Comics as a Cognitive Training Medium for Expert Decision Making

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to determine how effective comics are when used as a cognitive training medium for expert military decision making. Concepts utilized in comics, such as image schemas, are presented in relation to trainees' reliance on a universal human language. U.S. Navy submarine officers, ranks O-1 to O-4, participated in two studies to demonstrate the effectiveness of comics relative to traditional text based training (Experiment 1) and the relative effectiveness of low, medium, and high-abstract comics (Experiment 2). Results for Experiments 1 and 2 did not show better decision making skills or speed after cognitive training using a comic medium than after using a text-based medium or with levels of symbolic abstraction within comic presentations. In Experiment 1, the time (seconds) that participants viewed the comic media was significantly faster than text-based media. With significant view time results in Experiment 1, participants were twice as fast when viewing comics as reading text. This result could lead to reduced training time, optimizing manpower, and cost savings for the military. Future studies are needed to further assess the use of comics in training in terms of performance to better understand the implications of the reduced training time such as cost savings potential.

Barriers Remain: Perceptions and Uses of Comics by Mental Health and Social Care Library Users

“…Nalu and Bliss (2011) undertook a comparative study of text-based and comicsbased learning materials for expert decision making in the US Navy. Results showed that while there was no increase or decrease in levels of performance, 'the view time for comics took less than half of the time that participants took to read the text based media' (Nalu andBliss 2011: 2127). This leads the authors to speculate that the 'benefit of using comics is that the description of the information through imagery requires less interpretation' (Nalu andBliss 2011: 2127).…”

“…Results showed that while there was no increase or decrease in levels of performance, 'the view time for comics took less than half of the time that participants took to read the text based media' (Nalu andBliss 2011: 2127). This leads the authors to speculate that the 'benefit of using comics is that the description of the information through imagery requires less interpretation' (Nalu andBliss 2011: 2127). The concept of reduced interpretation is echoed in a different context by Vaccarella (2013), who describes a two-hour teaching session with 15 international undergraduate students using medically themed comics.…”

Introduction

“…Graphic novels or comic book narratives can work across platforms, engage younger, more visually oriented readers, and transcend cultural borders. As Cohn (2014) notes, 'growing research suggests that sequential images combined with text are an effective tool of communication and education (Nakazawa, 2005;Nalu and Bliss, 2011;Short, Randolph-Seng and McKenny, 2013), beyond just being entertainment'.…”

Comics as Research, Comics for Impact: The Case of Higher Fees, Higher Debts

“…Indeed, it is today almost common-place to state that comics and cartoons are valuable means of teaching multimodal literacy skills (El Refaie and Hörschelmann 2010). As Cohn notes, 'growing research suggests that sequential images combined with text are an effective tool of communication and education (e.g., Nakazawa, 2005;Nalu and Bliss, 2011;Short et al, 2013), beyond just being entertainment' (Cohn 2014).…”