The use of eye movements in the study of multimedia learning

Abstract

This commentary focuses on the use of the eye-tracking methodology to study cognitive processes during multimedia learning. First, some general remarks are made about how the method is applied to investigate visual information processing, followed by a reflection on the eye movement measures employed in the studies published in this special issue. It is argued that global eye movement measures indexing attentional and encoding processes during the entire learning period should preferably be complemented with more fine-grained analyses that are either time-locked to important events taking place in an animation or that by other means provide information about the time course of learning. As nicely documented in the present set of studies, it is also of importance to complement the eye-tracking data with offline measures indexing the end product of learning. Such a complementary approach is likely to yield important new insights into the process of multimedia learning.