Editing Spatial Contiguity Principle (section)

=='''Evidence'''==
[[File:Spatial contiguity 3.png|thumb|300px|'''Spatial contiguity Evidence Table''']]

'''Placing printed words near the graphics they describe to guide the learner's cognitive processing helps to reduce extraneous processing.'''

There are 22 tests of the spatial contiguity principle in the research(Table 12.7). For example, in Mayer's study(1989), students trad a paper-based lesson on how brakes work and then need to take a transfer test. Some of the students(Integrated group) were provided with words describing the action and were placed next to the corresponding part of an illustration. Others(Separated groups) received each picture that was placed at the top of a page and the corresponding words were separated and placed in a paragraph at the bottom of the page. The result shows that the integrated group performed much better than the separated group on a transfer test.

The spatial contiguity principle represents a subset of what Ayres and Sweller call the ''split-attention principle''. The split-attention principle refers to 'avoiding formats that require learners to split their attention between, and mentally integrate, multiple sources of information.'