The Cambridge Handbook of
Multimedia Learning

During the past 10 years, the field of multimedia learning has emerged as a coherent discipline with an accumulated research base that has never been synthesized and organized in a handbook. The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning constitutes the world’s first handbook devoted to comprehensive coverage of research and theory in the field of multimedia learning. Multimedia learning is defined as learning from words (e.g., spoken or printed text) and pictures (e.g., illustrations, photos, maps, graphs, animation, or video). The focus of this handbook is on how people learn from words and pictures in computer-based environments. Multimedia environments include online instructional presentations, interactive lessons, e-courses, simulation games, virtual reality, and computer-supported in-class presentations. The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning seeks to establish what works (i.e., to determine which features of a multimedia lesson affect learning), to explain how it works (i.e., to ground research in cognitive theory), and to consider when and where it works (i.e., to explore the implications of research for practice).

Richard E. Mayer is Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he has served since 1975. In 2000, he received the E. L. Thorndike Award for career achievement in educational psychology. He is the author or editor of 20 books and more than 250 articles and chapters, including Multimedia Learning (2001), e-Learning and the Science of Instruction (2003) with Ruth Clark, and Learning and Instruction (2003).

The Cambridge Handbook of
Multimedia Learning

Edited by
Richard E. Mayer
University of California, Santa Barbara

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo

Cambridge University Press
40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA

www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521838733

© Cambridge University Press 2005

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without
the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2005

Printed in the United States of America

A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

The Cambridge handbook of multimedia learning / edited by Richard E. Mayer.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-521-83873-8 (hardback) – ISBN 0-521-54751-2 (pbk.)
1. Computer-assisted instruction – Handbooks, manuals, etc. 2. Audio-visual
education – Handbooks, manuals, etc. 3. Interactive multimedia – Handbooks,
manuals, etc. I. Mayer, Richard E., 1947– II. Title.
LB1028.5.C283    2005
371.33′4 – dc22    2005001322

ISBN-13 978-0-521-83873-3 hardback
ISBN-10 0-521-83873-8 hardback

ISBN-13 978-0-521-54751-2 paperback
ISBN-10 0-521-54751-2 paperback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for
the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or
third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication
and does not guarantee that any content on such
Web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

Contents

Preface

During the past 10 years, the field of multimedia learning has emerged as a coherent discipline with an accumulated research base that has never been synthesized and organized in a handbook. The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning constitutes the world’s first handbook devoted to comprehensive coverage of research and theory in the field of multimedia learning. For purposes of the Handbook, multimedia learning is defined as learning from words (e.g., spoken or printed text) and pictures (e.g., illustrations, photos, maps, graphs, animation, or video). The focus of the Handbook is on how people learn from words and pictures in computer-based environments. Multimedia environments include online instructional presentations, interactive lessons, e-courses, simulation games, virtual reality, and computer-supported in-class presentations. Overall, the Handbook seeks to establish what works (i.e., to determine which features of a multimedia lesson affect learning), to explain how it works (i.e., to ground research in cognitive theory), and to consider when and where it works (i.e., to explore the implications of research for practice).

   What distinguishes this book from edited books on distance learning or Web-based instruction is our commitment to taking a scientific, evidence-based approach. My goal as editor is to provide a comprehensive and focused overview of the state of scientific research on multimedia learning. Each is based on empirical research and grounded in cognitive theory, rather than offering unsubstantiated recommendations, describing best practices, or summarizing software development accomplishments. As the first comprehensive research-based handbook on multimedia learning, The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning is intended to define and shape the field for years to come.

   There are many books providing advice on how to design multimedia-learning environments, but these books are largely based on the practical experience and wisdom of the authors. Similarly, there are books reporting on the development of online instructional programs and Web sites, but these reports of development efforts are generally based on best practices and informal case studies. Until recently, the lack of scientific research evidence in many multimedia-learning books could be justified on the grounds that a solid research base did not yet exist. However, the quantity and quality of scientific research – conducted by researchers around the world – has reached a level warranting the field’s first comprehensive research-based handbook of multimedia learning.

   As editor, I asked the world’s leading multimedia researchers to author chapters in areas in which they have contributed to the empirical research base. In particular, I sought authors who are leading researchers in the field of multimedia learning – that is, those with the strongest records of research publication. Because the field is largely international, the authors for the Handbook span the globe. Each author had a specific charge – that is, directions to review a well-defined subarea such as the role of online worked-out examples or the role of speech versus on-screen text. The chapters in each section follow the same general structure: describing the major research issue or question, providing examples of the research issue or question, summarizing research in which measures of learning are the central focus, critiquing the research, and discussing implications for theory and practice.

   The Handbook consists of 35 chapters organized into five parts. Each focuses on a particular theory of multimedia learning (part 1), a basic principle of multimedia learning (part 2), an advanced principle of multimedia learning (part 3), multimedia learning in a content area (part 4), or multimedia learning within an advanced computer-based context (part 5). In order to provide a common structure among the chapters of the Handbook, I asked authors to organize their chapters around a common set of issues. In particular, I asked the authors of the theory chapters in part 1 to provide a concise description of the theory or model with concrete examples, to summarize the theory’s contributions to cognitive theory (i.e., to specify predictions that have been tested), to summarize the theory’s contributions to instructional design (i.e., to specify recommendations for instruction), to describe any limitations of the theory, and to suggest future directions for research. I asked the authors of each of the other chapters to provide a clear definition and example of the central principle or topic of the chapter, to review the relevant published research literature in sufficient detail, to assess the limitations of the research base, to summarize the implications for cognitive theory and instructional design, and to suggest directions for future research.

   I solicited chapters that were concise (i.e., containing no more than 25 double-spaced pages), focused (i.e., reviewing the research on a specified topic), well-referenced (i.e., containing a rich set of relevant references), evidence-based (i.e., providing an up-to-date review of the best empirical evidence), theory-based (i.e., relating the findings to testable predictions of theories when appropriate), and educationally relevant (i.e., drawing implications for educational practice when appropriate). In order to minimize confusion, I asked authors to clearly define jargon terms in the text as well as in a glossary at the end of the chapter. Each was reviewed and revised.

   The intended audience includes anyone interested in how people learn from words and pictures in computer-based environments. Although this handbook summarizes the research base in multimedia learning, it is intended to be accessible to a general audience. On one hand, this handbook is designed to support readers with practical interests in how to design or select multimedia learning environments that promote learning. On the other hand, this handbook is designed to support readers who have academic interests in conducting or evaluating research in multimedia learning. The Handbook would be appropriate for courses related to cognitive science, educational psychology, instructional design, human factors, multimedia arts and technology, professional training, and interface design. It also would be useful for instructors interested in designing or improving multimedia lessons in school settings, job training contexts, and informal environments. In short, The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning belongs on the bookshelf of anyone who is interested in an evidence-based approach to Web-based learning, e-learning, hypermedia, multimedia, Web site design, distance learning, instructional technology, human–computer interaction, virtual environments, or applied cognitive psychology.

   As editor, I have tried to ensure that this handbook reflects the values that I think are important for our field. In particular, I sought to produce a handbook that is:

research based – The Handbook is intended to summarize the empirical research on multimedia learning, rather than describe untested best practices or software development projects. Although I have much respect for the craft knowledge of practitioners and designers, it is important to know if recommendations are supported by scientific evidence and under what conditions they are supported. Thus, I value a focus on scientific evidence as the key to progress in our field.

theory grounded – The Handbook is intended to relate empirical research to cognitive theories of how people learn. My overriding premise is that multimedia learning environments should be designed in ways that are consistent with what is known about how people learn.

educationally relevant – The Handbook focuses on issues that are relevant to education, that is, to helping people learn. Thus, I sought chapters that offer research-based implications for instructional design.

comprehensive – The Handbook offers a broad view of the field, including contributions from multimedia researchers around the world. I value the perspectives of researchers who have devoted so much of their energy to understanding multimedia learning.

timely – The Handbook offers an up-to-date overview of the field. I value timeliness because the scientific study of multimedia learning is maturing at a rapid pace, and so are the practical demands for building multimedia learning environments – ranging from e-courses to in-class simulations.

readable – In my role as editor I have tried to ensure that the chapters are clear and concise, with key terms defined and concrete examples provided. In a multidisciplinary field such as this one, it is important that the chapters communicate what is known in a way that general readers can appreciate.

In short, my values have motivated me to seek chapters that are based on empirical research and grounded in cognitive theory rather than chapters that mainly describe development efforts or best practices.

   Editing this book has been a treat for me, because I could commission chapters from the best researchers in the field and be the first to learn what they had to say. I am pleased to share the fruits of this enterprise with you in a timely fashion. My hope is that you enjoy reading this handbook as much as I have enjoyed editing it. I will consider this handbook to be a success if it helps you to understand what is known about how people learn from words and pictures; gives you useful help in building or selecting effective multimedia learning environments; or encourages you to produce or investigate research that contributes to cognitive theory and educational practice. I hope that you will feel free to contact me at mayer@psych.ucsb.edu to share your comments about The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning.

Acknowledgments

Although my name is listed as the editor, this handbook depended on the contributions of many people. In particular, I thank the authors for producing excellent chapters, for keeping this project on schedule, and for responding so well to the reviewer’s comments. I thank the members of the handbook’s editorial board – John Sweller, Jeroen van Merriënboer, and Wolfgang Schnotz – for their useful service to this project. I also wish to thank Philip Laughlin and the staff of Cambridge University Press for their many contributions to making this book a success. I am grateful to my many research collaborators who have worked with me over the years in the study of multimedia learning, including Richard B. Anderson, Robert Atkinson, Julie Campbell, Paul Chandler, Dorothy Chun, Gayle Dow, Joan Gallini, Shannon Harp, Julie Heiser, James Lester, Steven Lonn, Patricia Mautone, Sarah Mayer, Roxana Moreno, Harold O’Neil, Jr., Jan Plass, Hiller Spires, and Valerie Sims. I appreciate my home institution – the University of California, Santa Barbara – and numerous funding agencies – including the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, and the Andrew Mellon Foundation – that have supported my research on multimedia learning. Finally, my deepest appreciation goes to my wife, Beverly; my children, Ken, David, and Sarah; and to the memory of my parents, James and Bernis Mayer.

Richard E. Mayer
Santa Barbara, California

Contributors

Editor

RICHARD E. MAYER
Department of Psychology
University of California
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9660
USA
mayer@psych.ucsb.edu

Editorial Board

JEROEN J. G. VAN MERRIËNBOER
Educational Psychology Expertise Center
Open University of the Netherlands
P.O. Box 2960
NL-6401 DL Heerlen
The Netherlands
Jeroen.vanMerrienboer@ou.nl

WOLFGANG SCHNOTZ
Faculty of Psychology
University of Koblenz-Landau
Thomas-Nast-Str. 44
D-76829 Landau
Germany
schnotz@uni-landau.de

JOHN SWELLER
School of Education
University of New South Wales
Sydney, NSW 2052
Australia
j.sweller@unsw.edu.au

Contributors

IVAN K. ASH
Department of Psychology
1007 W. Harrison Street
University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, IL 60607
USA
iash1@uic.edu

ROBERT K. ATKINSON
Psychology in Education
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287
USA
Robert.Atkinson@asu.edu

PAUL AYRES
School of Education
University of New South Wales
Sydney, NSW 2052
Australia
p.ayres@unsw.edu.au

MIREILLE BETRANCOURT
TECFA
Department of Psychology and Education
University of Geneva
CH 1211 Geneve 4
Switzerland
Mireille.Betrancourt@tecfa.unige.ch

MICHELENE T. H. CHI
Learning Research and Development Center
3939 O’Hara Street
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
USA
chi@pitt.edu

RICHARD E. CLARK
Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California
WPH 601C
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0031
USA
clark@usc.edu

RUTH COLVIN CLARK
Ruth Clark Training and Consulting
1423 E. Main Street #193
Cortez, CO 81321
USA
Ruth@Clarktraining.com

SUE COBB
Virtual Reality Applications Research Team
University of Nottingham
University Park
Nottingham, NG7 2RD
United Kingdom
sue.cobb@nottingham.ac.uk

ANDREW DILLON
School of Information
SZB 564
1 University Station, D700
University of Texas
Austin, TX 78712
USA
adillon@ischool.utexas.edu

DAVID F. FELDON
Graduate School of Education and Information Sciences
University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1521
USA
feldon@gseis.ucla.edu

J. D. FLETCHER
Institute for Defense Analysis
4850 Mark Center Drive
Alexandria, VA 22311
USA
fletcher@ida.org

DANAË Stanton Fraser
Department of Psychology
University of Bath
Bath, BA2 7AY
United Kingdom
D.StantonFraser@bath.ac.uk

MARY HEGARTY
Department of Psychology
University of California
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9660
USA
hegarty@psych.ucsb.edu

JENNIFER JOBST
School of Information
SZB 564
1 University Station, D700
University of Texas
Austin, TX 78712
USA
jenj@mail.utexas.edu

DAVID H. JONASSEN
School of Information Science and Learning Technologies
221C Townsend Hall
University of Missouri
Columbia, MO 65211
USA
jonassen@missouri.edu

LINDA C. JONES
University of Arkansas
Department of Foreign Languages
Kimpel Hall 425
Fayetteville, AR 72701
USA
lcxjones@uark.edu

TON DE JONG
Faculty of Behavioral Sciences
University of Twente
P.O. Box 217
7500 AE Enschede
The Netherlands
jong@edte.utwente.nl

SLAVA KALYUGA
Educational Assessment Australia
University of New South Wales
12-22 Rothschild Avenue
Rosebery 2018
Australia
S.Kalyuga@eaa.unsw.edu.au

LIESBETH KESTER
Educational Technology Expertise Center
Open University of the Netherlands
P.O. Box 2960
NL-6401 DL Heerlen
The Netherlands
Liesbeth.Kester@ou.nl

ROBERT KOZMA
Center for Technology in Learning
SRI International
333 Ravenswood Avenue
Menlo Park, CA 94025
USA
robertkozma@sri.com

JAMES LAFFEY
School of Information Science and Learning Technologies
221L Townsend Hall
University of Missouri
Columbia, MO 65211
USA
laffeyj@missouri.edu

SUSANNE P. LAJOIE
Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology
McGill University
3700 McTavish Street
Montreal, Quebec
Canada H3A IT2
Susanne.lajoie@mcgill.ca

CHWEE BENG LEE
School of Information Science and Learning Technologies
111 London Hall
University of Missouri
Columbia, MO 65211
USA
cuimin@signet.com.sg

RENAE LOW
School of Education
University of New South Wales
Sydney, NSW 2052
Australia
r.low@unsw.edu.au

RICHARD K. LOWE
Department of Education
Curtin University of Technology
G.P.O. Box U1987
Perth, Western Australia 6845
Australia
r.k.lowe@curtin.edu.au

RICHARD E. MAYER
Department of Psychology
University of California
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9660
USA
mayer@psych.ucsb.edu

ROXANA MORENO
Educational Psychology Program
Simpson Hall, Room 123
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131-1246
USA
moreno@unm.edu

CARLOS NAKAMURA
Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology
McGill University
3700 McTavish Street
Montreal, Quebec
Canada H34 IT2
Carlos.nakamura@mail.mcgill.ac

FRED PAAS
Educational Psychology Expertise Center
Open University of the Netherlands
P. O. Box 2960
6401 DL Heerlen
Heerlen
The Netherlands
Fred.Paas@ou.nl

JAN PLASS
The Steinhart School of Education
New York University
East Building, 239 Greene Street, #308
New York, NY 10003
USA
jan.plass@nyu.edu

HERVÉ Potelle
University of Poitiers
Laboratoire Langage et Cognition FRE CNRS 2725
99 Avenue du Recteur Pineau
86022 Poitiers
France
herve.potelle@univ-pointiers.fr

DAVID REINKING
Eugene T. Moore School of Education
Clemson University
418 Tillman Hall
Clemson, SC 29634
USA
reinking@clemson.edu

ALEXANDER RENKL
University of Freiburg
Psychological Institute
Educational Psychology
Engelbergerstr. 41
D-79085 Freiburg
Germany
renkl@psychologie.uni-freiburg.de

LLOYD P. RIEBER
Department of Educational Psychology and Instructional Technology
603C Aderhold Hall
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602-7144
USA
lrieber@coe.uga.edu

JEAN-FRANCOIS ROUET
University of Poitiers
Laboratoire Langage et Cognition FRE CNRS 2725
99 Avenue du Recteur Pineau
86022 Poitiers
France
jean-francois.rouet@univ-poitiers.fr

MARGUERITE ROY
Learning Research and Development Center
3939 O’Hara Street
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
USA
mar982@pitt.edu

JOEL RUSSELL
Department of Chemistry
Oakland University
Rochester, MI 48309
USA
russell@oakland.edu

WOLFGANG SCHNOTZ
Faculty of Psychology
University of Koblenz-Landau
Thomas-Nast-Str. 44
D-76829 Landau
Germany
schnotz@uni-landau.de

AMY M. SHAPIRO
Department of Psychology
285 Old Westport Road
University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
N. Dartmouth, MA 02747
USA
ashapiro@umassd.edu

JOHN SWELLER
School of Education
University of New South Wales
Sydney, NSW 2052
Australia
j.sweller@unsw.edu.au

HUIB K. TABBERS
Institute of Psychology
Erasmus University, Rotterdam
P. O. Box 1738
3000 DR Rotterdam
The Netherlands
tabbers@fsw.eur.nl

SIGMUND TOBIAS
Teachers College
Columbia University
New York, NY 10027-6696
USA
Stobi@aol.com

PASCAL W. M. VAN GERVEN
Faculty of Psychology
Department of Neurocognition
Maastricht University
P. O. Box 616
6200 MD Maastricht
The Netherlands
p.vangerven@psychology.unimaas.nl

JEROEN J. G. VAN MERRIËNBOER
Educational Psychology Expertise Center
Open University of the Netherlands
P.O. Box 2960
NL-6401 DL Heerlen
The Netherlands
Jeroen.vanMerrienboer@ou.nl

JENNIFER WILEY
Department of Psychology
1007 W. Harrison Street
University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, IL 60607
USA
jwiley@uic.edu

CHIA-CHI YANG
School of Information Science and Learning Technologies
111 London Hall
University of Missouri
Columbia, MO 65211
USA
cymp8@mizzou.edu