Two types of redundancy in multimedia learning: a literature review

Regarding the redundancy effect in multimedia learning environments, more consistency is needed in the theoretical assumptions and investigation of this effect. Current research lacks a comprehensive account of different redundant scenarios in which materials facilitate or inhibit learning and provides little conceptual guidance on how learning processes are affected by different types of redundancy. Theoretical assumptions refer to redundancy as a contentual overlap of information provided by the learning material; in this case, processing duplicated information strains the learners’ limited cognitive capacities. Other assumptions refer to the role of processing limitations in working memory channels, including separate processing for visual and verbal information. In this case, an ineffective combination of sources leads to an overload of the limited working memory capacity. This paper reviews empirical research on the redundancy effect (63 studies) and classifies two types of redundancy: (1) content redundancy, and (2) working memory channel redundancy. From an instructional psychology perspective, the analyses reveal four different implementations of redundant scenarios: (1) adding narration to visualizations, (2) adding written text to visualizations, (3) adding written text to narration, and (4) adding written text to narrated visualizations. Regarding the effects of the two redundancy types within these scenarios, analyses indicate positive effects of content redundancy (affected by learners’ prior knowledge), negative effects of working memory channel redundancy (regarding visualizations and written text), and positive effects of working memory channel redundancy (regarding narration and written text). Moreover, results point to factors that might moderate the effect of redundancy and illustrate interactions with existing multimedia effects. Overall, this review provides an overview of the state of empirical research and reveals that the consideration of both redundancy types provides further explanations in this field of research.