Open research questions in Visual and Cognitive Learning Processes

What the literature leaves open

• The lack of understanding of how cognitive demands of mathematical tasks change across stages in online video lessons. The need to adapt the Mathematical Tasks Framework to the online video lesson context. The importance of understanding how teachers can maintain or enhance high-level cognitive demands in online video lessons.

  Cognitive demands in designing and presenting mathematical tasks for online video lessons: evidence from Shanghai and England · 2026 · DOI

• further research could explore the effectiveness of the SAIF in different educational settings, - further research could investigate the impact of interactive features on student learning outcomes

  Playing to Learn: Exploring Interactivity for Knowledge Building in School Science Animations · 2026 · DOI

• The paper identifies a gap in understanding how practice with feedback can support learning without upfront instruction. It highlights the lack of research on the conditions necessary for students to learn from practice and feedback without lecture. The study notes that prior work often assumes that passive instruction must precede active engagement.

  Conditions for Effective Learning Without Upfront Instruction: How Practice with Feedback Supports Memory, Generalization, Motivation, and Metacognition · 2026 · DOI

• The issue of effect size non-independence in prior meta-analyses. The challenge of evaluating inter-coder reliability. The need to apply multiple coding schemes to systematically analyze the literature.

  Seductive Details, Cognitive Load, and Learning Outcomes: A Multi-level Meta-analysis and MASEM · 2026 · DOI

• The number of studies on seductive details has nearly doubled since the most recent meta-analysis, warranting a comprehensive reevaluation of their effects. Prior meta-analyses have faced the issue of effect size non-independence. The current study aims to address these gaps by using a multi-level meta-analysis and MASEM.

  Seductive Details, Cognitive Load, and Learning Outcomes: A Multi-level Meta-analysis and MASEM · 2026 · DOI

• Further research is needed to test the predictions of the FoRe-Squares model - Research should investigate the effects of instructional techniques and their combinations on processing and learning outcomes

  Advocating the FoRe-Squares Model of Technology-Augmented Instruction: a Reply to Mayer (2025) · 2026 · DOI

• The need for a comprehensive understanding of effective instruction. The lack of a parsimonious heuristic for designing and evaluating instruction. The gap in understanding the effects of instructional techniques on processing and learning outcomes.

  Advocating the FoRe-Squares Model of Technology-Augmented Instruction: a Reply to Mayer (2025) · 2026 · DOI

• Less research has been carried out on the impact of time lag between visual and verbal information. The results of previous research were mixed, especially in the case of continuous temporal contiguity. No studies have been carried out on temporal contiguity in virtual reality.

  Continuous Temporal Contiguity Narration‐Animation for Learning in Virtual Reality · 2026 · DOI

• The study identifies the challenge of balancing multimedia and minimalism to enhance learning. The findings highlight the need for teachers to align slide design with teaching objectives. The study discusses the challenge of promoting teacher reflection to align slide features with learning outcomes.

  Recontextualising PowerPoint in higher education: Teacher perceptions and pedagogical affordances · 2025 · DOI

• Little research has delineated how teachers design and use PowerPoint in practice. There is a gap in understanding exactly what teachers do with PowerPoint and how they do it to support learning.

  Recontextualising PowerPoint in higher education: Teacher perceptions and pedagogical affordances · 2025 · DOI

• One challenge is the cognitive demand of traditional note-taking, which can lead to incomplete or inaccurate notes. Another challenge is the potential for collaborative note-taking to be affected by cognitive transactional costs or distractions. A third challenge is the need to investigate the comparative effects of different note-taking approaches on recall and writing performance.

  Beyond traditional note-taking: Comparing the effects of collaboratively-generated versus instructor-provided notes on recall and writing performance · 2025 · DOI

• no study has compared the effects of collaboratively-generated versus instructor-provided notes on recall and writing performance before, - the process of taking notes may also come with the significant cognitive cost of attempting to listen, write and comprehend simultaneously, - students are often ineffective note-takers, as they frequently omit key concepts from lectures from their notes

  Beyond traditional note-taking: Comparing the effects of collaboratively-generated versus instructor-provided notes on recall and writing performance · 2025 · DOI

• small sample size of 26 university students, - limited to non-major EFL students, - no advanced English learners were included

  The impact of internal-generated contextual clues on EFL vocabulary learning: insights from EEG · 2024 · DOI

• comparing the effects of contextual clues between external-provided and internal-generated sources on online vocabulary learning for advanced English learners, - investigating the impact of internal-generated contextual clues on vocabulary acquisition in different learning environments

  The impact of internal-generated contextual clues on EFL vocabulary learning: insights from EEG · 2024 · DOI

• VisDoc’s effec- tiveness is inherently limited by the quality of the project documentation it restructures.

  Restructure This: Using AI to Restructure Onboarding Documents to Reduce Cognitive Overload · 2026

• Future research should examine the cross-cultural validity of this framework by replicating the model across institu- tional types, national contexts, and educational systems.

  Approaching learning satisfaction: Factors influencing educational video learning · 2026 · DOI

• Investigating factors associated with the enhancement or maintenance of high-level cognitive demands in OVLs

  Cognitive demands in designing and presenting mathematical tasks for online video lessons: evidence from Shanghai and England · 2026 · DOI

• Further research is needed to investigate the relationship between cognitive load and motivation during the processing of complex tasks. The effects of the order of task formats on cognitive load should be considered. The use of physiological measurements for an accurate online measurement of cognitive load should be explored.

  Variations in Repeated Measures of Cognitive Load and Interest During Complex Learning Tasks · 2026 · DOI

• The benefits of generative learning activities across different media types are unclear. The impact of self-explanation prompts on learning outcomes in virtual reality and slideshow lessons is unknown. The relationship between executive function and learning outcomes in different media types is not well understood.

  Inserting Generative Learning Activities During Pauses in Slideshow and Virtual Reality Lessons · 2026 · DOI

• We demonstrate how this dual-process framework reconciles contradictory findings regarding feedback interventions and individual differences in offloading behavior.

  Meta-cognitive insights into cognitive offloading: mechanisms, interventions, and educational implications · 2026 · DOI

• BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Although online discussions are widely recognized as an effective instructional strategy in blended learning environments, their differential impacts on learners with varying need for cognition (NFC) remain underexplored.

  How does the online discussion intervention influence learners’ engagement, emotions, and motivation in a blended learning environment? Learners’ need for cognition matters · 2025 · DOI

• While this effect has proven robust for learning science topics, it has not been explored relative to the formation of mental representations of physical spaces or layouts.

  Examining the Effects of Multimodal Presentations on Learning Spatial Layouts · 2024 · DOI

• Previous studies have left a significant gap in researching the relationships among affective variables, cognitive factors, and learning outcomes in second language (L2) writing.

  Examining the relationships between cognitive load, anxiety, and story continuation writing performance: a structural equation modeling approach · 2024 · DOI

• Nevertheless, there is limited research exploring the dynamic calibration phenomenon of cognitive resources by self-efficacy during task execution through experimental methods.

  Dynamic calibration of self-efficacy to cognitive load: the longitudinal mediation effect of state anxiety · 2024 · DOI

• Future research should investigate the effectiveness of video-based, autonomous learning interventions in different subjects and contexts. Future research should explore the impact of teaching assistant training on the effectiveness of such interventions.

  The Impact of Question Scaffolding and Videos on Classroom learning · 2026 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Visual and Cognitive Learning Processes

• Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work: An Analysis of the Failure of Constructivist, Discovery, Problem-Based, Experiential, and Inquiry-Based Teaching · Educational Psychologist · 2006 · 4,392 citations
• Cognitive Architecture and Instructional Design · Educational Psychology Review · 1998 · 4,360 citations
• Interactive-engagement versus traditional methods: A six-thousand-student survey of mechanics test data for introductory physics courses · American Journal of Physics · 1998 · 3,369 citations
• Nine Ways to Reduce Cognitive Load in Multimedia Learning · Educational Psychologist · 2003 · 2,786 citations
• Cognitive load theory, learning difficulty, and instructional design · Learning and Instruction · 1994 · 2,603 citations
• Attentional requirements of learning: Evidence from performance measures · Cognitive Psychology · 1987 · 2,229 citations
• Cognitive Load Theory and Instructional Design: Recent Developments · Educational Psychologist · 2003 · 2,133 citations
• Cognitive Architecture and Instructional Design: 20 Years Later · Educational Psychology Review · 2019 · 1,930 citations
• Cognitive Load Theory and the Format of Instruction · Cognition and Instruction · 1991 · 1,912 citations
• Cognitive Load Measurement as a Means to Advance Cognitive Load Theory · Educational Psychologist · 2003 · 1,824 citations

Most recent work

• Understanding the cognitive cost of multimedia learning: effects of visual load and language proficiency · Cognitive Research Principles and Implications · 2026
• Meta-cognitive insights into cognitive offloading: mechanisms, interventions, and educational implications · Humanities and Social Sciences Communications · 2026
• Statistical learning performance is impacted by a previous learning experience: A predictive eye-movement study · Cognition · 2026
• The effect of metacognitive prompts using generative AI on cognitive load, task performance, and self-efficacy in online self-regulated learning · Educational Psychology · 2026
• From heartbeats to actions: Multimodal learning analytics of cognitive and behavior engagement in real classrooms · Learning and Instruction · 2026
• Enhance or hinder? Exploring the role of AI-powered notetaking in Video-based STEM learning · Contemporary Educational Psychology · 2026
• How can students’ engagement with instructional videos on generalizing with algebraic expressions be scaffolded? Design research for specifying the content-specific focus of scaffolds · The Journal of Mathematical Behavior · 2026
• A reading model of English as a foreign language accommodated by programming-oriented computational thinking: An interdisciplinary approach · Thinking Skills and Creativity · 2026
• Mitigating Cognitive Overload in Nursing Education: An Integrative Review · Nurse Educator · 2026
• Variations in Repeated Measures of Cognitive Load and Interest During Complex Learning Tasks · Educational Psychology Review · 2026

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