners process auditory and visual stimuli. Learning styles have found wide acceptance in public perception and throughout education at all levels, yet the majority of empirical research suggests that the model is not accurate and that learning styles instruction has no effect on student learning. Dual coding is more strongly supported by empirical research yet less well known and less commonly used in practice. The analysis examines evidence from a wide variety of sources, including experimental studies, correlational research, teacher-education texts, and neuroimaging studies. The findings reveal that dual coding is likely to be the more accurate model and that it offers more potential for both research and in practical application.

Are idioms stored in memory in ways that preserve their surface form or language or are they represented amodally? We examined this question using an incidental cued recall paradigm in which two word idiomatic expressions were presented to adult bilinguals proficient in Russian and English. Stimuli included phrases with idiomatic equivalents in both languages (e.g., “empty words/пустые слова”) or in one language only (English - e.g., “empty suit/пустой костюм”or Russian - e.g., “empty sound/пустой звук”), or in neither language (e.g., “empty rain/пустой дождь”). If idioms are stored in a language-specific format, then phrases with idiomatic equivalents in both languages would have dual representation, and should therefore be more easily recalled than phrases with idiomatic meaning in only one language. This result was obtained. As such, the findings support the dual coding theory of memory (Paivio, 2014) and are also compatible with models of the bilingual lexicon that include language tags or nodes.

In 2 experiments, high– and low–spatial ability students viwed a computer-generated animation and listened simultaneously (concurrent group) or successively (successive group) to a narration that explained the workings either of a bicycle tire pump (Experiment 1) or of the human respiratory system (Experiment 2). The concurrent group generated more creative solutions to subsequent transfer problems than did the successive group;

Are idioms stored in memory in ways that preserve their surface form or language or are they represented amodally? We examined this question using an incidental cued recall paradigm in which two word idiomatic expressions were presented to adult bilinguals proficient in Russian and English. Stimuli included phrases with idiomatic equivalents in both languages (e.g. “empty words/пycтыe cлoвa”) or in one language only (English—e.g. “empty suit/пycтoй кocтюм” or Russian—e.g. “empty sound/пycтoй звyк”), or in neither language (e.g. “empty rain/пycтoй дoждь”). If idioms are stored in a language-specific format, then phrases with idiomatic equivalents in both languages would have dual representation, and should therefore be more easily recalled than phrases with idiomatic meaning in only one language. This result was obtained. As such, the findings support the dual-coding theory of memory and are also compatible with models of the bilingual lexicon that include language tags or nodes.