An Investigation of the Moderating Effect of Perceived Relevance on Learning With Seductive Details

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: Cognitive Processes and Development Within Instructional Technology

Abstract

We investigated whether seductive details are harmful to learning when students are deceived to take seductive details as important information. We therefore conducted a study in which participants (N = 88) learned either without seductive details (control group) or with seductive details —— in the latter case with emphasis on the significance of seductive details (incorrectly informed group) and with or without being informed about the seductive details' irrelevance (informed or uninformed group). The incorrectly informed group performed better than the group without seductive details did, especially on recall. To conclude, seductive details may not necessarily harm learning and can be used to help students memorize concepts, no matter students believe it is relevant or not. Limitations and future work were discussed.

Authors

• Qinglong Liu, Central China Normal University

• Zhe Wang, East China Normal University