Effects of selected resource attributes on discrimination learning

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to identify and control selected resource attributes in an attempt to determine whether or not a multiple channel presentation (audiovisual) was more effective in establishing the external conditions for discrimination learning than a single channel presentation (either audio or visual). A discrimination task was presented by audio, audiovisual, and visual media which established the external conditions necessary for discrimination learning. All characteristics of the stimuli, instruction, learning conditions, task, and content were developed as parallel and equal messages across all treatment presentations in view of the selected resource attributes. The content of instruction was derived from the figural, semantic, and symbolic contextual information forms. The independent variable was the type of treatment presentation. The dependent variable was the subjects' scores, derived from the number of correct overt discriminations made during the assessment phase. A total of 119 undergraduate students enrolled in education course work, participated in the experiment. The analysis of variance procedure was used to test the null hypothesis: There is no significant difference in group mean scores on discrimination learning tasks among treatment groups presented with either single or multiple channel presentations. The analysis yielded a non-significant F ratio of 0.12, which resulted in the failure to reject the null hypothesis..