Applied Cognitive Psychology · 2011 · 321 citations · 47 references
Social SciencesEducational PsychologyPsychologyCognitive PsychologyMemoryReading ComprehensionCognitive LoadWorking MemoryCognitive Load In PresentationsModality EffectVisual Instructions
The modality effect describes how audio/visual instructions can outperform visual‑only instructions. The study examined the modality effect in two experiments within a cognitive load theory framework, hypothesizing that long auditory text may overload working memory and reverse the effect. Experiment 1 tested 24 primary‑school students with audio/visual versus visual‑only instructions for reading a temperature graph, while Experiment 2 replicated the design with 64 students and shortened both auditory and visual texts. When auditory text was long, visual text plus diagram produced better learning, reversing the usual modality advantage, but shortening the text restored the audio/visual superiority. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Abstract The modality effect occurs when audio/visual instructions are superior to visual only instructions. The effect was explored in two experiments conducted within a cognitive load theory framework. In Experiment 1, two groups of primary school students ( N = 24) were presented with either audio/visual or visual only instructions on how to read a temperature graph. The group presented with visual text and a diagram rather than audio text and a diagram was superior, reversing most previous data on the modality effect. It was hypothesized that the reason for the reversal was that the transitory auditory text component was too long to be processed easily in working memory compared to more permanent written information. Experiment 2 ( N = 64) replicated the experiment with the variation of a reduced length of both auditory and visual text instructions. Results indicated a reinstatement of the modality effect with audio/visual instructions proving superior to visual only instructions. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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