Revisiting contextual relevance: pedagogical agent appearance

Abstract

Early research on pedagogical agents centered on functionality within multimedia environments. A specific, yet under-researched area was the contextual relevance of the agent’s appearance, leaving its validity neither confirmed nor refuted. This study investigated contextual relevance using a humanoid agent, a fox character agent, and a no-agent condition. Results didn’t conclusively support contextual relevance as the character agent was rated significantly higher on agent credibility and no significant differences on cognitive load. However, the humanoid agent outperformed the character and no-agent conditions in free recall, suggesting the need for further exploration of this concept.