Cognitive constraints on multimedia learning: When presenting more material results in less understanding.

Abstract

In 4 experiments, college students viewed an animation and listened to concurrent narration explaining the formation of lightning. When students also received concurrent on-screen text that summarized (Experiment 1) or duplicated (Experiment 2) the narration, they performed worse on tests of retention and transfer than did students who received no on-screen text. This redundancy effect is consistent with a dual-channel theory of multimedia learning in which adding on-screen text can overload the visual information-processing channel, causing learners to split their visual attention between 2 sources. Lower transfer performance also occurred when the authors added interesting but irrelevant details to the narration (Experiment 1) or inserted interesting but conceptually irrelevant video clips within (Experiment 3) or before the presentation (Experiment 4). This coherence effect is consistent with a seductive details hypothesis in which the inserted video and narration prime the activation of inappropriate prior knowledge as the organizing schema for the lesson.

Visual representations in science education: The influence of prior knowledge and cognitive load theory on instructional design principles

“…Because text is initially processed in the visual subsystem of working memory, it competes with the graphic for visual attention. Although the words may eventually be translated into sounds in verbal working memory, this initial competition decreases the likelihood that the learner will attend to the relevant elements of the graphic and text (Mayer, Heiser, & Lonn, 2001). Typically when auditory information is presented in the verbal subsystem, the load on working memory is reduced (due to an increase in working memory capacity) allowing more resources to be devoted to learning.…”

Instructional Design Consequences of an Analogy between Evolution by Natural Selection and Human Cognitive Architecture

“…A diagram and text that redescribes the diagram provides an obvious example as does presenting the same material in written and spoken form. The redundancy effect is demonstrated when eliminating the redundant material improves learning (see Cerpa, Chandler and Sweller 1996;Sweller 1991, 1996;Craig, Gholson and Driscoll 2002;Kalyuga, Chandler and Sweller 1999;Mayer, Heiser and Lonn 2001;Mayer, Bove, Bryman, Mars and Tapangco 1996;Anderson 1980, 1982;Sweller and Chandler 1994).…”

The use of cartoons in elementary classrooms: An analysis of teachers behavioral intention in terms of gender

“…Irkin (2012) emphasized that cartoons with content of violence and sexuality make students develop negative behaviors. Mayer et al (2001) stated that cartoons have a potential of misconception since they are a simplified version of a phenomenon in most cases and may prevent students from learning through imagination while forming their mental models. Ningsih and Sari (2012) suggested that use of slang and foreign words may affect children's linguistic development negatively, that watching cartoons excessively may hinder children's relationship with the social circle and cause them to lose their critical thinking skills.…”