Social interaction is a catalyst for adult human learning in online contexts

Human learning is highly social.(1-3) Advances in technology have increasingly moved learning online, and the recent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has accelerated this trend. Online learning can vary in terms of how sociallythe material is presented (e.g., live or recorded), but there are limited data on which is most effective, with the majority of studies conducted on children(4-8) and inconclusive results on adults.(9,10) Here, we examine how young adults (aged 18-35) learn information about unknown objects, systematically varying the social contingency (live versus recorded lecture) and social richness (viewing the teacher's face, hands, or slides) of the learning episodes. Recall was tested immediately and after 1 week. Experiment 1 (n = 24) showed better learning for live presentation and a full view of the teacher (hands and face). Experiment 2 (n = 27; pre-registered) replicated the live-presentation advantage. Both experiments showed an interaction between social contingency and social richness: the presence of social cues affected learning differently depending on whether teaching was interactive or not. Live social interaction with a full view of the teacher's face provided the optimal setting for learning new factual information. However, during observational learning, social cues may be more cognitively demanding(11) and/or distracting,(12-14) resulting in less learning from rich social information if there is no interactivity. We suggest that being part of a genuine social interaction catalyzes learning, possibly via mechanisms of joint attention,(15) common ground,(16) or (inter-) active discussion, and as such, interactive learning benefits from rich social settings.(17,18)

Automated summary

Human learning is highly social, and online learning has become increasingly popular, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study focused on how young adults learn about unknown objects, finding that live presentation and a full view of the teacher's face and hands were most effective for learning new factual information. Additionally, social cues interact with social contingency and social richness to affect learning outcomes, with interactive social learning benefiting from rich social settings.