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According to the multimedia principle, adding relevant pictures to text is beneficial for learning. This beneficial effect is particularly true for text depicted in pictures (illustrated text information) but not for a text that is not illustrated in pictures (non-illustrated text information). The multimedia principle was examined for threat-related content: spider-fearful participants (SFs) learned about spiders. Since SFs typically inadequately process spider pictures, a beneficial effect of pictures concerning illustrated text information was not assumed for SFs but only for non-anxious control participants (NACs). Participants (N = 123) were randomly assigned to either a text-only condition or a text-picture condition and classified as SFs or NACs. In line with this assumption, adding pictures to text was not beneficial for SFs but only for NACs, particularly for illustrated text information. Thus, the perceived emotional content of pictures can serve as a boundary condition for the well-established multimedia principle.

Spatial abilities have been found to interact with the design of visualizations in educational materials in different forms: (1) spatial abilities enhanced learning with optimized visual design (ability-as-enhancer) or (2) spatial abilities compensated for suboptimal visual design (ability-as-compensator). A brief review of pertinent studies suggests that these two forms are viewed as mutually exclusive. We propose a novel unifying conceptualization. This conceptualization suggests that the ability-as enhancer interaction will be found in the low-medium range of a broad ability continuum whereas the ability-as-compensator interaction will be found in the medium-high range. The largest difference in learning outcomes between visual design variations is expected for medium ability. A corresponding analytical approach is suggested that includes nonlinear quadratic interactions. The unifying conceptualization was confirmed in an experiment with a consistent visual-spatial task. In addition, the conceptualization was investigated with a reanalysis of pooled data from four multimedia learning experiments. Consistent with the conceptualization, quadratic interactions were found, meaning that interactions depended on ability range. The largest difference between visual design variations was obtained for medium ability, as expected. It is concluded that the unifying conceptualization is a useful theoretical and methodological approach to analyze and interpret aptitude-treatment interactions that go beyond linear interactions.

According to the personalization principle, addressing learners by means of a personalized compared to a nonpersonalized message can foster learning. Interestingly, though, a recent study found that the personalization principle can invert for aversive contents. The present study investigated whether the negative effect of a personalized message for an aversive content can be compensated when learners are in a happy mood. It was hypothesized that the negative effect of a personalized compared to a nonpersonalized message would only be observable for participants in a sad mood, while for participants in a happy mood a personalized message should be beneficial. A 2 × 2 between-subject design with mood (happy vs. sad) and personalization (personalized vs. nonpersonalized message) was used (N = 125 University students). Mood was experimentally varied prior to learning. Learning outcomes were measured by a retention and a transfer test. Results were essentially in line with the assumption: For participants in the sad mood condition, a negative effect of a personalized message was observable for retention and transfer. For participants in the happy mood condition, a positive effect of personalized message was observable for retention, but no effect for transfer. Note that the manipulation check measure for the mood induction procedure did not detect differences between conditions; this may be due to a shortcoming of the used measure (as indicated by an additional evaluation study). The study emphasizes the importance to consider the inherent emotional content of a topic, such as its aversive nature, since the emotional content of a topic can be a boundary condition for design principles in multimedia learning. The study also highlights the complex interplay of externally induced and inherently arising emotions.

In research on learning with animations compared to static pictures usually very short and narrowly defined topics are chosen. However, in school contexts such topics are often extended by additional information (i.e., information that is related to a given topic, but not essential for this topic). In the current study, that took place in a school context, it was investigated which role additional information would play when learning with animations compared to static pictures. It was hypothesized that there would be a beneficial effect of the animation, that additional information would impede learning the original topic and that the beneficial effect of the animation compared to the static picture would be even more pronounced when additional information is presented compared to when no additional information is given. A 2 × 2 between-subject design, with visualization format (animation vs. static picture) and additional information (present vs. absent) as independent variables, was used (N = 199 high school students). Learning outcomes were analysed by means of a focal contrast analysis that corresponded to the stated hypotheses. Results revealed that the hypotheses were not met for factual knowledge tasks, but for transfer tasks: Additional information hindered learning, and the advantage of the animation over the static picture was more pronounced when additional information was presented. However, it should be noted that learners receiving additional information performed better on questions about the additional information than learners without additional information. Implications of these results are discussed.

According to the seductive detail effect, adding interesting but irrelevant information (i.e., seductive details) can be detrimental to learning success. In this study, it was explored within two experiments whether the valence of text-based seductive details might affect learning outcomes differently. For Experiments 1 and 2, we pretested text-based seductive details for their emotional valence (n = 32 or n = 25 students, respectively). For the main studies of Experiments 1 (n = 105) and 2 (n = 131), university students were randomly assigned to one of four conditions that varied with respect to the presence of seductive details and their emotional valence (no vs. positive vs. negative vs. neutral). Unexpectedly, results revealed in both experiments no seductive details effect and also no differences between the three seductive detail conditions for the used learning outcome measures retention and transfer. Possible reasons for these findings and their implications are discussed.

This research examined whether the informational advantage of an animation over a static picture (and over no visualizations as a control condition) can be compensated by presenting the information in the text that constitutes this informational advantage. In addition, it was investigated whether learners' spatial abilities acted as a compensator in learning with a static picture compared to an animation. Moreover, the underlying cognitive processes were explored by eye tracking measures. Two hundred and one university students were randomly assigned to one to six conditions resulting from a 2 × 3 between-subjects design with text information (with vs. without dynamic information) and visualization format (no visualization vs. static picture vs. animation) as independent variables and spatial abilities as continuous factor. For learning outcomes, results revealed that, other than expected, text information did not moderate learning with the different visualization formats. However, learners receiving visualizations significantly outperformed learners in the control conditions, and learners receiving animations significantly outperformed learners receiving static pictures in a transfer test. An analysis of the eye tracking data revealed that this beneficial effect of animations over static pictures was mediated by a pupillometry measure that is supposed to reflect effortful cognitive processing. Spatial abilities acted as a compensator in learning with the two visualization formats: The advantage of animations was particularly evident for learners with low spatial abilities, but not for learners with high spatial abilities. These results indicate that the informational advantage of animations over static pictures cannot easily be compensated through text information, but by learners' spatial abilities.