Design Theory Site Design Page Design MultiMedia: Multimedia Research Teacher Resources Table of Contents Home Page Copyright © 1999 by Bonnie Skaalid

Since we can link animation, sound, text, and pictures together on a web page, research into multimedia,which also links these elements together, may be helpful to consider. Research into perception, animation, and multiple-channel communication [4] contains findings which may be important for web design. Some studies indicated that pictorial information is remembered much more easily than text [1, 2, 3] leading Paivio to propose the dual code theory: people store information in two ways depending on whether it is verbal or pictorial information. Because text accompanied by pictures or animations was actually saving information in two separate ways in the brain, (encoded verbally and as a picture) there is more likelihood that people will remember the information if it is presented in both formats. Information Overload Care must be taken when combining different modalities (picture, text, audio, animation) simultaneously. Certain combinations overwhelm the information processing capacities of the brain. For example, combining audio with text appears to overload our channels, and once our information-processing channels are overloaded, no learning takes place. You can combine audio with pictures or animations, or text with pictures or animations, since the text and audio appears to be stored and processed in a different manner than the pictures and animations. [1] Anglin, G., Towers, R., & Levie, H. (1996). Visual message design and learning: The role of static and dynamic illustrations. In D.H. Jonassen (Ed.), Handbook of Research for Educational Communications and Technology . New York: Simon and Schuster Macmillan. [2] Braden, R. (1996). Visual literacy. In D.H. Jonassen (Ed.), Handbook of Research for Educational Communications and Technology . New York: Simon and Schuster Macmillan. [3] Horton, W. (1994). The icon book: Visual symbols for computer systems and documentation . Toronto, ON: John Wiley & Sons. [4] Moore, D., Burton, J., & Myers, R. (1996) Multiple-channel communication: The theoretical and research foundations of multimedia. In D. H. Jonassen (Ed.), Handbook of Research for Educational Communications and Technology . New York: Simon and Schuster Macmillan. Media:[Multimedia Research] [Using Graphics and Pictures] [Animation] [Video] [Audio] [Response Times] Main Level: [Home Page] [Design Theory][Site Design] [Page Design] [MultiMedia] [Teacher Resources] [Table of Contents]