6.2.2. Interim discussion
These results indicate that different designs for the multimedia learning material did not affect the learners’ emotional states in the expected way. The learners in the high aesthetic groups (clas- sical, expressive) did not show more positive emotional states than the learners in the low aesthetics groups (hypothesis 1.1). The opposite was even shown for classical aesthetics. Furthermore, learners in the low usability groups did not report more negative emotional states than those in the high usability groups (hypothe- sis 1.2). Therefore, the objectively provided differences in usability and aesthetics did not affect the learners’ emotional states in a sys- tematic way. Due to the failed manipulation checks, these results cannot be used to interpret the perceived aesthetics or the per- ceived usability. Since there are no effects on learners’ emotional states, the between-group comparisons cannot be used to answer the second research question. Thus the between-group compari- sons of learning outcomes and intrinsic motivation are omitted.