Does a lack of contiguity with visual text cause the modality effect in multimedia learning (original) (raw)
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Computers & Education, 2023
The modality effect occurs when people learn better from a combination of pictures and narration than from a combination of pictures and written text. Despite the strong empirical results in earlier studies, the modality effect has been less prominent in later studies of children in learner-paced settings. However, the generalizability of these results in practice may be limited because the studies included notable differences compared to a classroom context. The present study examined the modality effect in a learner-paced classroom context. In a within-subjects experiment, fifth graders learned from illustrated texts and videos and completed pre-, post-, and delayed tests on two science topics. The video group outperformed the illustrated text group in retention, delayed retention, cognitive load, and efficiency measures but there were no statistical differences in transfer. In both learning conditions, the cognitive load was moderate and did not correlate with any learning outcomes. The results suggest that while the modality effect can occur in a learner-paced classroom context, it may not be based on the avoidance of cognitive overload. Alternative explanations concerning the differences in settings and materials between classroom contexts and modality effect research are discussed.
Does modality play a role? Visual‐verbal cognitive style and multimedia learning
Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 2019
The study presented in this paper aimed to examine the effect of visual and verbal cognitive style on learning from different types of visualization and modalities of explanatory text. Learning materials in the form of either computer‐based animation or a series of static pictures with written or spoken explanations were presented to 197 students. We found that a more developed visual cognitive style was related to a better learning outcome, when learning from a combination of static pictures and written text. Higher developed visualizers achieved poorer learning outcomes when learning with an animation and written text. The results are partially in line with an ability‐as‐compensator effect and the expertise reversal effect. Additionally, we found a modality effect as the versions with spoken text provided better results on learning outcome than the versions with written text regardless of the prominence of visual cognitive style. No significant interaction effects were found regar...
Memory characteristics and modality in multimedia learning: An aptitude–treatment–interaction study
Learning and Instruction, 2009
According to the modality effect in multimedia, a text accompanying a picture should be auditorily presented instead of visually in order to avoid split of attention. In two experimental studies (34 and 78 participants, respectively), the impact and possible compensatory effects of two aptitude variables, that is, memory strategy skills and working memory capacity, on multimedia learning were tested. Aptitude–treatment–interaction
Modality Effects in Reducing Cognitive Loads in Multimedia Learning
International Journal of Learning and Development, 2012
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of modality principle on the learning of music theory among primary pupils in Jordan. The lesson of music theory was developed in two different modes, audio and image (AI) and text with image. A quasi experimental factorial design was adopted in this research. The independent variables were the two modes of courseware. The dependent variable was the post test score. The study sample consisted of 269 third-grade pupils and were randomly (simple random sample) selected from six different primary co-education schools. Descriptive and inferential statistics were conducted to analyze the collected data. T-test was used to determine the significant differences of the pre-test scores among the groups. Analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) were carried out to examine the main effects as well as the interaction effects of the independent variables on the dependent variables. The findings of this study showed that pupils using the AI mode performed significantly better than those in the TI mode. Apparently, the cognitive loads in the visual and audio working memory were reduced to facilitate increased capacity for better learning.
The modality effect in learner-paced multimedia learning
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2011
A total of 80 girl 8th-grade students viewed a short computer-based multimedia presentation consisting of 16 slides explaining lightening formation. They studied instructions set up interactivity level with system either low (pause and play buttons) or high (with 2 more buttons of backward and forward) and using either on-screen text or narration accompanying animations and took on cognitive load and performance. The results showed that narrative group spend less time and more mental effort than onscreen text group, while the low interactivity group outperformed the high interactivity group on tests of retention and transfer with spend less time. On findings performance is higher when behavioral activity during learning is lower and the interactivity level is not interacting with text modality.
Journal of Educational Psychology, 2001
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. Multimedia scientific explanations-in CD-ROMs, on the World Wide Web, and in classroom demonstrations-are potentially valuable instructional tools. For example, Figure 1 shows selected slides from a 140-s multimedia explanation intended to help students understand how lightning storms develop. The multimedia explanation uses animation to depict the steps in lightning formation along with corresponding narration to describe them. Our research has documented that well designed multimedia explanations formatted like the one in Figure 1 can be highly effective in promoting students' understanding, as indicated by their ability to generate acceptable answers to open-ended transfer questions (