title: Increased interestingness of extraneous details in a multimedia science presentation leads to decreased learning.
abstract: In Experiment 1, students received an illustrated booklet, PowerPoint presentation, or narrated animation that explained 6 steps in how a cold virus infects the human body. The material included 6 high-interest details mainly about the role of viruses in sex or death (high group) or 6 low-interest details consisting of facts and health tips about viruses (low group). The low group outperformed the high group across all 3 media on a subsequent test of problem-solving transfer (d = .80) but not retention (d = .05). In Experiment 2, students who studied a PowerPoint lesson explaining the steps in how digestion works performed better on a problem-solving transfer test if the lesson contained 7 low-interest details rather than 7 high-interest details (d = .86), but the groups did not differ on retention (d = .26). In both experiments, as the interestingness of details was increased, student understanding decreased (as measured by transfer). Results are consistent with a cognitive theory of multimedia learning, in which highly interesting details sap processing capacity away from deeper cognitive processing of the core material during learning.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9660, USA. mayer@psych.ucsb.edu
authors.forename: Richard E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Mayer
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Griffith
authors.forename: Ilana T N
authors.initials: IT
authors.lastname: Jurkowitz
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rothman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001288:Attention; D003139:Common Cold / Q000821:virology; D004063:Digestion / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D019212:Multimedia; D011340:Problem Solving; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D012229:Rhinovirus / Q000472:pathogenicity; D012586:Science / Q000193:education*; D013663:Teaching; D014163:Transfer, Psychology; D055815:Young Adult