Seductive details

Cat memes are seductive details: interesting but irrelevant information. Coherence—where all content relates to key points—is better practice.

Examples of seductive details:

• Quirky GIFs and memes
• Stories and anecdotes with tenuous links to the key point
• Flashy and stimulating—but distracting—animations (not those that help explain content)

Note: We understand how tempting it is to use these. They are often funny. That's the problem. Students remember what's funny, but forget what we're actually trying to teach. Rarely does the joke or story actually help people remember the core content.

Adding interesting but irrelevant information to multimedia presentations hurts student learning.

When students are presented with key information alongside seductive details, they demonstrate poorer learning outcomes in retention and transfer than when they're just presented with the key information.

We should, therefore, consider the use of the redundancy principle.

The amount and kind of seductive details influences learning.

The more seductive detail in a multimedia presentation, the larger the negative effect on student learning. Also, while seductive text hampers learning, seductive illustrations are the most damaging. These findings are relevant for both retention and transfer.

Seductive details confuse learners; they don't know what's important and what's not.

Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning suggests we only have a limited working memory while learning. Our brains are particularly enthralled by novel, humour stimuli. As a result, seductive details are likely to fill our working memory, making it hard to fit the core content required for the learning objectives.