Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning

By Richard E. Mayer. The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning, 2005

1,848 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract A fundamental hypothesis underlying research on multimedia learning is that multimedia instructional messages that are designed in light of how the human mind works are more likely to lead to meaningful learning than those that are not. The cognitive theory of multimedia learning (CTML) is based on three cognitive science principles of learning: the human information processing system includes dual channels for visual/pictorial and auditory/verbal processing (i.e., dual-channels assumption); each channel has limited capacity for processing (i.e., limited capacity assumption); and active learning entails carrying out a coordinated set of cognitive processes during learning (i.e., active processing assumption). The cognitive theory of multimedia learning specifies five cognitive processes in multimedia learning: selecting relevant words from the presented text or narration, selecting relevant images from the presented illustrations, organizing the selected words into a coherent verbal representation, organizing selected images into a coherent pictorial representation, and integrating the pictorial and verbal representations and prior knowledge. Multimedia instructional messages should be designed to prime these processes. The Case for Multimedia Learning What is the rationale for a theory of multimedia learning? People learn more deeply from words and pictures than from words alone. This assertion – which can be called the multimedia principle – underlies much of the interest in multimedia learning. For thousands of years, words have been the major format for instruction – including spoken words, and within the last few hundred years, printed words.

Subfields: Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Safety Research

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/46aa0f059b6f6fc3e77c26177bc66aca45ec065b

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In Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition

1. Michael Kerres
2. Josef Buchner
3. Melina Klepsch
4. Tina Seufert
5. Katja Buntins

In Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

1. Melina Klepsch
2. Michael Kerres
3. Josef Buchner
4. Tina Seufert
5. Katja Buntins
6. Shaaron E. Ainsworth

In Safety Research

1. Melina Klepsch
2. Tina Seufert

Citations in the corpus

• The impact of augmented reality on cognitive load and performance: A systematic review (2021, background): “Learning and training with AR can be related to Mayer (2002, 2014)'s cognitive theory of multimedia learning (CTML), as verbal and pictorial information is presented simultaneously.”
• Understanding instructional design effects by differentiated measurement of intrinsic, extraneous, and germane cognitive load (2020, methodology): “For an overview, see Mayer (2005b, 2009).”