Learning Desire Is Predicted by Similar Neural Processing of Naturalistic Educational Materials

Naturalistic stimuli can elicit highly similar brain activity across viewers. How do naturalistic educational materials engage human brains and evoke learning desire? Here, we presented 15 audiovisual course clips (each lasting ∼120 s) to university students and recorded their neural activity through electroencephalography. Upon finishing all the video viewings, subjects ranked 15 courses in order of learning desire and reported the reasons for high learning desire (i.e., “value” and “interest”). The brain activity during the video viewing was measured as the neural similarity via intersubject correlation (ISC), that is, correlation between each subject’s neural responses and those of others. Based on averaged learning desire rankings across subjects, course clips were classified with high versus medium versus low motivational effectiveness. We found that the ISC of high effective course clips was larger than that of low effective ones. The ISC difference (high vs low) was positively associated with subjects’ learning desire difference (high vs low). Such an association occurred when viewing time accumulated to ∼80 s. Moreover, ISC was correlated with “interest-based” rather than “value-based” learning desire. These findings advance our understanding of learning motivation via the neural similarity in the context of on-line education and provide potential neurophysiological suggestions for pedagogical practices.