Modeling and Imagery

Modeling and ImageryDoes what you see (via your eyes or your imagination) help you, and if so, how?

Part 1: ModelingHow do demonstrations work?

ModelingGeneral approach here Look, heres the deal. This research is fragmented at best, There are social psychological perspectives, neurological perspectives, motor control perspectives and so on. My take is that what we need to focus on is one issue in particular. And that is...What is it the information that a demonstration provides, for learning, how effective is it, and is there an overarching theoretical framework that can help us understand this?

Modeling an idea of how it worksInformation could be cues, instructions, descriptions, pictures, demonstrations, or internally generated images)Get information??

Modeling an idea of how it worksGet information??Perhaps one reason why demonstrations are effective is that the information provided is especially rich (and in a form that we have special abilities to sense) see point light display research

Modeling point light displaysWhat information do we pick up from a demonstration?Point-light displays have been used to show the following:people do not pick up anything from a static imageas soon as an image of a human starts to move, all sorts of information is picked up instantaneously

Modeling point light displaysWhat information do we pick up from a demonstration?People are not able to identify what it is that enables them to recognize and label the movement, but they are able to do it nonethelessWhat they are seeing is the relative motion of the limbs we seem to have the ability to pick up such information unconsciouslyAs you can imagine, this would certainly help form a detailed image of an act

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Modeling information provisionOf course, there are other ways of providing informationWhat ways might we provide information about a skill to a learner?The point is, perhaps some ways are better than othersa picture is worth a 1,000 words1

Modeling information provisionOf course, there are other ways of providing informationPerhaps some ways are better than othersWe certainly pick up relative motion information unconsciously, effortlesslyOther types of information are far more effortful, and are perhaps less richOther types of information might not be in a form that is easily communicated to the motor system1

Modeling an idea of how it worksGet informationImage of the act formed?So, the idea might be especially well served by a model. What next?Perhaps an intermediate stage is the formation of some image of successful performanceWhat would such an image lack?

Modeling an idea of how it works

Modeling effect seen in less than 10 trialsModeling effect not seen until 4 weeks of practiceModeling effect: better performance for a group to have seen a demonstration compared to a group that has not seen a demo

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Modeling an idea of how it worksCoordination and control (Bernstein, 1967; Newell, 1986)Modeling is not immediately effective for tasks that require new patterns of coordinationStill works, but takes longer to see the resultsEven simple tasks learned via observation do not immediately show a benefit when compared to no practice...but after practice they do

1Modeling an idea of how it worksGet informationImage of the act formedImage calibrated by practiceDifferences between having the idea and having procedural knowledge dictate that this is not the end of the storyThe act of calibration of course can be further enhanced by continued demonstrations. Whether verbal cues are needed here is another matter1

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1Modeling an idea of how it worksThere are several lines of research that agree with this basic ideaDifferences in recall and recognition performance following observationCognitive tasks benefit from typical cognitive remembering strategies (scheduling, delay, etc.)Physical practice is better than observation which is better than nothingBenefits of observation only appear after physical practice (see Deakin, 2000, next week)Get informationImage of the act formedImage calibrated by practice