Editing Redundancy Principle

== '''Overview''' ==
The redundancy principle, outlined in Mayer’s Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning, states that learners achieve better outcomes when narration and images are presented together as opposed to narration, images, and on-screen text <ref name=":0">Mayer, R. E., & Fiorella, L. (2014). Principles for reducing extraneous processing in multimedia learning: Coherence, signaling, redundancy, spatial contiguity, and temporal contiguity principles. In R. Mayer (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning (2nd ed., pp. 279–315). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.</ref>. According to Mayer<ref name=":1">Mayer, R. E. (2014). Cognitive theory of multimedia learning. In R. Mayer (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning (2nd ed., pp. 43–71). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.</ref>, this principle aligns with the assumption that learners possess dual auditory and visual channels to process verbal and non-verbal information. Redundant written text, when paired with spoken words and graphics, may induce unnecessary extraneous cognitive processing in learners as they split their attention between various visual stimuli<ref name=":1" />. Similarly, according to cognitive load theory, since learners only possess limited cognitive capacity, redundant information may increase learners’ extraneous cognitive load.<ref name=":2">Sweller, J., van Merrienboer, J. J. G., & Paas, F. G. W. C. (1998). Cognitive architecture and instructional design. ''Educational Psychology Review, 10''(3), 251–296.</ref> In other words, as learners attempt to make sense of redundant information, their abilities to engage in essential and generative processing to meaningfully grasp learning content may be negatively impacted.

== '''Evidence''' ==
Many studies have highlighted the negative effects of redundancy on learning outcomes <ref name=":0" />. For example, Austin<ref name=":3">Austin, K.A. (2009). Multimedia learning: Cognitive individual differences and display design techniques predict transfer learning with multimedia learning modules. ''Computers and Education, 53,'' 1339-1354.</ref> conducted four experiments in which she presented university students with learning modules about lightning that either included animation and narration, or animation, narration, and corresponding on-screen text. In all four experiments, students in the latter condition, presented with redundant narration and text, performed worse on tests of learning transfer. In fact, this redundancy effect persisted even when accounting for individual cognitive differences and the varying positioning of on-screen text<ref name=":3" />.

== '''Design Implications''' ==
In multimedia learning materials, such as narrated videos or animations, learning designers can apply the redundancy principle by eliminating redundant on-screen text that corresponds with narration and images. However, studies show that when the printed text is concise or there are no concurrent graphics presented in the multimedia, redundant verbal information may actually support learning since split attention effects have been minimized<ref name=":0" />. In animations, split attention may also be reduced by removing any motion associated with on-screen text, minimizing some of the negative effects on learning transfer associated with verbal redundancy<ref name=":3" />. In other words, before fully eliminating verbally redundant material, learning designers should consider whether their specific use of text, graphics, and motion in their multimedia unnecessarily splits attention.

== '''Challenges''' ==
Redundancy may not always be detrimental to learning. In fact, whether verbal redundancy poses negative effects may vary along with learners’ abilities and experience with a topic. Learners with high experience may not always be negatively impacted by redundant text because they may have free cognitive capacity available to process and organize redundant information<ref name=":0" />, preventing them from getting cognitively overloaded by the redundancy. Redundant text may also be beneficial for non-native speakers of the spoken language or for those with hearing difficulties<ref name=":0" />. Thus, the redundancy principle is not one-size-fits all; learning content should be specifically tailored to learners’ backgrounds and expertise<ref name=":2" />.