3. Study 1
3.1. Research questions and hypotheses
In this paper we will present two follow-up studies to our initial work. Our first study sought to replicate the Um et al. (2011) results with a different population and different mood induction procedure, and examined individual emotions of learners by asking:
Hypothesis 1. Does an aesthetically appealing design of a multimedia learning material induce positive emotions in learners? Based on the previous research reported above we hypothesize that the positive emotional design induces more positive emotions than neutral design, and that emotions induced by the design of the learning materials are sustained better throughout the learning process than emotions induced by a mood induction procedure.
Hypothesis 2. How do positive emotions affect cognitive outcomes such as experienced cognitive load and learning outcomes (comprehension and transfer)? Based on the previous research reported above we hypothesize that positive emotions result in higher comprehension test scores, transfer test scores, and invested mental effort, and lower perceived task difficulty than neutral emotions.
Hypothesis 3. How do positive emotions affect affective outcomes such as motivation, user satisfaction, perceived task difficulty, and perception about learning achievement? Based on the previous research reported above we hypothesize that positive emotions result in higher motivation, higher user satisfaction, and a more positive perception about learning achievement than neutral emotions.
3.2. Method
3.2.1. Participants and design
Participants were 121 Education graduate students recruited from a German university. There were 20 male and 101 female participants, and all of them were over 18 years old (M ¼ 21.98, SD ¼ 2.13). Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions, created by two design factors with two levels each. These factors were the external induction of positive emotions by means of a video-based mood induction procedure (positive (PE) or neutral (NE) emotions), and the internal induction of positive emotions by means of the emotional design of the learning materials (positive (PD) or neutral (ND) design). The learning materials are shown in Fig. 1 and are described in detail in the materials and apparatus section below. As a result, the control group (NEND group) received the neutral mood induction procedure (NE) and the material with neutral design (ND). The PEPD group received the positive mood induction procedure (PE) and material with positive emotional design (PD). The PEND group received the positive mood induction procedure (PE) and the material with neutral design (ND). The NEPD group received a neutral mood procedure (NE) and the material with positive emotional design (PD). The external induction of positive emotions served as additional control that provided a baseline and allowed us to relate our findings to those in previous experimental research using external mood inductions.