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Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research
Differences in visual attention between those who correctly and incorrectly answer physics problems
written by Adrian M. Madsen, Adam M. Larson, Lester C. Loschky, and N. Sanjay Rebello
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.
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Education Foundations
- Behavior
- Problem Solving
= Expert-Novice Comparisons
- Student Characteristics
Education Practices
- Technology
- Graduate/Professional
- Lower Undergraduate
- Upper Undergraduate
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= Research study
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Mirror:
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevST…
Access Rights:
Free access
License:
This material is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license.
Rights Holder:
American Physical Society
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.8.010122
PACS:
01.40.Fk
Keywords:
Expert-Novice, Problem Solving, Visual Attention
Record Creator:
Metadata instance created May 18, 2012 by Lyle Barbato
Record Updated:
May 21, 2012 by Vince Kuo
Last Update
when Cataloged:
May 11, 2012
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Record Link
AIP Format
A. Madsen, A. Larson, L. Loschky, and N. Rebello, , Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 8 (1), 010122 (2012), WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12001&DocID=2832).
AJP/PRST-PER
A. Madsen, A. Larson, L. Loschky, and N. Rebello, Differences in visual attention between those who correctly and incorrectly answer physics problems, Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 8 (1), 010122 (2012), <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12001&DocID=2832>.
APA Format
Madsen, A., Larson, A., Loschky, L., & Rebello, N. (2012, May 11). Differences in visual attention between those who correctly and incorrectly answer physics problems. Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res., 8(1), 010122. Retrieved March 29, 2024, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12001&DocID=2832
Chicago Format
Madsen, A, A. Larson, L. Loschky, and N. Rebello. "Differences in visual attention between those who correctly and incorrectly answer physics problems." Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 8, no. 1, (May 11, 2012): 010122, https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12001&DocID=2832 (accessed 29 March 2024).
MLA Format
Madsen, Adrian, Adam Larson, Lester Loschky, and N. Sanjay Rebello. "Differences in visual attention between those who correctly and incorrectly answer physics problems." Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 8.1 (2012): 010122. 29 Mar. 2024 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12001&DocID=2832>.
BibTeX Export Format
@article{ Author = "Adrian Madsen and Adam Larson and Lester Loschky and N. Sanjay Rebello", Title = {Differences in visual attention between those who correctly and incorrectly answer physics problems}, Journal = {Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res.}, Volume = {8}, Number = {1}, Pages = {010122}, Month = {May}, Year = {2012} }
Refer Export Format

%A Adrian Madsen %A Adam Larson %A Lester Loschky %A N. Sanjay Rebello %T Differences in visual attention between those who correctly and incorrectly answer physics problems %J Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. %V 8 %N 1 %D May 11, 2012 %P 010122 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12001&DocID=2832 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Journal Article %A Madsen, Adrian %A Larson, Adam %A Loschky, Lester %A Rebello, N. Sanjay %D May 11, 2012 %T Differences in visual attention between those who correctly and incorrectly answer physics problems %J Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. %V 8 %N 1 %P 010122 %8 May 11, 2012 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12001&DocID=2832


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