Article Dans Une Revue Education and Information Technologies Année : 2025

A working memory reversal effect on design principles? Evidence on pauses in video among children

Résumé

In the field of multimedia learning, instructional videos have become a widely used tool to facilitate knowledge acquisition across various educational contexts. However, designing these videos effectively is critical to enhancing learning outcomes and minimizing cognitive overload. To address this challenge, researchers have developed design principles aimed at optimizing how information is presented to learners. However, while the limited capacity of Working Memory (WM) is the central to the effectiveness of design principles, learners’ Working Memory Capacity (WMC) has only been considered in a few studies. Previous findings in the literature suggest a WM reversal effect, for which the current study aims to provide evidence: recommendations from design principles are only beneficial for low-WMC learners and may even be detrimental for high-WMC learners. A focus is made on the design principle of imposed pauses in videos. Forty-seven children took a WMC test before watching a 7-minute instructional video. They were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: the video either included imposed pauses or did not. As expected, the results showed that the benefits of imposed pauses on learning performance depend on WMC. Children with low WMC had better learning outcomes when pauses were imposed, while the imposed pauses had no effect on high-WMC learners. This study demonstrates the importance of WMC in the effect of imposed pauses on learning among children. Design recommendations regarding pauses in videos should specify that the beneficial effect of imposed pauses depends on learners’ WMC. Further research on the WM reversal effect should explore other design principles.

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Dates et versions

hal-05023089 , version 1 (07-04-2025)

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Mathieu Pinelli, Salomé Cojean. A working memory reversal effect on design principles? Evidence on pauses in video among children. Education and Information Technologies, 2025, ⟨10.1007/s10639-025-13545-1⟩. ⟨hal-05023089⟩
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