Seductive details

Seductive details are often used in textbooks, lectures, slideshows, and other forms of educational content to make a course more interesting or interactive. Seductive details can take the form of text, animations, photos, illustrations, sounds or music and are by definition: (1) interesting and (2) not directed toward the learning objectives of a lesson.[1] John Dewey, in 1913, first referred to this as "fictitious inducements to attention."[2] While illustrated text can enhance comprehension, illustrations that are not relevant can lead to poor learning outcomes.[3] Since the late 1980s, many studies in the field of educational psychology have shown that the addition of seductive details results in poorer retention of information and transfer of learning.[4][5] Thalheimer conducted a meta-analysis that found, overall, a negative impact for the inclusion of seductive details such as text, photos or illustrations, and sounds or music in learning content.[6] More recently, a 2020 paper found a similar effect for decorative animations [7] This reduction to learning is called the seductive details effect. There have been criticisms of this theory. Critics argue that seductive details do not always impede understanding and that seductive details can sometimes be motivating for learners.[8][9]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference park1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Dewey, J. (1913). Interest and Effort in Education. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. p. 112.
  3. ^ Sanchez, C. A.; Wiley, J. (2006). "An examination of the seductive details effect in terms of working memory capacity". Memory and Cognition. 34 (2): 344–355. doi:10.3758/bf03193412. PMID 16752598.
  4. ^ Rey, G. (Dec 2012). "A review of research and a meta-analysis of the seductive detail effect". Educational Research Review. 7 (3): 216–237. doi:10.1016/j.edurev.2012.05.003.
  5. ^ Garner, R.; Gillingham, M. G.; White, C. S. (1989). "Effects of "seductive details" on macroprocessing and microprocessing in adults and children". Cognition and Instruction. 6 (1): 41–57. doi:10.1207/s1532690xci0601_2. JSTOR 3233462.
  6. ^ Thalheimer, W. "Bells, whistles, neon, and purple prose: When interesting words, sounds, and visuals hurt learning and performance – A review of the seductive-augmentation research". Work Learning. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  7. ^ Pink, Newton (2020). "Decorative animations impair recall and are a source of extraneous cognitive load". Advances in Physiology Education. 44 (3): 376–382. doi:10.1152/advan.00102.2019. PMID 32628527.
  8. ^ Goetz, E. T.; Sadoski, M. (July 1995). "Commentary: The perils of seduction: distracting details or incomprehensible abstractions?". Reading Research Quarterly. 30 (3): 500–511. doi:10.2307/747628. JSTOR 747628.
  9. ^ Ozdemir, D.; Doolittle, P. (June 2015). "Revisiting the seductive details effect in multimedia learning: Context-dependency of seductive details". Journal of Educational Multimedia & Hypermedia. 24 (2): 101–119.