Note taking is a complex activity that requires comprehension and selection of information and written production processes. Here we review the functions, abbreviation procedures, strategies, and working memory constraints of note taking with the aim of improving theoretical and practical understanding of the activity. The time urgency of selecting key points and recording them while comprehending new information at the same time places significant demands on the central executive and other components of working memory. Dual- and triple-task procedures allow the measurement of the momentary cognitive effort or executive attention allocated to note taking. Comparative data show that note taking demands more effort than reading or learning. However, it requires less effort than the creative written composition of an original text. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Cognitive Effort during Note Taking.

Psychology of subject matter refers to the scientific study of learning and instruction within school subjects. The growing research literature on teaching and learning of school subjects represents one of educational psychology's most productive accomplishments of the past two decades. The purpose of this chapter is to examine representative advances in the psychology of subject matter, including how people learn to read words, comprehend printed passages, write compositions, solve arithmetic word problems, and understand how scientific systems work. The introduction provides a historical overview of how to promote transfer and is followed by reviews of representative research in learning and teaching of reading fluency, reading comprehension, writing, mathematics, and science.

Teaching of subject matter.

The dual-task paradigm recently played a major role in understanding the role of working memory in writing. By reviewing recent findings in this field of research, this article highlights how the use of the dual-task technique allowed studying the processing and short-term storage functions of working memory involved in writing. With respect to processing functions of working memory (namely, attentional and executive functions), studies investigated resource allocation, step-by-step management, and parallel coordination of the writing processes. With respect to short-term storage in working memory, experiments mainly attempted to test Kellogg's (1996) proposals on the relationship between the writing processes and the slave systems of working memory. The dual-task technique proved fruitful in understanding the relationship between writing and working memory because researchers exploited its major advantage, namely, its flexibility.

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Working Memory in Writing: Empirical Evidence From the Dual-Task Technique

This article investigates how the signaling-mode of electronic glosses in online texts (i.e., presented digitally on a computer screen) influences the user's reading process, incidental vocabulary learning, and text comprehension. Indeed, does the fact that hyperlinks with dictionary definitions are visible (i.e., highlighted) or invisible affect the foreign language learner's look-up behaviour and as a consequence the possible learning outcome? Furthermore, the article addresses the question whether the type of reading task (general vs. specific) affects the learner's use of these links and the amount and quality of the language learned. The article discusses empirical research conducted in an attempt to address these questions. The results indicate that when reading a text with highlighted hyperlinks, readers are significantly more willing to consult the gloss. However, this increased clicking does not slow down the reading process, does not affect text comprehension, and does not increase the vocabulary learned incidentally. The reading task does not seem to alter the clicking behaviour of the students but seems to influence the reader's vocabulary learning: A content-oriented reading task decreases the reader's attention for vocabulary.

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Visible or Invisible Links: Does the Highlighting of Hyperlinks Affect Incidental Vocabulary Learning, Text Comprehension, and the Reading Process?

In reading and other high-level cognitive tasks, Ericsson and Kintsch (1995) proposed that the limited capacity of short-term working memory (STWM) is supplemented by long- term working memory (LTWM) for individuals with a high degree of domain-specific knowledge. In Experiment 1, college students (N = 80) wrote persuasive and narrative texts concerning baseball; domain-specific knowledge about baseball and verbal ability was assessed. The results showed that verbal ability and domain-specific knowledge independently affected writing skill, supporting the view that literacy depends on both knowledge sources and refuting one argument raised in support of the LTWM hypothesis. Experiment 2 (N = 42) replicated this outcome and tested the prediction that a high degree of domain-specific knowledge would lessen interference on a secondary task. The data supported the interference prediction, offering evidence that LTWM plays a role in the production of text.

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Long-term working memory in text production.

This research compared composing on a word processor with writing in longhand to explore whether the computer-based tool amplifies performance and restructures attentional allocation to writing processes. Performance was assessed in terms of the quality of the resulting documents, based on subjective ratings and text analysis, and the fluency of language production. The allocation of attentional resources was monitored in terms of the degree of cognitive effort (secondary task reaction times) and processing time (directed retrospective reports) devoted to planning ideas, translating ideas into text, and reviewing ideas and text. In Experiment 1, word processing increased the attentional investment in and nature of planning and reviewing, without improving either the quality or fluency of writing. In Experiment 2 these restructuring effects were again observed both for writers who reported modest experience composing on a computer and to an even greater degree for those who reported extensive experience. Only participants with extensive word processing experience matched the quality and fluency of those who wrote in longhand.

Performance amplification and process restructuring in computer-based writing

A study examined whether word processing amplifies writing performance and whether it restructures the process of writing. Sixteen college students wrote a short essay in a single session on either a word processor or in longhand. The quality of the essays was assessed by trained judges who rated their content and style. Text analysis methods were also employed to corroborate the subjective ratings. Writing fluency was measured in terms of words produced per minute of composing time. Changes in the organization of cognitive processing were studied by measuring the degree of cognitive effort and processing time associated with specific writing prOcesses. Findings suggested that word processing restructured writing processes, but failed to amplify writing performance. Most importantly, results indicated that the pattern of allocating cognitive effort to writing processes interacted with the type of writing tool. Whereas effort was distributed about equally to planning, translating, and reviewing when writing longhand, a different pattern was seen on the word processor. Planning and reviewing consumed the most effort, and translating the least. Processing time, in contrast to cognitive effort, failed to shot any interaction between writing tool and process. (Nine figures of data are included; 18 references are attached.) (KEH) ***************************************************************X******* Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ***********************************************************************

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Suzanne Mueller

Papers

Performance amplification and process restructuring in computer-based writing

Cognitive Tools and Thinking Performance: The Case of Word Processors and Writing.