An eye-tracking analysis of spatial contiguity effect in educational animations

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine spatial contiguity effect on multimedia learning with an instructional animation using eye-tracking. The research method was experimental method and the study was conducted with a user group consisting of 12 participants (6 female and 6 male). The data collection tools were a demographic survey, a prior knowledge test, a retention test and an eye-tracker. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and non-parametric statistics including Mann-Whitney U Test. According to the results there were no statistically significant difference in terms of learning outcomes, total fixation time on relevant texts and images, fixation count on relevant texts and images, and mean fixation duration on relevant images between spatial and non-spatial group according to the research results. However, mean fixation duration on relevant texts was significantly higher for spatial group than non-spatial group. According to mean ranks on all measures of eye tracking data, there may be tendency that participants in spatial group spent more time and attention on relevant text as non-spatial group spent more time and attention on narration and relevant images.