Matching cues to attention: how visual and social cues differentially benefit students with low sustained or selective attention.

Background: In the digital era, fragmented information impairs the sustained and selective attention of some students, making it difficult for them to remain engaged in instructional videos. Adding cues to instructional videos is a direct method for attracting and sustaining attention. Cues can be classified as visual or social. However, the differential effects of visual and social cues on the learning outcomes of students with varying levels of sustained or selective attention remain unclear. To address this, two experiments were conducted with university students as participants. Methods: In both experiments, students watched instructional videos with different cues and completed test materials. Experiment 1 adopted a 2 (sustained attention level: high, low) × 2 (cue type: visual, social) between-participants design, with a final sample of 105 participants. Experiment 2 adopted a 2 (selective attention level: high, low) × 2 (cue type: visual, social) between-participants design, with a final sample of 104 participants. Results: The results of Experiment 1 showed that in the transfer test only, students with low sustained attention performed better with social than with visual cues. The results of Experiment 2 showed that in the retention test alone, students with low selective attention performed better with visual than with social cues. Conclusion: For students with low sustained attention, incorporating social cues into instructional videos may be a better choice than visual cues for promoting knowledge transfer. For students with low selective attention, incorporating visual cues may be prioritized over social cues for enhancing knowledge retention.