Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T19:56:14.830Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

27 - The Emotional Design Principle in Multimedia Learning

from Part VI - Principles Based on Social and Affective Features of Multimedia Learning

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 November 2021

Richard E. Mayer
Affiliation:
University of California, Santa Barbara
Logan Fiorella
Affiliation:
University of Georgia
Get access

Summary

Emotional Design is the deliberate use of design elements of learning materials to induce an emotional state in the learner that leads to increased learning outcomes. This emotion induction should not add significantly to the cognitive demands placed on the learner, which is best achieved by using existing design elements rather than adding new elements. In this chapter, we summarize research on the effect of emotion-inducing features of a multimedia lesson on memory, cognition, and learning, provide empirical evidence for the emotional design principle, and discuss design features that have been shown to induce emotion. We will also differentiate emotional design from other emotion induction methods that increase processing demands on the learner by adding seductive details or that take place outside of the learning materials in the form of priming.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ainley, M., Hidi, S., & Berndorff, D. (2002). Interest, learning, and the psychological processes that mediate their relationship. Journal of Educational Psychology, 94(3), 545561.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Astleitner, H., & Leutner, D. (2014). Designing instructional technology from an emotional perspective. Journal of Research on Computing in Education, 32, 497510.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baker, R. S., D’Mello, S. K., Rodrigo, M. M. T., & Graesser, A. C. (2010). Better to be frustrated than bored: The incidence, persistence, and impact of learners’ cognitive–affective states during interactions with three different computer-based learning environments. International Journal of Human–Computer Studies, 68(4), 223241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beilock, S. L., Kulp, C. A., Holt, L. E., & Carr, T. H. (2004). More on the fragility of performance: Choking under pressure in mathematical problem solving. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 133(4), 584600.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bianchi-Berthouze, N., Kim, W. W., & Patel, D. (2007). Does body movement engage you more in digital game play? and why? In International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction (pp. 102113). Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
Biles, M. L., Plass, J., & Homer, B. D. (2018). Designing digital badges for educational games: The impact of badge type on student motivation and learning. International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations, 10(4), 119.Google Scholar
Bradley, M. M., & Lang, P. J. (1994). Measuring emotion: The self-assessment manikin and the semantic differential. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 25(1), 4959.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bradley, M. M., & Lang, P. J. (2000). Affective reactions to acoustic stimuli. Psychophysiology, 37(2), 204215.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brom, C., Děchtěrenko, F., Frollová, N., Stárková, T., Bromová, E., & D’Mello, S. K. (2017). Enjoyment or involvement? Affective-motivational mediation during learning from a complex computerized simulation. Computers & Education, 114, 236254.Google Scholar
Brom, C., Starkova, T., & D’Mello, S. K. (2018). How effective is emotional design? A meta-analysis on facial anthropomorphisms and pleasant colors during multimedia learning. Educational Research Review, 25, 100119.Google Scholar
Chung, S., & Cheon, J. (2020). Emotional design of multimedia learning using background images with motivational cues. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 36(6), 922932.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chung, S., Cheon, J., & Lee, K. W. (2015). Emotion and multimedia learning: An investigation of the effects of valence and arousal on different modalities in an instructional animation. Instructional Science, 43(5), 545559.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Derryberry, D., & Tucker, D. M. (1994). Motivating the focus of attention. In Niedenthal, P. M., & Kitayama, S. (eds.), The Heart’s Eye: Emotional Influences in Perception and Attention (pp. 167196). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
D’Mello, S., & Graesser, A. (2011). The half-life of cognitive-affective states during complex learning. Cognition & Emotion, 25(7), 12991308.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
D’Mello, S., & Graesser, A. (2012). Dynamics of affective states during complex learning. Learning and Instruction, 22(2), 145157.Google Scholar
D’Mello, S., & Graesser, A. (2013). AutoTutor and affective AutoTutor: Learning by talking with cognitively and emotionally intelligent computers that talk back. ACM Transactions on Interactive Intelligent Systems (TiiS), 2(4), 139.Google Scholar
D’Mello, S., Lehman, B., Pekrun, R., & Graesser, A. (2014). Confusion can be beneficial for learning. Learning and Instruction, 29, 153170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eerola, T., Friberg, A., & Bresin, R. (2013). Emotional expression in music: Contribution, linearity, and additivity of primary musical cues. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 487.Google Scholar
Endres, T., Weyreter, S., Renkl, A., & Eitel, A. (2020). When and why does emotional design foster learning? Evidence for situational interest as a mediator of increased persistence. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 36(4), 514525.Google Scholar
Fraser, K., Ma, I., Teteris, E., Baxter, H., Wright, B., & McLaughlin, K. (2012). Emotion, cognitive load and learning outcomes during simulation training. Medical Education, 46(11), 10551062.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gatti, E., Calzolari, E., Maggioni, E., & Obrist, M. (2018). Emotional ratings and skin conductance response to visual, auditory and haptic stimuli. Scientific Data, 5, 180120.Google Scholar
Graesser, A. C. (2019). Emotions are the experiential glue of learning environments in the 21st century. Learning and Instruction, 70, 101212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graesser, A. C., & D’Mello, S. (2012). Emotions during the learning of difficult material. In Ross, B. H. (ed.), Psychology of Learning and Motivation (Vol. 57, pp. 183225). Cambridge, MA: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Harp, S. F., & Mayer, R. E. (1998). How seductive details do their damage: A theory of cognitive interest in science learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 90(3), 414.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hasler, B. S., Kersten, B., & Sweller, J. (2007). Learner control, cognitive load and instructional animation. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 21(6), 713729.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heidig, S., Müller, J., & Reichelt, M. (2015). Emotional design in multimedia learning: Differentiation on relevant design features and their effects on emotions and learning. Computers in Human Behavior, 44, 8195.Google Scholar
Homer, B. D., Plass, J. L., Rose, M. C., MacNamara, A., Pawar, S., & Ober, T. M. (2019). Activating adolescents’ “hot” executive functions in a digital game to train cognitive skills: The effects of age and prior abilities. Cognitive Development, 49, 2032.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Isbister, K. (2016). How Games Move Us: Emotion by Design. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Isen, A. M., Daubman, K. A., & Nowicki, G. P. (1987). Positive affect facilitates creative problem solving. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52(6), 1122.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Isen, A. M., Shalker, T. E., Clark, M., & Karp, L. (1978). Affect, accessibility of material in memory, and behavior: A cognitive loop? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36(1), 112.Google Scholar
Izard, C. E. (2007). Basic emotions, natural kinds, emotion schemas, and a new paradigm. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2, 260280.Google Scholar
Izard, C. E. (2009). Emotion theory and research: Highlights, unanswered questions, and emerging issues. Annual Review of Psychology, 60, 125.Google Scholar
Kalyuga, S. (2014). The expertise reversal principle in multimedia learning. In Mayer, R. E. (ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning (pp. 576597). New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Knörzer, L., Brünken, R., & Park, B. (2016a). Facilitators or suppressors: Effects of experimentally induced emotions on multimedia learning. Learning and Instruction, 44, 97107.Google Scholar
Knörzer, L., Brünken, R., & Park, B. (2016b). Emotions and multimedia learning: The moderating role of learner characteristics. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 32(6), 618631.Google Scholar
Kühl, T., Moersdorf, F., Römer, M., & Münzer, S. (2019). Adding emotionality to seductive details – Consequences for learning? Applied Cognitive Psychology, 33(1), 4861.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laird, J. D., Wagener, J. J., Halal, M., & Szegda, M. (1982). Remembering what you feel: Effects of emotion on memory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42(4), 646.Google Scholar
Lang, P. J., Bradley, M. M., & Cuthbert, B. N. (1990). Emotion, attention, and the startle reflex. Psychological Review, 97(3), 377.Google Scholar
Le, Y., Liu, J., Deng, C., & Dai, D. Y. (2018). Heart rate variability reflects the effects of emotional design principle on mental effort in multimedia learning. Computers in Human Behavior, 89, 4047.Google Scholar
Lewis, M. D. (1995). Cognition-emotion feedback and the self-organization of developmental paths. Human Development, 38, 71102.Google Scholar
Li, J., Luo, C., Zhang, Q., & Shadiev, R. (2020). Can emotional design really evoke emotion in multimedia learning? International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 17, 118.Google Scholar
Loderer, K., Pekrun, R., & Lester, J. C. (2020). Beyond cold technology: A systematic review and meta-analysis on emotions in technology-based learning environments. Learning and instruction, 70, 101162.Google Scholar
Loderer, K., Pekrun, R., & Plass, J.L. (2020). Emotional foundations of game-based learning. In Plass, J. L., Mayer, R. E., & Homer, B. D. (eds.), Handbook of Game-based Learning (pp. 111151). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Lorenz, K. (1950). Ganzheit und Teil in der tierischen und menschlichen Gemeinschaft [Part and Parcel in Animal and Human Societies]. Studium Generale, 3(9), 455499.Google Scholar
Magner, U. I., Schwonke, R., Aleven, V., Popescu, O., & Renkl, A. (2014). Triggering situational interest by decorative illustrations both fosters and hinders learning in computer-based learning environments. Learning and instruction, 29, 141152.Google Scholar
Mayer, R. E. (2005). Cognitive theory of multimedia learning. In Mayer, R. E. (ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning (p. 3148). New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Mayer, R. E. (2020a). Multimedia Learning (3rd ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayer, R. E. (2020b). Searching for the role of emotions in e-learning. Learning and Instruction, 70, 101213.Google Scholar
Mayer, R. E., & Estrella, G. (2014). Benefits of emotional design in multimedia instruction. Learning and Instruction, 33, 1218.Google Scholar
Moreno, R., & Mayer, R. (2007). Interactive multimodal learning environments. Educational Psychology Review, 19(3), 309326.Google Scholar
Münchow, H., & Bannert, M. (2019). Feeling good, learning better? Effectivity of an emotional design procedure in multimedia learning. Educational Psychology, 39(4), 530549.Google Scholar
Münchow, H., Mengelkamp, C., & Bannert, M. (2017). The better you feel the better you learn: Do warm colours and rounded shapes enhance learning outcome in multimedia learning? Education Research International, 2017(2), 115.Google Scholar
Navratil, S. D., Kühl, T., & Heidig, S. (2018). Why the cells look like that – the influence of learning with emotional design and elaborative interrogations. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1653.Google Scholar
Paivio, A. (2007). Mind and Its Evolution: A Dual Coding Theoretical Approach. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Paivio, A. (2013). Dual coding theory, word abstractness, and emotion: A critical review of Kousta et al. (2011). Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 142(1), 282287.Google Scholar
Park, B., Flowerday, T., & Brünken, R. (2015). Cognitive and affective effects of seductive details in multimedia learning. Computers in Human Behavior, 44, 267278.Google Scholar
Park, B., Knörzer, L., Plass, J. L., & Brünken, R. (2015). Emotional design and positive emotions in multimedia learning: An eyetracking study on the use of anthropomorphisms. Computers & Education, 86, 3042.Google Scholar
Pawar, S., Tam, F., & Plass, J. L. (2020). Emerging design factors in game-Bbased learning: Emotional design, musical score, and game mechanics design. In Plass, J. L., Mayer, R. E., & Homer, B. D. (eds.), Handbook of Game-based Learning (pp. 347365). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Pekrun, R. (2006). The control-value theory of achievement emotions: Assumptions, corollaries, and implications for educational research and practice. Educational Psychology Review, 18, 315341.Google Scholar
Pekrun, R., & Linnenbrink-Garcia, L. (eds.) (2014). International Handbook of Emotions in Education. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Pessoa, L. (2008). On the relationship between emotion and cognition. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 9(2), 148158.Google Scholar
Phelps, E. A. (2004). Human emotion and memory: Interactions of the amygdala and hippocampal complex. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 14(2), 198202.Google Scholar
Plass, J. L., Heidig, S., Hayward, E. O., Homer, B. D., & Um, E. (2014). Emotional design in multimedia learning: Effects of shape and color on affect and learning. Learning and Instruction, 29, 128140.Google Scholar
Plass, J. L., Homer, B. D., Hayward, E. O., Frye, J., Huang, T. T., Biles, M., Stein, M., & Perlin, K. (2012). The effect of learning mechanics design on learning outcomes in a computer-based geometry game. E-Learning and Games for Training, Education, Health and Sports. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 7516, 6571.Google Scholar
Plass, J. L., Homer, B. D., & Kinzer, C. K. (2015). Foundations of game-based learning. Educational Psychologist, 50(4), 258283.Google Scholar
Plass, J. L., Homer, B. D., MacNamara, A., Ober, T., Rose, M. C., Hovey, C. M., Pawar, S., & Olsen, A. (2019). Emotional design for digital games for learning: The affective quality of expression, color, shape, and dimensionality of game characters. Learning and Instruction, 70, 101194.Google Scholar
Plass, J. L., Homer, B. D., Pawar, S., & Tam, F. (2018). Connecting theory and design through research: Cognitive skills training games. In Göbel, S., Garcia-Agundez, A., Tregel, T., Ma, M., Hauge, J. B., Oliveira, M., Marsh, T., & Caserman, P. (eds.), Serious Games. JCSG 2018. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (vol 11243). Cham: Springer.Google Scholar
Plass, J. L., & Kalyuga, S. (2019). Four ways of considering emotion in cognitive load theory. Educational Psychology Review, 31, 339359.Google Scholar
Plass, J. L., & Kaplan, U. (2016). Emotional design in digital media for learning. In Tettegah, S., & Gartmeier, M. (eds.), Emotions, Technology, Design, and Learning (pp. 131161). New York: Elsevier.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plass, J. L., Mayer, R. E., & Homer, B. D. (eds.) (2020). Handbook of Game-Based Learning. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Plass, J. L., Moreno, R., & Brünken, R. (eds.) (2010). Cognitive Load Theory. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Plass, J. L., O’Keefe, P., Homer, B. D., Hayward, E. O., Stein, M, & Perlin, K. (2013). Motivational and cognitive outcomes associated with individual, competitive, and collaborative game play. Journal of Educational Psychology, 4, 10501066.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riva, G., Mantovani, F., Capideville, C. S., Preziosa, A., Morganti, F., Villani, D., … Alcañiz, M. (2007). Affective interactions using virtual reality: The link between presence and emotions. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 10(1), 4556.Google Scholar
Rop, G., van Wermeskerken, M., de Nooijer, J. A., Verkoeijen, P. P., & van Gog, T. (2018). Task experience as a boundary condition for the negative effects of irrelevant information on learning. Educational Psychology Review, 30(1), 229253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russell, J. A. (2003). Core affect and the psychological construction of emotion. Psychological Review, 110(1), 145.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sabourin, J., Mott, B., & Lester, J. C. (2011). Modeling learner affect with theoretically grounded dynamic Bayesian networks. In International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction (pp. 286295). Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
Salminen, K., Rantala, J., Laitinen, P., Interactive, A., Surakka, V., Lylykangas, J., & Raisamo, R. (2009). Emotional responses to haptic stimuli in laboratory versus travelling by bus contexts. In 3rd International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction and Workshops, Amsterdam (pp. 17). New York: IEEE.Google Scholar
Salminen, K., Surakka, V., Lylykangas, J., Raisamo, J., Saarinen, R., Raisamo, R., … & Evreinov, G. (2008). Emotional and behavioral responses to haptic stimulation. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Florence, Italy (pp. 15551562). New York: ACM.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, S., Nebel, S., Beege, M., & Rey, G. D. (2018). Anthropomorphism in decorative pictures: Benefit or harm for learning? Journal of Educational Psychology, 110(2), 218.Google Scholar
Schneider, S., Nebel, S., & Rey, G. D. (2016). Decorative pictures and emotional design in multimedia learning. Learning and Instruction, 44, 6573.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stark, L., Brünken, R., & Park, B. (2018). Emotional text design in multimedia learning: A mixed-methods study using eye tracking. Computers & Education, 120, 185196.Google Scholar
Stark, L., Malkmus, E., Stark, R., Brünken, R., & Park, B. (2018). Learning-related emotions in multimedia learning: An application of control-value theory. Learning and Instruction, 58, 4252.Google Scholar
Stevenson, R. A., & James, T. W. (2008). Affective auditory stimuli: Characterization of the International Affective Digitized Sounds (IADS) by discrete emotional categories. Behavior Research Methods, 40(1), 315321.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sweller, J., Ayres, P., & Kalyuga, S. (2011). Cognitive Load Theory. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Tajadura-Jiménez, A., Väljamäe, A., Asutay, E., & Västfjäll, D. (2010). Embodied auditory perception: The emotional impact of approaching and receding sound sources. Emotion, 10(2), 216.Google Scholar
Taub, M., Azevedo, R., Rajendran, R., Cloude, E. B., Biswas, G., & Price, M. J. (2019). How are students’ emotions related to the accuracy of cognitive and metacognitive processes during learning with an intelligent tutoring system? Learning and Instruction, 72, 101200.Google Scholar
Um, E., Plass, J. L., Hayward, E. O., & Homer, B. D. (2012). Emotional design in multimedia learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 104(2), 485498.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uzun, A. M., & Yıldırım, Z. (2018). Exploring the effect of using different levels of emotional design features in multimedia science learning. Computers & Education, 119, 112128.Google Scholar
Västfjäll, D. (2003). The subjective sense of presence, emotion recognition, and experienced emotions in auditory virtual environments. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 6(2), 181188.Google Scholar
Vuoskoski, J. K., Gatti, E., Spence, C., & Clarke, E. F. (2016). Do visual cues intensify the emotional responses evoked by musical performance? A psychophysiological investigation. Psychomusicology: Music, Mind, and Brain, 26(2), 179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watson, D., & Clark, L. A. (1999). The PANAS-X: Manual for the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule-Expanded Form. Available from https://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1011&context=psychology_pubs (last accessed May 7, 2017).Google Scholar
Wolfson, S., & Case, G. (2000). The effects of sound and colour on responses to a computer game. Interacting with Computers, 13(2), 183192.Google Scholar
Wong, R. M., and Adesope, O. O. (2020). Meta-analysis of emotional designs in multimedia learning: A replication and extension study. Educational Psychology Review, 33, 357385.Google Scholar
Yoo, Y., Yoo, T., Kong, J., & Choi, S. (2015). Emotional responses of tactile icons: Effects of amplitude, frequency, duration, and envelope. In 2015 IEEE World Haptics Conference (WHC), Chicago, IL (pp. 235240). New York: IEEE.Google Scholar
Zhong, B., Qin, Z., Yang, S., Chen, J., Mudrick, N., Taub, M., Azevedo, R., & Lobaton, E. (2017). Emotion recognition with facial expressions and physiological signals. In 2017 IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence (SSCI), McLean, VA (pp. 18). New York: IEEE.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×