====== The Coherence Principle ======


===== Theory =====

The coherence principle (also called //seductive details//(([[http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a783761824~frm=titlelink|Garner, Ruth, Mark G. Gillingham, and C . Stephen White. Effects of ‘Seductive Details’ on Macroprocessing and Microprocessing in Adults and Children. Cognition and Instruction 6, no. 1: 41. 1989.]])) effect) claims that extraneous material that may be interesting or motivating but is irrelevant for learning objectives generally wastes learning resources and **hinders learning of important material**. This assumption is grounded in the fact that human cognitive resources are limited. Still, [[learning_theories:cognitive load theory]] predicts this effect will only occur if the cognitive load imposed by important learning material is high enough.(([[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563210001263|Park, Babette, Roxana Moreno, Tina Seufert, and Roland Brünken. Does cognitive load moderate the seductive details effect? A multimedia study. Computers in Human Behavior 27, no. 1: 5-10. January 2011.]]))  

Seductive details can be(([[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563210001263|Park, Babette, Roxana Moreno, Tina Seufert, and Roland Brünken. Does cognitive load moderate the seductive details effect? A multimedia study. Computers in Human Behavior 27, no. 1: 5-10. January 2011.]])):

  * relevant or irrelevant with respect to the learning goals, and
  * redundant or non-redundant.
===== Practice =====

Seductive details can appear in virtually any format, but most often as text.


===== Research status =====

A number of studies on the effect of seductive details have demonstrated:

  * **negative effects** on learning of important material((For details see: [[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563210001263|Park, Babette, Roxana Moreno, Tina Seufert, and Roland Brünken. Does cognitive load moderate the seductive details effect? A multimedia study. Computers in Human Behavior 27, no. 1: 5-10. January 2011.]]))(([[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19102616|Mayer, Richard E, Emily Griffith, Ilana T N Jurkowitz, and Daniel Rothman. “Increased Interestingness of Extraneous Details in a Multimedia Science Presentation Leads to Decreased Learning.” Journal of Experimental Psychology. Applied 14, no. 4: 328–339. December 2008.]]))
  * **lack of negative effects** on learning of important material.((For details see: [[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563210001263|Park, Babette, Roxana Moreno, Tina Seufert, and Roland Brünken. Does cognitive load moderate the seductive details effect? A multimedia study. Computers in Human Behavior 27, no. 1: 5-10. January 2011.]]))

Surprisingly, a recent study even found an large **increase in learning** due to seductive details.(([[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563210001263|Park, Babette, Roxana Moreno, Tina Seufert, and Roland Brünken. Does cognitive load moderate the seductive details effect? A multimedia study. Computers in Human Behavior 27, no. 1: 5-10. January 2011.]])) Possible explanations offered for this phenomenon are:

  * low cognitive load imposed by instructional material (**free cognitive resources**) in combination with
       * increase in **motivation** and cognitive engagement caused by interesting seductive details
       * **enhanced mental model** due to additional information which was successfully processed