Enabling, Facilitating, and Inhibiting Effects in Learning from Animated Pictures

Animated pictures can have different functions in the process of learning. They can have an enabling function if they allow the learner to perform a higher amount of cognitive processing than static pictures. They can also have a facilitating function if they make specific cognitive processes easier to perform through external support. Two experiments were carried out which investigated differences between learning from animated and learning from static pictures and which analysed whether different kinds of animation have different cognitive functions for different kinds of learners. Results indicate that manipulation pictures have primarily an enabling function for learners with higher prior knowledge, whereas simulation pictures have primarily a facilitating function for learners with lower prior knowledge. This facilitating function is not necessarily beneficial, because unneeded external support can hinder learners to perform relevant cognitive processes.