Chapter 2, page 45
Now suppose that Rachel is watching television while she is reading the text about lobsters. Even
if she can read the words and sentences fluently, her learning may be impeded by watching television. If
she is paying attention to the television, it means that some information from the television is entering
working memory. Then her working memory at any given moment might be diagrammed as in Figure
2.7c.
This is consistent with research that indicates that watching television while studying impedes learning
(e.g., Pool, Koolstra, & van der Voort, 2003a, 2003b). The effects of listening to the radio are less clear,
though some studies suggest that learning can be impeded. Instrumental music has the smallest impact,
perhaps due to the fact that there is less interference with meaningful units stored in working memory
(e.g., Pool et al., 2003a; Pool et al., 2003b).
2.7c. Working memory is filled with new information plus information from watching TV. There
is no space to bring in old information to connect with new information.
Consider one more television example. Now imagine Rachel doing her mathematics homework in
front of the television. Suppose that Rachel needs, on average, three or four chunks of space in working
memory to solve the homework problems, which leaves several chunks of working memory to process
what is going on in the television show. It is very possible that Rachel will successfully complete the math
problems and even get an A on this homework assignment. Four or five chunks of working memory may
be enough for her to be successful (if the problems are not too difficult). However, the long-term effect of
Rachel watching television as she is doing her homework is that Rachel is unlikely to create strong long-
term memories because she has no space in working memory left over to make connections between the
new math problems and other mathematics information stored in LTM. There is no space in working
memory into which the old knowledge can be retrieved.
As a result, Rachel may not become a successful problem solver as successful problem solvers
make many connections among problems (Anzai & Simon, 1979; Catrambone & Holyoak, 1989). For
example, they may notice similarities and differences between two problems in the current assignment or
similarities and differences between the current problem and problems in earlier homework assignments.
They may also notice how a particular rule applies or does not apply to a particular problem. All of these
activities require successful students to make room in working memory for both the current problem and
other information (other problems from the current assignment, problems from earlier assignments, rules
from the chapter or earlier chapters, and so on).
Active, meaningful encoding. Encoding is most effective when it is active and meaningful (Craik &
Lockhart, 1972; Craik & Tulving, 1975; McNamara & Healy, 1995). Students tend to learn more if they
actively carry out key encoding processes themselves, instead of having teachers do the cognitive work for
them. For example, students are likely to learn more if they come up with their own explanations or
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