A lot of research has focused on the beneficial effects of using multimedia, that is, text and pictures, for learning. Theories of multimedia learning are based on Baddeley's working memory model (Baddeley 1999). Despite this theoretical foundation, there is only little research that aims at empirically testing whether and more importantly how working memory contributes to learning from text and pictures; however, a more thorough understanding of how working memory limitations affect learning may help instructional designers to optimize multimedia instruction. Therefore, the goal of this review is to stimulate such empirical research by (1) providing an overview of the methodologies that can be applied to gain insights in working memory involvement during multimedia learning, (2) reviewing studies that have used these methodologies in multimedia research already, and (3) discussing methodological and theoretical challenges of such an approach as well as the usefulness of working memory to explain learning with multimedia. KeywordsMultimedia learning . Working memory . Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning . Cognitive Load Theory . Dual-task methodology . Working memory capacity In the last two decades, a lot of educational research has focused on the beneficial effects of using multimedia for learning by referring to the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (Mayer 2009) and/or the Cognitive Load Theory (Sweller et al. 1998). Both theories suggest that multimedia learning can be best explained by paying close attention to how information is processed and stored in the human mind. In particular, working memory is assumed to be crucial in multimedia learning, because all information needs to be processed

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SummaryThe aim of the reported experiment was to obtain insight into how learners' visuo‐spatial working memory is involved during learning how to perform procedural‐motor tasks from a multimedia instruction (i.e. ‘learning how’). Eighty‐two participants studied first‐aid procedures using text only or multimedia. Working memory involvement was gauged by measuring the interference between learning first‐aid procedures and performing a spatial dual task. Learning outcomes were measured as task performance and task description. The results showed that performing a spatial dual task interfered to a larger extent with learning from text only than from multimedia. The results tend to support the assumption that pictures in tasks focusing on ‘learning how’ are beneficial to learning, because they might omit the need to engage in imagery and therewith reduce the cognitive effort that is required to understand the learning material. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Individual differences in the strategies that control sequential behavior were investigated in an experiment in which participants memorized sentences and then wrote them by hand, in a non-cursive style. Thirty-two participants each wrote eight sentences, which had hierarchical structures with five levels. The dataset included over 31,000 letters. Despite the deliberately constrained nature of the task and stimuli, 23 patterns of behavior were identified from the durations of pauses that occurred before the inscription of letters at four chunk levels, spanning letters, words, phrases, and sentences. A critical path task analytic model, Graphical Production of Memorized Sentences (GPoMS), shows that the control of writing relies on cues that continuously switch between motor actions and chunk retrievals in a just-in-time fashion at the level of letter information. GPoMS explains the individual differences in terms of variants of a motor production mechanism and variants of a chunk retrieval mechanism, which involve varying degrees of parallelism between cognitive actions and motor actions. A graphical technique for constructing GPoMS models was developed that enabled the estimation of ongoing working memory demands during production.

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