How the poor get richer: Signaling guides attention and fosters learning from text-graph combinations for students with low, but not high prior knowledge

Abstract

In multimedia learning, graphs are seen as just one specific instance of pictorial representations requiring the same cognitive processes as realistic depictions. Accordingly, learning from text-graph combinations should also benefit from the same instructional support such as signaling of text-picture correspondences depending on learners' prior knowledge. We investigated whether this expertise reversal of the signaling effect could be replicated for text-graph combinations. Students (N = 101) with different prior knowledge levels learned with text-graph combinations that were either enhanced with signals or not. Results indicate an expertise reversal effect on learning outcomes. A moderated mediation analysis of students' visual attention showed that this pattern could be explained by the fact that students with low prior knowledge (LPK) fixated the graph information earlier, whereas high prior knowledge students fixated the graph later when signals were present. Our results suggest that instructional support should be adapted to students' prior knowledge.