The Effect of Highlighting on Cognitive Load and Visual Attention in Multimedia Learning

Signaling can be used to guide learners' attention to relevant details of instructional materials, and consequently can foster multimedia learning. We investigate how signaling, and highlighting specifically, are predictive of individual learning performance in short-term knowledge acquisition, mediated by cognitive load and visual attention employing biometrically using electroencephalog- raphy (EEG) and eye-tracking measures. We perform a two-level experiment on short-term knowledge acquisition within the context of an online course, with content-highlighting employed as signaling cues. We use a structural equation model (SEM) to examine the potential mediation that cognitive load and visual attention may have on knowledge acquisition. The results suggest that signaling can direct attention to the crucial areas and potentially reduce the extraneous cognitive load, thereby promoting short-term knowledge acquisition, as a key stage of learning.