Cognitive principles of multimedia learning: The role of modality and contiguity.

Students viewed a computer animation depicting the process of lightning. In Experiment 1, they concurrently viewed on-screen text presented near the animation or far from the animation, or concurrently listened to a narration. In Experiment 2, they concurrently viewed on-screen text or listened to a narration, viewed on-screen text following or preceding the animation, or listened to a narration following or preceding the animation. Learning was measured by retention, transfer, and matching tests. Experiment 1 revealed a spatial-contiguity effect in which students learned better when visual and verbal materials were physically close. Both experiments revealed a modality effect in which students learned better when verbal input was presented auditorily as speech rather than visually as text. The results support 2 cognitive principles of multimedia learning. Technological advances have made possible the combina-tion and coordination of verbal presentation modes (such as narration and on-screen text) with nonverbal presentation modes (such as graphics, video, animations, and environmen-tal sounds) in just one device (the computer). These ad-vances include multimedia environments, where students can be introduced to causal models of complex systems by the use of computer-generated animations (Park Hopkins, 1993). However, despite its power to facilitate learning, multimedia has been develo~ed on the basis of its technologi-.d cal capacity, and rarely is it used according to research-based principles (Kozma, 1991; Mayer, in press; Moore, Burton, Myers, 1996). Instructional design of multimedia is still mostly based on the intuitive beliefs of designers rather than on empirical evidence (Park Hannafin, 1994). The purpose of the present study is to contribute to multi-media learning theory by clarifying and testing two cogni-tive principles: the contiguity principle and the modality principle.