Differences in visual attention between those who correctly and incorrectly answer physics problems
This study investigated how visual attention differed between those who correctly versus incorrectly answered introductory physics problems. We recorded eye movements of 24 individuals on six different conceptual physics problems where the necessary information to solve the problem was contained in...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
American Physical Society
2012-05-01
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| Series: | Physical Review Special Topics. Physics Education Research |
| Online Access: | http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.8.010122 |
| _version_ | 1818695825307467776 |
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| author | N. Sanjay Rebello1 Lester C. Loschky2 Adam M. Larson2 Adrian M. Madsen1 |
| author_facet | N. Sanjay Rebello1 Lester C. Loschky2 Adam M. Larson2 Adrian M. Madsen1 |
| author_sort | N. Sanjay Rebello1 |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This study investigated how visual attention differed between those who correctly versus incorrectly answered introductory physics problems. We recorded eye movements of 24 individuals on six different conceptual physics problems where the necessary information to solve the problem was contained in a diagram. The problems also contained areas consistent with a novicelike response and areas of high perceptual salience. Participants ranged from those who had only taken one high school physics course to those who had completed a Physics Ph.D. We found that participants who answered correctly spent a higher percentage of time looking at the relevant areas of the diagram, and those who answered incorrectly spent a higher percentage of time looking in areas of the diagram consistent with a novicelike answer. Thus, when solving physics problems, top-down processing plays a key role in guiding visual selective attention either to thematically relevant areas or novicelike areas depending on the accuracy of a student’s physics knowledge. This result has implications for the use of visual cues to redirect individuals’ attention to relevant portions of the diagrams and may potentially influence the way they reason about these problems. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-17T13:51:37Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-155e0c8003bc4d3a97bfd3e238e64536 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1554-9178 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-17T13:51:37Z |
| publishDate | 2012-05-01 |
| publisher | American Physical Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Physical Review Special Topics. Physics Education Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-155e0c8003bc4d3a97bfd3e238e645362022-12-21T21:46:02ZengAmerican Physical SocietyPhysical Review Special Topics. Physics Education Research1554-91782012-05-0181Differences in visual attention between those who correctly and incorrectly answer physics problemsN. Sanjay Rebello1Lester C. Loschky2Adam M. Larson2Adrian M. Madsen1This study investigated how visual attention differed between those who correctly versus incorrectly answered introductory physics problems. We recorded eye movements of 24 individuals on six different conceptual physics problems where the necessary information to solve the problem was contained in a diagram. The problems also contained areas consistent with a novicelike response and areas of high perceptual salience. Participants ranged from those who had only taken one high school physics course to those who had completed a Physics Ph.D. We found that participants who answered correctly spent a higher percentage of time looking at the relevant areas of the diagram, and those who answered incorrectly spent a higher percentage of time looking in areas of the diagram consistent with a novicelike answer. Thus, when solving physics problems, top-down processing plays a key role in guiding visual selective attention either to thematically relevant areas or novicelike areas depending on the accuracy of a student’s physics knowledge. This result has implications for the use of visual cues to redirect individuals’ attention to relevant portions of the diagrams and may potentially influence the way they reason about these problems.http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.8.010122 |
| spellingShingle | N. Sanjay Rebello1 Lester C. Loschky2 Adam M. Larson2 Adrian M. Madsen1 Differences in visual attention between those who correctly and incorrectly answer physics problems Physical Review Special Topics. Physics Education Research |
| title | Differences in visual attention between those who correctly and incorrectly answer physics problems |
| title_full | Differences in visual attention between those who correctly and incorrectly answer physics problems |
| title_fullStr | Differences in visual attention between those who correctly and incorrectly answer physics problems |
| title_full_unstemmed | Differences in visual attention between those who correctly and incorrectly answer physics problems |
| title_short | Differences in visual attention between those who correctly and incorrectly answer physics problems |
| title_sort | differences in visual attention between those who correctly and incorrectly answer physics problems |
| url | http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.8.010122 |
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