MEC seminar - 10 Feb 2021

40 mins Presentation + 20 mins Q&A:Prof. Attila Krajcsi “A semantic network-based model for simple symbolic number processing” (Eötvös Loránd University)

Abstract: In numerical cognition, it is widely accepted that an evolutionarily old and simple representation, the approximate number system (ANS) may be the base of number understanding. In an alternative hybrid model, we propose that while nonsymbolic numbers may be handled by the ANS, symbolic numbers are processed by a simple semantic network, the discrete semantic system (DSS). Several of our tests that contrasted the ANS and DSS models in simple symbolic number tasks supported consistently the DSS account of symbolic number processing. The DSS account also implies that while the model may explain the phenomena the literature concentrated on in the last decades, these phenomena may not be the keys for describing insightful mathematical understanding. The DSS model, and more generally, the hybrid ANS-DSS account provide a new and comprehensive interpretation of many elementary number processing-related phenomena and they open up the possibility for finding more relevant models of numerical cognition.

Find more information about the research project on the related lab webpage: https://www.thenumberworks.org/discrete_semantic_system.html

15 mins: Break

40 mins Presentation + 20 mins Q&A:Prof. Richard Mayer “Research-Based Approaches to Computer Games for Learning” (University of California, Santa Barbara)

Abstract: This talk explores three genres of game research: (1) value added research, comparing learning by playing a game versus playing the same game with one feature added, (2) cognitive consequences research, comparing improvements in cognitive skills after playing a game versus after control activities, and (3) media comparison research, comparing academic learning in a game versus with conventional media.