Abstract
Positive emotional design has been shown to have an important impact on multimedia learning. However, before learning multimedia materials, students may inevitably be stressed by external factors such as learning uncertainties brought about by COVID-19, that can affect their final performance. Moreover, whether the principles of emotional design are still valid with the consideration of stress arousal is still unexplored and deserves further investigation. Therefore, this study explored the mixed influence of stress arousal and positive emotional design on learning outcomes (e.g., physiological signals, subjective perception, learning performance measured by test scores). 103 college students were divided into four experimental groups in this study: the SAPE group—stress arousal tasks and positive design (25 students), the SANE group—stress arousal tasks and neutral emotional design (25 students), the NSPE group—not stress arousal and positive emotional design (26 students), and the NSNE group—not stress arousal tasks and neutral emotional design (27 students). Employing an electrocardiogram (ECG) apparatus, questionnaires for data collection, and rigorous statistical techniques for analysis, this research investigates the impact of positive emotional design on students’ learning outcomes when subjected to stress arousal. The findings indicated that under conditions of stress arousal, the effect of the positive emotion design on learning outcomes was enhanced. Specifically, analysis of variance was performed on students’ physiological signals, regarding the high-frequency (HF) value, and spectral power (SP)value within the [2.2, 2.3] and [3.7, 3.8] ranges, which showed significant interactions between stress and emotional design factors. The spectral power was negatively related to positive emotions. Besides, the analysis suggests that there is a significant interplay between stress and emotional design factors in shaping subjective perception (e.g., learning motivation, experienced satisfaction, and perceived learning). Additionally, compared with the other three groups, the SAPE group performed better on recall and transfer tests. The research results could provide valuable references for the follow-up study of multimedia emotional design.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The datasets produced and examined in the course of this study are not openly accessible, honoring the commitment made to participants that their information would remain confidential and would not be disclosed publicly without their explicit consent. In this study, participants were protected in such a way that all data were collected anonymously and no personal identifiers could be tracked to the participants. Note that we followed ethical principles during the research process.
References
Ahn, B. T., & Harley, J. M. (2020). Facial expressions when learning with a queer history app: Application of the control value theory of achievement emotions. British Journal of Educational Technology, 51(5), 1563–1576. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.12989.
Baumeister, R. F. (2014). Self-regulation, ego depletion, and inhibition. Neuropsychologia, 65, 313–319. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.08.012.
Brom, C., Starkova, T., & D’Mello, S. K. (2018). How effective is emotional design? A meta-analysis on facial anthropomorphisms and pleasant colors during multimedia learning. Educational Research Review, 25, 100–119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2018.09.004.
Cabanac, M. (2002). What is emotion? Behavioural Processes, 60(2), 69–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0376-6357(02)00078-5.
Cheng, M. T., Huang, W. Y., & Hsu, M. E. (2020). Does emotion matter? An investigation into the relationship between emotions and science learning outcomes in a game-based learning environment. British Journal of Educational Technology, 51(6), 2233–2251. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.12896.
Compas, B. E., Connor-Smith, J. K., Saltzman, H., Thomsen, A. H., & Wadsworth, M. E. (2001). Coping with stress during childhood and adolescence: Problems, progress, and potential in theory and research. Psychological Bulletin, 127(1), 87–127. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.127.1.87.
de la Fuente, J., Peralta-Sánchez, F. J., Martínez-Vicente, J. M., Sander, P., Garzón-Umerenkova, A., & Zapata, L. (2020). Effects of self-regulation vs. external regulation on the factors and symptoms of academic stress in undergraduate students. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1773. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01773.
de la Fuente, J., Pachón-Basallo, M., Santos, F. H., Peralta-Sánchez, F. J., González-Torres, M. C., Artuch-Garde, R., & Gaetha, M. L. (2021). How has the COVID-19 crisis affected the academic stress of university students? The role of teachers and students. Frontiers in Psychology, 1554. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.626340.
Desmet, P. (2002). Designing emotions. Doctoral dissertation, Delft University of Technology, Delft, the Netherlands.
Duckworth, A. L., Taxer, J. L., Eskreis-Winkler, L., Galla, B. M., & Gross, J. J. (2019). Self-control andacademic achievement. Annual Review of Psychology, 70(1), 373–399. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010418-103230.
Ekkekakis, P., & Zenko, Z. (2016). Measurement of affective responses to exercise: From affectless arousal to the most well-characterized relationship between the body and affect. In H. L. Meiselman (Ed.), Emotion measurement (pp. 299–321). Woodhead.
Englert, C., & Bertrams, A. (2017). Ego depletion negatively affects knowledge retrieval in secondary school students. Educational Psychology, 37(9), 1057–1066. https://doi.org/10.1080/01443410.2017.1313963.
Halfon, N., Forrest, C. B., Lerner, R. M., & Faustman, E. M. (2018). Handbook of life course health development. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47143-3.
Harp, S. F., & Mayer, R. E. (1997). The role of interest in learning from scientific text and illustrations: On the distinction between emotional interest and cognitive interest. Journal of Educational Psychology, 89(1), 92–102. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.89.1.92.
Holzman, J. B., & Bridgett, D. J. (2017). Heart rate variability indices as bio-markers of top-down self-regulatory mechanisms: A meta-analytic review. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 74, 233–255. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.12.032.
Husky, M. M., Kovess-Masfety, V., & Swendsen, J. D. (2020). Stress and anxiety among university students in France during Covid-19 mandatory confinement. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 102, 152191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comppsych.2020.152191.
Ji, Y., Qiao, D., Zhang, D., & Xu, T. (2023). Is stress motivation? Effects of perceived stress on online self-directed learning of college students in China. Education and Information Technologies, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-023-12082-z.
Jiang, P., Namaziandost, E., Azizi, Z., & Razmi, M. H. (2023). Exploring the effects of online learning on EFL learners’ motivation, anxiety, and attitudes during the COVID-19 pandemic: A focus on Iran. Current Psychology, 42(3), 2310–2324. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-04013-x.
Kecojevic, A., Basch, C. H., Sullivan, M., & Davi, N. K. (2020). The impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on mental health of undergraduate students in New Jersey, cross-sectional study. PloS One, 15(9). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0239696.
Khan, A. H., Sultana, M. S., Hossain, S., Hasan, M. T., Ahmed, H. U., & Sikder, M. T. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on mental health & wellbeing among home-quarantined Bangladeshi students: A cross-sectional pilot study. Journal of Affective Disorders, 277, 121–128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.07.135.
Kowal, M., Coll-Martín, T., Ikizer, G., Rasmussen, J., Eichel, K., Studzinska, A., et al. (2020). Who is the most stressed during the COVID-19 pandemic? Data from 26 countries and areas. Appl Psychol Health Well Being, 12(4), 946–966. https://doi.org/10.1111/aphw.12234.
Kumalasari, D., & Akmal, S. Z. (2021). Less stress, more satisfaction with online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic: The moderating role of academic resilience. Psychological Research on Urban Society, 4(1), 12. https://doi.org/10.7454/proust.v4i1.115.
Kumar, J. A., Ibrahim, N., McEvoy, D., & Sehsu, J. (2022). Anthropomorphised learning contents: Investigating learning outcomes, epistemic emotions and gaze behaviour. Education and Information Technologies, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-022-11504-8.
Le, Y., Liu, J., Deng, C., & Dai, D. Y. (2018). Heart rate variability reflects the effects of emotional design principle on mental effort in multimedia learning. Computers in Human Behavior, 89, 40–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.07.037.
Le, Y., Chen, Z., Liu, S., Pang, W., & Deng, C. (2021). Investigating the effectiveness of emotional design principle to attenuate ego depletion effect. Computers & Education, 174, 104311. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2021.104311.
Li, J., Luo, C., Zhang, Q., & Shadiev, R. (2020). Can emotional design really evoke emotion in multimedia learning? International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 17(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-020-00198-y.
Liew, T. W., Pang, W. M., Leow, M. C., & Tan, S. M. (2022). Anthropomorphizing malware, bots, and servers with human-like images and dialogues: The emotional design effects in a multimedia learning environment. Smart Learning Environments, 9(1), 5. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40561-022-00187-w.
Liu, S., Liu, S., Liu, Z., Peng, X., & Yang, Z. (2022). Automated detection of emotional and cognitive engagement in MOOC discussions to predict learning achievement. Computers & Education, 181, 104461. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2022.104461.
Mayer, R. E. (2005). Cognitive theory of Multimedia Learning. In R. E. Mayer (Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of multimedia learning (pp. 31–48). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511816819.004.
Mayer, R. E. (2009). Multimedia learning (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Mayer, R. E., & Estrella, G. (2014). Benefits of emotional design in multimedia instruction. Learning and Instruction, 33, 12–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2014.02.004.
Moreno, R. (2006). Does the modality principle hold for different media? A test of the method-affects‐learning hypothesis. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 22(3), 149–158. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2729.2006.00170.x.
Moreno, R. (2007). Optimising learning from animations by minimising cognitive load: Cognitive and affective consequences of signalling and segmentation methods. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 21(6), 765–781. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.1348.
Moreno, R., & Mayer, R. (2007a). Interactive multimodal learning environments. Educational Psychology Review, 19(3), 309–326. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-007-9047-2.
Moreno, R., & Mayer, R. (2007b). Special issue on interactive learning environments: Contemporary issues and trends. Educational Psychology Review, 19(3), 309–326.
Münchow, H., & Bannert, M. (2019). Feeling good, learning better? Effectivity of an emotional design procedure in multimedia learning. Educational Psychology, 39(4), 530–549. https://doi.org/10.1080/01443410.2018.1524852.
Münchow, H., Mengelkamp, C., & Bannert, M. (2017). The better you feel the better you learn: do warm colours and rounded shapes enhance learning outcome in multimedia learning? Education Research International, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/2148139.
Paas, F. G. W. C. (1992). Training strategies for attaining transfer of problem-solving skill in statistics: A cognitive-load approach. Journal of Educational Psychology, 84(4), 429–434. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.84.4.429.
Park, B., Knörzer, L., Plass, J. L., & Brünken, R. (2015). Emotional design and positive emotions in multimedia learning: An eyetracking study on the use of anthropomorphisms. Computers & Education, 86, 30–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2015.02.016.
Pekrun, R., Goetz, T., Titz, W., & Perry, R. P. (2002). Academic emotions in students’ self-regulated learning and achievement: A program of qualitative and quantitative research. Educational Psychologist, 37(2), 91–105. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15326985EP3702_4.
Peng, X., & Xu, Q. (2020). Investigating learners’ behaviors and discourse content in MOOC course reviews. Computers & Education, 143, 103673. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2019.103673.
Peng, X., Xu, Q., Chen, Y., Zhou, C., Ge, Y., & Li, N. (2021). An eye tracking study: Positive emotional interface design facilitates learning outcomes in multimedia learning? International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 18(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-021-00274-x.
Plass, J. L., & Kaplan, U. (2016). Emotional design in digital media for learning. In M. Pekrun, L. Linnenbrink-Garcia, & H. M. Sinatra (Eds.), Emotions, technology, design, and learning (pp. 131–161). Academic.
Plass, J. L., Heidig, S., Hayward, E. O., Homer, B. D., & Um, E. (2014). Emotional design in multimedia learning: Effects of shape and color on affect and learning. Learning and Instruction, 29, 128–140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2013.02.006.
Price, D. A., & Yates, G. C. (2010). Ego depletion effects on mathematics performance in primary school students: Why take the hard road? Educational Psychology, 30(3), 269–281. https://doi.org/10.1080/01443410903563330.
Price, D. A., & Yates, G. C. (2015). Impact of a brief ego depletion procedure on creative behaviour in the upper primary classroom. Educational Psychology, 35(3), 328–340. https://doi.org/10.1080/01443410.2013.860219.
Ramos-Lira, L., Rafful, C., Flores-Celis, K., Ríos, J. M., García-Andrade, C., Gasca, M. L. R., & Muñoz, C. C. (2021). Emotional responses and coping strategies in adult Mexican population during the first lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic: An exploratory study by sex. Salud Mental, 43(6), 243–251. https://doi.org/10.17711/SM.0185-3325.2020.034.
Ravaja, N. (2004). Contributions of psychophysiology to media research: Review and recommendations. Media Psychology, 6(2), 193–235. https://doi.org/10.1207/s1532785xmep0602_4.
Rodríguez-Hidalgo, A. J., Pantaleón, Y., Dios, I., & Falla, D. (2020). Fear of COVID-19, stress, and anxiety in university undergraduate students: A predictive model for depression. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 591797. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.591797.
Russell, J. A. (2003). Core affect and the psychological construction of emotion. Psychological Review, 110(1), 145–172. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.110.1.145.
Sahu, P. (2020). Closure of universities due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): Impact on education and mental health of students and academic staff. Cureus, 12(4). https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.7541.
Setz, C., Arnrich, B., Schumm, J., La Marca, R., Tröster, G., & Ehlert, U. (2009). Discriminating stress from cognitive load using a wearable EDA device. IEEE Transactions on Information Technology in Biomedicine, 14(2), 410–417. https://doi.org/10.1109/TITB.2009.203616.
Skinner, E. A. (1995). Perceived control, motivation, & coping (Vol. 8). Sage.
Stark, L., Brünken, R., & Park, B. (2018). Emotional text design in multimedia learning: A mixed-methods study using eye tracking. Computers & Education, 120, 185–196. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2018.02.003.
Stárková, T., Lukavský, J., Javora, O., & Brom, C. (2019). Anthropomorphisms in multimedia learning: Attract attention but do not enhance learning? Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 35(4), 555–568. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcal.12359.
Sweller, J. (2008). Human cognitive architecture. Handbook of research on educational communications and technology (pp. 369–381). Routledge.
Sweller, J. (2020). Cognitive load theory and educational technology. Educational Technology Research and Development, 68, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-019-09701-3.
Sweller, J., Ayres, P., & Kalyuga, S. (2011). The Guidance Fading Effect. Cognitive load theory. Explorations in the Learning Sciences, Instructional Systems and Performance technologies (Vol. 1, pp. 171–182). Springer.
Taber, K. S. (2018). The use of Cronbach’s alpha when developing and reporting research instruments in science education. Research in Science Education, 48, 1273–1296. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-016-9602-2.
Um, E., Plass, J. L., Hayward, E. O., & Homer, B. D. (2012). Emotional design in multimedia learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 104(2), 485. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0026609.
Uzun, A. M., & Yıldırım, Z. (2018). Exploring the effect of using different levels of emotional design features in multimedia science learning. Computers & Education, 119, 112–128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2018.01.002.
Vanco, B. M., & Christensen, J. L. (2016). Ego depletion increases regulatory success in educational digital media environments. Computers in Human Behavior, 62, 602–612. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.04.031.
VanKim, N. A., & Nelson, T. F. (2013). Vigorous physical activity, mental health, perceived stress, and socializing among college students. American Journal of Health Promotion, 28(1), 7–15. https://doi.org/10.4278/ajhp.111101-QUAN-395.
Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(6), 1063–1070. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.54.6.1063.
Weber, E. J., Van der Molen, M. W., & MOLENAAR, P. C. (1994). Heart rate and sustained attention during childhood: Age changes in anticipatory heart rate, primary bradycardia, and respiratory sinus arrhythmia. Psychophysiology, 31(2), 164–174. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8986.1994.tb01036.x.
Wong, R. M., & Adesope, O. O. (2021). Meta-analysis of emotional designs in multimedia learning: A replication and extension study. Educational Psychology Review, 33(2), 357–385. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-02009545x.
Xu, J., & Ba, Y. (2022). Coping with students’ stress and burnout: Learners’ ambiguity of Tolerance. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.842113.
Ye, Z., Yang, X., Zeng, C., Wang, Y., Shen, Z., Li, X., & Lin, D. (2020). Resilience, social support, and coping as mediators between COVID-19‐related stressful experiences and acute stress disorder among college students in China. Applied Psychology: Health and Well‐Being, 12(4), 1074–1094. https://doi.org/10.1111/aphw.12211.
Yilmaz, M. B., Orhan, F., & Zeren, S. G. (2022). Adolescent emotion scale for online lessons: A study from Turkey. Education and Information Technologies, 27(3), 3403–3420. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10734-6.
Zhu, Y., Xu, S., Wang, W., Zhang, L., Liu, D., Liu, Z., & Xu, Y. (2022). The impact of Online and Offline Learning motivation on learning performance: The mediating role of positive academic emotion. Education and Information Technologies, 27(7), 8921–8938. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-022-10961-5.
Acknowledgements
I am very grateful to Xiaojing Niu, Su Fang, Zhenkai Zhu and others for their help in this study. During the experiment, Su Fang and Zhenkai Zhu helped me contact the subjects to determine the experimental time, and helped us collect the relevant data of the subjects during the experiment. At the same time, Xiaojing Niu helped us process the ECG data after the experiment. Overall, it is with their help that this study can be carried out smoothly and completed.
Funding
This work was supported by the Research Funds from National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 62107016, 62207018, 62293555), Humanities and Social Sciences Foundation of the Ministry of Education (Grant No. 21YJC880057, 22YJC880117), Hubei Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 2022CFB414, 2021CFB157), Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. CCNU22LJ005).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The author has no competing interests directly or indirectly related to the work submitted for publication. We followed ethical principles in conducting the study of human subjects.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Peng, X., Jin, Y., Sun, J. et al. Exploring the effect of stress arousal on the positive emotional design of multimedia learning. Educ Inf Technol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-024-12676-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-024-12676-1