ABSTRACT
Participants reviewed three learning interfaces, text, text plus static graphics, and text plus animated graphics, each displaying rules of movement through an environment. Thirty-one participants were under instructions to imagine they would be subsequently tested on the information, while 55 were to be tested. Participants in the Learning group showed a different pattern of results in which the ratings in the graphics conditions were indistinguishable. Subsequent analyses showed that the pattern of ratings for the Learning group mirrored actual performance. In other words, participants based their ratings on accurate judgments of learning, rather than on aesthetic elements of the interface. Judgments of different instructional media, in terms of their effectiveness, ability to inspire confidence, and enjoyability, differed based on the learner’s goals. The attractiveness of animation, and, secondly, static graphics, influenced judgments of those who were not required to learn the information.
