How Seductive Details Effect Multimedia Learning

Seductive details refers to an interesting addition to a teaching material that is relevant to the subject but not to the goal in order to interest the student.The decline in learning due to the increase of seductive details is also known as the seductive details effect by scholars.The current research discusses the boundary conditions of the seductive detail effect and how to avoid the negative effect of the seductive detail effect.However,under different research conditions,the conclusion of whether the effect of the seductive details on the learning effect is positive or negative is not consistent,and the moderating factors of the effect of the seductive details are still to be clarified.Seductive detail effect to give enlightenment on the teaching is completely remove seductive details,when to teach some boring teaching materials,however,some teachers still may choose to add seductive details in teaching to improve students’ interest and participation,therefore,an in-depth understanding of certain types of seductive details on a particular type of teaching effect and how to reduce the negative influence of intimate details is necessary for education researchers.This study explores the relevance of seductive detail(the relationship between seductive detail and the teaching topic)and the influence of knowledge types on the seductive detail effect,and examines whether cues can mitigate the negative effects of seductive detail from the perspective of attention distraction theory.Using eye-tracking technology,the study conducted three experiments to answer the following questions: how different levels of seductive detail affect the effectiveness of multimedia learning;How does the seductive detail affect the learning effect of different types of knowledge;Whether the use of cues in instructional messages can mitigate the negative effects of seductive details.Experiment 1 adopts the experimental design among subjects and sets the control group at the same time to compare the similarities and differences of the influence of high and low degree of relevancy on the learning effect.The purpose is to determine which kind of attraction details are more likely to affect the learning.In experiment 2,a two-factor mixed experimental design is adopted,in which the knowledge type is the within-subject factor and the seductive details are the between-subject factor,to explore the similarities and differences between the influence of specific seductive details on the learning effect of conceptual knowledge and factual knowledge,so as to determine which knowledge is more susceptible to the influence of seductive details.In experiment 3,two-factor experimental design was adopted among the subjects.In the case of specific seductive details and specific knowledge types,the negative effects of seductive details could be mitigated by cues.Under the conditions of this study,the following conclusions are drawn:(1)the degree of association between the seductive details and the teaching topic has a moderating effect on the seductive details.Compared with the low-related seductive details,the high-related seductive details are more likely to hinder learning.(2)highly relevant seductive details in multimedia learning have a negative impact on the memory and understanding of different types of knowledge(conceptual knowledge and factual knowledge).(3)the introduction of color cues in learning materials containing highly relevant seductive details cannot mitigate the negative effects of seductive details.(4)the results of this study support the distraction hypothesis.Seductive details will distract learners’ attention and reduce their reading time for important information.