The Better You Feel the Better You Learn: Do Warm Colours and Rounded Shapes Enhance Learning Outcome in Multimedia Learning?

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to examine whether fostering positive activating affect during multimedia learning enhances learning outcome. University students were randomly assigned to either a multimedia learning environment designed to induce positive activating affect through the use of "warm" colours and rounded shapes ( = 61) or an affectively neutral environment that used achromatic colours and sharp edges ( = 50). Participants learned about the topic of functional neuroanatomy for 20 minutes and had to answer several questions for comprehension and transfer afterwards. Affective states as well as achievement goal orientations were investigated before and after the learning phase using questionnaires. The results show that participants in the affectively positive environment were superior in comprehension as well as transfer when initial affect was strong. Preexperimental positive affect was therefore a predictor of comprehension and a moderator for transfer. Goal orientations did not influence these effects. The findings support the idea that positive affect, induced through the design of the particular multimedia learning environment, can facilitate performance if initial affective states are taken into account.

The Effects of Emotional Design on Multimedia Learning and Appreciation of Chinese Poetry

“…Research has also confirmed the role of color in emotional design. To illustrate, Münchow et al (2017) applied warm color designs to learning material on neuroanatomical topics and indicated that, compared with gray-scaled designs, warm color designs improved comprehension and transfer performance of learners. Plass et al (2019) further verified that warm colors in teaching games were related to the positive emotions of participants.…”

More Attractive or More Interactive? The Effects of Multi-Leveled Emotional Design on Middle School Students’ Multimedia Learning

“…However, recent research regarding the emotional and cognitive effects yielded mixed results. Some studies found the positive emotional design on visual elements could not only induce positive emotions but also facilitate cognitive outcomes including cognitive load and learning performance (Um et al, 2012;Mayer and Estrella, 2014;Plass et al, 2014Gong et al, 2017a;Münchow et al, 2017;Brom et al, 2018;Schneider et al, 2018;Uzun and Yıldırım, 2018). For example, Plass et al (2014) designed learning materials with warm color and baby-like shape design and found it could induce learners' positive emotions, decrease perceived difficulty and promote learning performance.…”

Comparison of dynamic visuals to other presentation formats when learning social science topics in an online setting

“…They found similar results (e.g., reduced perceived task difficulty, increased learning), but unlike Um et al(2012)'s study, Plass et al (2014) found emotional design made no difference to knowledge transfer. The positive effect of emotional design on people's learning and intrinsic motivation were replicated to some extent in other studies (e.g., Münchow et al, 2017;Schneider et al, 2016). However, multiple studies failed to elicit a positive affect with emotional design (e.g., Mayer & Estrella, 2014;Münchow et al, 2017).…”