Learning with self-generated drawings and the impact of learners' emotional states

Sabrina D Navratil; Tim Kühl

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1286022

Learning with self-generated drawings and the impact of learners' emotional states

Front Psychol. 2023 Nov 16:14:1286022. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1286022. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Sabrina D Navratil^#¹, Tim Kühl^#^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Psychology of Education, University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany.
² Institute for Psychology of Learning and Instruction, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Introduction: The present study examined the influence of emotional states when learning with self-generated drawings. It was assumed that learners in a positive emotional state would profit from learning with self-generated drawings, while learners in a negative emotional state would not profit from this strategy to the same extent but would rather benefit through reading.

Methods: University students (N = 123) were randomly assigned to one of four conditions resulting from a 2 × 2 design with self-generated drawings (yes vs. no) and emotional state (positive vs. negative) as independent variables.

Results: Results showed that learning with self-generated drawings was more beneficial for a following transfer test than learning without drawings - irrespective of a learner's emotional state. The quality of self-generated drawings predicted the learning outcomes of the retention and pictorial test, but not for transfer.

Discussion: Missing effects of emotional states and the missing interaction with self-generated drawings will be discussed.

Keywords: drawing; emotional states; generative learning strategies; motivation; multimedia learning; time on task.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The publication of this manuscript was funded by the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts Baden-Württemberg and the University of Mannheim as well as by Kiel University.