Effects of animation's speed of presentation on perceptual processing and learning

• Published in: Learning and instruction Vol. 20; no. 2; pp. 136 - 145
• Main Authors: Meyer, Katja, Rasch, Thorsten, Schnotz, Wolfgang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.04.2010; Elsevier
• Subjects: Animation; Animations; Educational Media; Evaluation Methods; Eye Movements; Eye tracking; Human Body; Learning Processes; Multimedia; Perception; Speed of presentation; Technological Advancement; User-controlled animation; Visual Stimuli; Multimedia; Animations; Speed of presentation; User-controlled animation; Eye tracking
• ISSN: 0959-4752; 1873-3263
• DOI: 10.1016/j.learninstruc.2009.02.016

Animations presented at different speed are assumed to differentially interact with learners’ perception and cognition due to the constraints imposed by learners’ limited sensitivity to incoming dynamic information. To investigate the effects of high and low presentation speed of animation, two studies were conducted. In Study 1, participants were 55 students who learned about the functioning of a four-stroke engine from an animation with user-controlled presentation speed. In Study 2, eye movements of 19 students were analysed for different system-controlled presentation speeds of animation. Results indicated that high presentation speeds accentuated global events (i.e., macro-events), whereas low speeds accentuated local events (i.e., micro-events). However, eye movements were primarily affected by the content rather than the presentation speed of animation.