Enhancing Multimedia Learning by Emotional Arousal

Several studies in multimedia learning have examined the effect of emotional design. Recent findings from cognitive psychology provide opportunities for educators to use more direct ways of manipulating emotion to enhance learning. These studies have shown that emotionally arousing words and pictures are remembered better than neutral ones. Building upon these findings, this experimental study investigates the effect of arousal of instructional materials on learning. A total of 154 participants were randomly divided into a high-emotional arousal and a low-emotional arousal group in a between-subjects design. These results suggest that emotional arousal enhanced learning. Mediation analyses show that the effect of arousal on learning was partially mediated by interest. Accordingly, emotional arousal increased interest, which in turn improved transfer scores. The findings imply that motivational factors such as situational interest encouraged elaborative processing and deeper levels of learning. The direct effect of emotional arousal on learning was also significant.

Automated summary

Several studies have explored the impact of emotional design on multimedia learning. Recent findings from cognitive psychology suggest that manipulating emotion directly can enhance learning. The results show that emotionally arousing materials improve memory retention compared to neutral ones. This experimental study further investigates the effect of arousal on learning and finds that emotional arousal enhances learning by increasing interest and promoting deeper levels of processing.