Theoretical Background

Abstract

The study of the impact of auditory and visual learned information on memory became popular in research shortly before the possibilities of digital media in education won recognition. Reviews by Penney (1975, 1989) revealed a superiority of auditory over visual learning in the recall of verbal items. However, this superiority disappears with more complex information such as text. In fact, it was found that visual learners remember more of the learned material than auditory learners and pay more attention to details (Nelson, Balass, & Perfetti, 2005; Rickheit, Strohner, Miisseler, & Nattkemper, 1987). Furthermore, a large body of evidence gave attention to the learning effect of images additional to text.