Several studies in multimedia learning have examined the effect of emotional design. Recent findings from cognitive psychology provide opportunities for educators to use more direct ways of manipulating emotion to enhance learning. These studies have shown that emotionally arousing words and pictures are remembered better than neutral ones.…

Recent findings from psychological studies have shown that emotional arousal improves human memory. However, more evidence is necessary if these results are generalisable to multimedia learning environments. Considering these needs, the study has the goal to examine the effect of emotional arousal on multimedia learning. Fifty-seven participants…

Anxiety is a common affective state, characterized by the subjectively unpleasant feelings of dread over an anticipated event. Anxiety is suspected to have important negative consequences on cognition, decision-making, and learning. Yet, despite a recent surge in studies investigating the specific effects of anxiety on reinforcement-learning, no…

Seductive details in general affect learning and cognitive load negatively. However, especially background music as a seductive detail may also influence the learner's arousal, whose optimal level depends on the learner's extraversion. Therefore, the effects of extraversion and background music on learning outcomes, cognitive load, and arousal…

Two experiments assessed the effects of extinguishing a conditioned cue on subsequent context conditioning. Each experiment used a different video-game method where sensors predicted attacking spaceships and participants responded to the sensor in a way that prepared them for the upcoming attack. In Experiment 1 extinction of a cue which signaled…