ArticleFrontiers in psychology2025
Instructional design complexity and pop-up notification interference: effects on attention allocation and information retention in virtual classrooms.
Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Development and validation of the digital well-being scale using university students.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- The impact of task complexity and self-regulated supports on cognitive load and emotional engagement through multimodal analysis in the metaverse learning environment.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
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1 author.
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Abstract
The growing prevalence of virtual multimedia learning environments raises questions about how instructional complexity and environmental interference jointly shape learning. This study examines the independent and interactive effects of instructional design complexity (IDC) and pop-up notification interference (PNI) on attention allocation and information retention. IDC was manipulated through instructional design, using streamlined layouts with concise text (low complexity) versus fragmented layouts with redundant on-screen text and background audio (high complexity). PNI (external-to-material) was manipulated through the presence or absence of periodic, task-irrelevant pop-up notifications. Drawing on Cognitive Load Theory (CLT), the Limited Capacity Model of Mediated Message Processing (LC4MP), and Media Multitasking Theory (MMT), a 2 × 2 between-subjects experiment was conducted with 240 Chinese undergraduates. Both IDC and PNI had significant adverse main effects, and their combination produced the lowest attention and retention scores. Structural equation modeling revealed that attention allocation partially mediated the relationship between the two factors and retention performance. Moderation analysis showed that learners with greater digital learning experience were less affected by PNI. This research advances CLT in ecologically valid digital contexts. It offers actionable design principles for creating distraction-resilient, cognitively sustainable virtual learning environments by integrating process-level attention metrics with clearly defined dual-factor manipulations.
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