Subject: Re: Reading versus books on tape From: Christopher Frauenberger <frauenberger@xxxxxxxx> Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2006 14:32:03 +0100This might have something to do with the power of spacial memory. Vision is primarilly organised spacially while hearing is temporal and pitch orientated (see also Kubovy and Valkenburg - Auditory and Visual Objects, 2001). I would argue that one could recall spacial positions of objects as well as temporal patterns in auditory objects like tunes or speech. An interesting sidetrack to this might be that people tend to make extensive use of virtual objects in space in conversations. When they speak about a specific person, they assign it to a certain space by pointing to it. Other people would then use the same space in the conversation when referring to the person by pointing at it (see Kendon, Conducting Interaction: Patterns of Behaviour in Focused Encounters. 1996). This would indicate that information is also somehow spacially organised on a higher level (and consequently that audio material could also potential benefit from being spacially distributed). Chris On 6 Jul 2006, at 13:14, Scharine, Angelique (Civ,ARL/HRED) wrote: > Since we're sharing anecdotal points of view on this, I'd argue > that it > depends on the type of material being "read", the learning style of > the > "reader" and the amount of attention given (a level of processing > argument?) at any particular time. I can recall being totally > engrossed > in a book-on-tape during long drives and commutes and I also know that > my mind wanders easily when I'm reading, so much so that I don't > recall > what I've read. However, there are plenty of things that I must see to > understand and if it's difficult material, I definitely prefer the > visual version. > A. > > It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by > bolts of lightning. -Bill Watterson, comic strip artist (1958- ), > in his > comic strip Calvin & Hobbes > > Angelique Scharine PhD > Army Research Lab - HRED > AMSRD-ARL-HR-SD > APG, MD 21005-5425 > > (410) 278-5957 (landline) > 298-5957 (dsn) > (410) 278-3587 (fax) > > > -----Original Message----- > From: AUDITORY Research in Auditory Perception > [mailto:AUDITORY@xxxxxxxx On Behalf Of Toth Laszlo > Sent: Thursday, July 06, 2006 8:04 AM > To: AUDITORY@xxxxxxxx > Subject: Re: Reading versus books on tape > > On Thu, 6 Jul 2006, tony stockman wrote: > >> anecdotally I believe for myself at any rate, as a blind person and >> having used braille since primary school, braille reading is more >> effective for learning than listening to tape. > > I think that quite many people (including me) performs a kind of > visual > learning. For example, I can recall even after years how a certain > piece > of information was positioned on the page of the book. Because of > this, > I can hardly imagine how I could learn anything by listening to a tape > (I have never tried it, though). Sorry, this is only "anecdotal", > but I > hope somebody here can name some real study on this. > > Laszlo Toth > Hungarian Academy of Sciences * > Research Group on Artificial Intelligence * "Failure only begins > e-mail: tothl@xxxxxxxx * when you stop > trying" > http://www.inf.u-szeged.hu/~tothl *