The proposal describes a cross-disciplinary research project that will investigate the learning of symbol processing. The research team brings cognitive neuroscientists with strengths in studying brain mechanisms and the behaviors underlying the development of fundamental symbol processing activities together with educational psychologists and educational technology researchers who are skilled in designing and studying the impact of interactive software within school settings. The project focuses on changes in skill and brain activity associated with learning the linkage between visual symbols and their associated perceptually-based referents. The researchers will compare the neurological and behavioral changes that are predicted to result from different instructional techniques (by means of web-based software) and then see to what extent those differences are in accord with different theories of instruction and the development of symbol processing.
