Adding emotionality to seductive details—Consequences for learning?

According to the seductive detail effect, adding interesting but irrelevant information (i.e., seductive details) can be detrimental to learning success. In this study, it was explored within two experiments whether the valence of text‐based seductive details might affect learning outcomes differently. For Experiments 1 and 2, we pretested text‐based seductive details for their emotional valence (n = 32 or n = 25 students, respectively). For the main studies of Experiments 1 (n = 105) and 2 (n = 131), university students were randomly assigned to one of four conditions that varied with respect to the presence of seductive details and their emotional valence (no vs. positive vs. negative vs. neutral). Unexpectedly, results revealed in both experiments no seductive details effect and also no differences between the three seductive detail conditions for the used learning outcome measures retention and transfer. Possible reasons for these findings and their implications are discussed.     

Do seductive details do their damage in the context of graph comprehension? Insights from eye movements

In educational research, interesting but irrelevant materials are often considered seductive details, which are suspected to have detrimental effects on learning. Although seductive details have been mostly examined in the context of text comprehension, such elements are also used in graphs (e.g., depicting data points). In the present experiment, we investigated both seductive text and seductive pictures in the context of graph comprehension as well as the interaction of seductive details with spatial working memory capacity (SWMC). We recorded N = 68 students' eye movements, while they analyzed bar graphs in a within‐subject design. Data were analyzed with linear mixed‐effects models. Results show that seductive details did not affect students' graph reading performance but prolonged the task processing time. Eye‐fixation measures revealed that additional processing time was best explained by attention distraction towards the seductive material. SWMC did not affect the presence or the extent of the seductive details effect.     

The influence of background music on learners with varying extraversion: Seductive detail or beneficial effect?

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 were investigated. We tested 167 high school students and found better transfer outcomes for the group with background music. They also reported higher germane load, but no impact of background music on extraneous cognitive load or arousal was found. In the group without background music, learners with higher extraversion reached better recall scores, which was not found in the group with background music. Results may cautiously be interpreted that there is a beneficial impact of background music that compensates for the disadvantages of low extraverted learners and which cannot be explained through arousal.     

Are seductive details seductive only when you think they are relevant? An experimental test of the moderating role of perceived relevance

We investigated whether seductive details (i.e., interesting but irrelevant adjuncts) are harmful to learning only when students (mistakenly) think that they are relevant. We therefore conducted a study in which participants (N = 86) learned either without seductive details (control condition) or with seductive details—in the latter case with or without being informed about the seductive details' irrelevance. In line with our hypotheses, only participants who were not informed about the irrelevance of seductive details revealed worse learning outcomes than those in the control condition, thereby revealing a seductive details effect. Extraneous cognitive load, but not perceived time pressure, mediated the negative effects of being uninformed about the irrelevance of seductive details on learning outcomes. Taken together, our results suggest that the perceived relevance of seductive details is a boundary condition of the seductive details effect.     

Using Selective Redundancy to Eliminate the Seductive Details Effect

The seductive details effect occurs when adding interesting, but extraneous, details to a lesson impairs learning of the lesson's key information. Although instructors could simply remove such interesting details, prior research suggests that interest can be a powerful motivating factor for learning. In the present research, we attempted to recruit the motivational benefits of seductive details without eliciting their detrimental effects by manipulating the redundancy between narrated and on‐screen verbal information within a multimedia lesson. We presented 69 college students with different instructional videos, one in which key facts were presented with on‐screen text slightly different from the narration, while seductive details were presented with on‐screen text that was identical to the narration. We eliminated the seductive details effect for these participants, indicating that partial redundancy can be used as a means by which interesting details can be included in a lesson without detracting from the learning of key facts.Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The impact of seductive details and signaling on analogical transfer

This study tests if the seductive details effect on transfer is mitigated by signaling. Preservice teachers (N = 73) were randomly assigned on the basis of two factors, signaling and seductive details. After learning about principles of effective feedback, participants reflected on a narrative text case illustrating the instructional material that either contained or did not contain signals (highlighting key base text) and/or seductive details (interesting but extraneous details). Whereas no group differences for signaling, or signaling by seductive details interaction were found, a significant main effect for seductive details on transfer was found, Cohen's d = 0.51. These results suggest seductive details embedded in narrative cases negatively impact analogical transfer, and the effect is not mitigated by the inclusion of signaling. This lends support to the diversion hypothesis of seductive details, which suggests that seductive details damage learning by preventing meaningful encoding in appropriate schema.     

The effect of task relevance instructions on memory for text with seductive details

Seductive details in text are interesting but unimportant text segments. Although seductive details can make expository text more interesting, they do not necessarily promote learning of main ideas. This study investigated whether task relevance instructions that targeted main ideas would promote memory for main ideas when students read a text with seductive details. Undergraduates (n = 102) read a text with seductive detail sentences and then did a free recall task. Before reading, participants received pre‐reading questions that either targeted main ideas or seductive details, or they read for understanding. The main finding was that students in the main idea relevance instruction condition recalled main ideas better than students in the control or seductive detail relevance instruction conditions. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed, and directions for future research are provided.     

Editorial: Harmful or helpful to learning? The impact of seductive details on learning and instruction

Most previous research found negative effects on learning outcomes when interesting but irrelevant information (i.e., seductive details) is added to an instruction. To what degree such effects are bound to specific conditions is in the focus of this special issue. Specifically, 11 empirical studies are reported within this special issue. They all address the topic of seductive details in learning and instruction by focusing either on cognitive moderators (e.g., working memory capacity and current beliefs) or on noncognitive moderators (e.g., arousal and affect) of the seductive details effect. Taken together, results from the empirical studies hint towards new moderators and suggest that the negative effects of seductive details on learning outcomes may be smaller than expected based on previous research.     

Taking a new look at seductive details

What is the effect of seductive details on learning outcomes? What are the boundary conditions of seductive detail effects? How do seductive details affect learning? These are the kinds of questions addressed in this special issue on seductive details. This special issue contains 11 articles presenting original results that take a new look at seductive details.     

Static and dynamic seductive illustration effects on text‐and‐graphic learning processes,perceptions, and outcomes: Evidence from eye tracking

This study aimed to examine how different forms (still pictures vs. animations) of seductive illustrations impact text‐and‐graphic learning processes, perceptions, and outcomes. An eye‐tracking experiment of three groups (static, dynamic, and control) was conducted with 60 college and graduate students while learning with PowerPoint slides about infant motor development milestones. Prior knowledge, learning performance, learning perception, and visual attention were assessed by achievement tests, self‐rated scales, and eye‐tracking measures. Analysis of variance and t test results showed that, under a low task‐load condition, no seductive details effect was found for learning achievement but was found for learning process and perception. Decreased attention was found in the relevant pictures in both experimental groups. With more deeply and intensively processing on the seductive animations, the dynamic group perceived more distractions than the static group. Lag sequential analysis results revealed different visual transitional patterns for the groups, providing deep understandings about the process of seductive details effects.     

Is the seductive details effect moderated by mood? An eye‐tracking study

According to the seductive details (SD) effect, interesting, but irrelevant information in learning materials reduces learning outcomes. Basic research suggests that subjects in positive mood are more distractible by task‐irrelevant stimuli than subjects in negative mood. Hence, mood could moderate the SD effect. We tested this assumption by comparing eye movements to seductive pictures in participants in positive versus negative mood. As expected, participants in positive mood fixated pictures longer and more frequently than participants in negative mood, which can be interpreted in terms of mood‐based higher distractibility. However, this did not translate to a more pronounced SD effect in the learning test. Unexpectedly, there was no SD effect in either mood condition. We discuss implications of the eye‐tracking data as well as potential reasons for the nonexistent SD effect in our study.     

Caffeine increases false memory in nonhabitual consumers

Insight into caffeine's equivocal effects on memory can be derived from work suggesting both emotional arousal and psychosocial stress increase false memory rates without increasing veridical memory. This study investigated how a range of caffeine doses affect veridical and false memory formation in nonhabitual consumers. A double-blind, repeated-measures design with caffeine (0 mg, 100 mg, 200 mg, 400 mg caffeine) was used to examine memory using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm. Results showed that caffeine modulated arousal levels, peaking at 200 mg and returning to near baseline levels at 400 mg. Main effects of caffeine demonstrated higher critical lure recall and recognition ratings (i.e., false memory) as a function of dose, again peaking at 200 mg. Those who showed the highest arousal increases as a function of caffeine also tended to produce the highest false recall and recognition rates. Veridical memory was not affected. Results demonstrate that consumption of as little as 100 mg of caffeine elicits reliable inverted-U shape changes in arousal and, in turn, false memories in individuals who do not habitually consume caffeine.     

A comparison of preschoolers' recall of experienced versus non‐experienced events across multiple interviews

Preschool children's recall of both experienced and non‐experienced activities was examined across three interviews. One hundred and six children aged 4 to 5 years (58 males, 48 females) from both low and high socioeconomic status areas participated in an event called the Deakin Activities, which consisted of two experienced activities. One or two days later, the children were asked to recall what happened in the two activities and an activity they had not experienced which was suggested to have occurred along with the experienced activities. Next, children were given false suggestions about one of the experienced (true‐biased) activities and the non‐experienced (false) activity. For the remaining experienced (true‐unbiased) activity, no questions were asked. Three and eight days after the activities were presented, children were again required to recall all three activities in their own words while a variety of suggestive techniques were used as encouragers. The results revealed that irrespective of the SES group, assent rates across the true and false activities became more similar after the first interview. Furthermore, children's narratives about the false activity became more similar in detail, structure and quality to their narratives about the true activities across interviews. However, the rate of fantastic/improbable details was higher for the false activity compared to the true activities, children reported more interviewer suggestions about the false activity than the true‐biased activity, and there were fewer confabulation errors reported about the false activity compared to the true activities. The implications of the results are discussed. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Rhythm Method: A New Method for Measuring Cognitive Load—An Experimental Dual‐Task Study

The present study joins a series of studies that used the dual‐task paradigm to measure cognitive load while learning with multimedia instruction. The goal of the current work was to develop a secondary task, to measure cognitive load in a direct and continuous way using intra‐individual, behavioral measures. The new task is achieved by utilizing internalized cues. More specifically, a previously practiced rhythm is executed continuously by foot tapping (secondary task) while learning (primary task). Precision of the executed rhythm was used as indicator for cognitive load—the higher the precision, the lower cognitive load. The suitability of this method was examined by two multimedia experiments (n₁ = 30; n₂ = 50). Cognitive load was manipulated by seductive details (Experiment 1: with vs. without) and modality (Experiment 2: on‐screen text vs. narration). Learners who learned under low cognitive load conditions (Experiment 1: without seductive details; Experiment 2: narration) showed significantly higher rhythm precision. These results provide evidence that rhythm precision allows for a precise and continuous measurement of cognitive load during learning. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Visuospatial counter‐interrogation strategies by liars familiar with the alibi setting

This study examines counter‐interrogation strategies employed by liars giving false alibis. Participants (N = 144) visited a restaurant to buy a sandwich (truth‐tellers) or to use it as a false alibi (liars). Half of the liars were informed they might be asked for a drawing of the alibi setting if interviewed (informed liars). Participants spent either 10 min (high familiarity condition) or 30 s (low familiarity condition) in the restaurant. All participants were asked to provide two visuospatial statements, which were assessed for salient details, nonsalient details, between‐statement consistency, and statement‐alibi setting consistency. Informed liars provided significantly more salient and nonsalient details than uninformed liars and truth‐tellers, particularly in the high familiarity condition. No differences emerged for statement consistency types. The results suggest that liars are more concerned than truth‐tellers about making a positive impression on the interviewer, and they fail to accurately reflect on truth‐tellers' visuospatial statements.     

An examination of the seductive details effect in terms of working memory capacity

Previous work on learning from text has demonstrated that although illustrated text can enhance comprehension, illustrations can also sometimes lead to poor learning outcomes when they are not relevant to understanding the text This phenomenon is known as the seductive details effect. The first experiment was designed to test whether the ability to control one's attention, as measured by working memory span tasks, would influence the processing of a scientific text that contained seductive (irrelevant) images, conceptually relevant images, or no illustrations. Understanding was evaluated using both an essay response and an inference verification task. Results indicated that low working memory capacity readers are especially vulnerable to the seductive details effect. In the second experiment, this issue was explored further, using eye-tracking methodology to evaluate the reading patterns of individuals who differed in working memory capacity as they read the same seductively illustrated scientific text Results indicated that low working memory individuals attend to seductive illustrations more often than not and, also, for a longer duration than do those individuals high in working memory capacity.     

States of curiosity and interest enhance memory differently in adolescents and in children

Curiosity – broadly defined as the desire to acquire new information – enhances learning and memory in adults. In addition, interest in the information (i.e., when the information is processed) can also facilitate later memory. To date, it is not known how states of pre‐information curiosity and post‐information interest enhance memory in childhood and adolescence. We used a trivia paradigm in which children and adolescents (N = 60, 10–14 years) encoded trivia questions and answers associated with high or low curiosity. States of high pre‐answer curiosity enhanced later memory for trivia answers in both children and adolescents. However, higher positive post‐answer interest enhanced memory for trivia answers beyond the effects of curiosity more strongly in adolescents than in children. These results suggest that curiosity and interest have positive effects on learning and memory in childhood and adolescence, but might need to be harnessed in differential ways across child development to optimize learning.     

Eyewitness memory for arousing events: putting things into context

If attention is focused on central details at high levels of arousal, memory for peripheral details should be diminished (Easterbrook, 1959 ). If this is the case, contextual reinstatement (CR) procedures should not enhance memory because these procedures specifically use peripheral information to cue memory. The present experiment tested how arousal influenced eyewitness memory for an event and how it interacts with CR procedures. Participants first viewed one of three series of slides (neutral, arousal, or unusual/control). Memory for central and peripheral details was tested via photo lineups and recognition tests. Although CR procedures enhanced recognition memory for non‐arousing and unusual events, they did not affect recognition memory for arousing events. Analyses of the peripheral photo lineup and peripheral recognition test data revealed that CR enhanced the hit rate for the neutral and unusual conditions but not for the arousal condition. Although CR procedures tended to enhance recognition of central information (increasing the hit rate and decreasing the false alarm rate), CR had a smaller enhancement effect in the arousal condition relative to the neutral and unusual conditions. The present experiment also replicates the Christianson and Loftus ( 1991 ) finding that peripheral information is not remembered as well in an arousing event, as compared to memory of neutral and unusual events. The theoretical and applied implications of these results are discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Arousal,valence, and memory for detail

A common finding in the emotion‐memory literature is that memory is enhanced for positively arousing stimuli and negatively arousing stimuli relative to neutral stimuli. We tested the notion that post‐stimulus elaboration is responsible for these effects. Post‐stimulus elaboration refers to the process of thinking about an event (after its offset) more frequently or more in‐depth. We tested the hypothesis by presenting participants with 36 slides depicting events that varied in arousal (low and high) and valence (positive and negative). The opportunity for elaboration was manipulated by requiring participants, during the inter‐slide interval, to complete addition problems, simply view the addition problems, or view a blank slide. Cued recall memory was tested for central and background details. Based on the post‐stimulus elaboration hypothesis it was expected that the greatest memory decline would occur for the central details of negatively and positively arousing slides when participants were required to complete addition problems (i.e., a distractor task × arousal × detail interaction). Contrary to the hypothesis, we found that filling the inter‐slide interval with a distractor task decreased memory for negative stimuli compared to positive stimuli. This effect was independent of arousal. We also found that arousal increased central detail memory for positive and negative stimuli and background detail memory for positive stimuli but not for negative stimuli. This interaction was explained on the basis of pre‐attentive encoding and cue utilisation. It was concluded that in order to understand the complex relationship between emotion and memory, future studies should include, as a minimum, the variables of valence, arousal, and detail.     

Sequence‐specific procedural learning deficits in children with specific language impairment

This study tested the procedural deficit hypothesis of specific language impairment (SLI) by comparing children's performance in two motor procedural learning tasks and an implicit verbal sequence learning task. Participants were 7‐ to 11‐year‐old children with SLI (n = 48), typically developing age‐matched children (n = 20) and younger typically developing children matched for receptive grammar (n = 28). In a serial reaction time task, the children with SLI performed at the same level as the grammar‐matched children, but poorer than age‐matched controls in learning motor sequences. When tested with a motor procedural learning task that did not involve learning sequential relationships between discrete elements (i.e. pursuit rotor), the children with SLI performed comparably with age‐matched children and better than younger grammar‐matched controls. In addition, poor implicit learning of word sequences in a verbal memory task (the Hebb effect) was found in the children with SLI. Together, these findings suggest that SLI might be characterized by deficits in learning sequence‐specific information, rather than generally weak procedural learning.