The Effects of Attention Cueing on Visualizers' Multimedia Learning

The present study examines how various types of attention cueing and cognitive preference affect learners’ comprehension of a cardiovascular system and cognitive load. EFL learners were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: non-signal, static-blood-signal, static-blood-static-arrow-signal, and animation-signal. The results indicated that attention cueing yielded similar performance but helped reduce the learners’ mental load. No interaction effects between cognitive style and the experimental conditions on the learners’ total score and cognitive load were observed. Both highand low-visualizers benefited equally well from attention cueing. However, an interaction effect in one subtest was observed indicating that attention cueing can result in learning interference among high-visualizers. Contrary to the hypothesis, the presence of attention cueing did not optimize conceptual understanding.