The impact of video lecturers’ nonverbal communication on learning – An experiment on gestures and facial expressions of pedagogical agents

Body movements such as gestures and facial expressions are an essential part of human communication. While first results show that body movements of pedagogical agents in educational videos foster learning when they are learning-related, the impact of unrelated gestures and facial expressions is still not fully examined. This study investigated whether learning-unrelated gestures and facial expressions performed by an on-screen instructor were able to increase learning outcomes while considering differences in cognitive load and the perception of the agent. In a 2 (gestures; with vs. without) x 2 (facial expressions; with vs. without) between-subject design, data of 163 participants was collected. Results revealed that a pedagogical agent who performed both gestures and facial expressions led to better retention performances. In terms of transfer, participants performed better when they watched the agent performing gestures or facial expressions solely. In line with the computers-as-social-actors paradigm, gestures and facial expressions made the agent look more human-like. Gestures and facial expressions also led to higher perceptions of learning facilitation. In contrast to the hypotheses, implementing learning-irrelevant body movements did not cause extraneous processing. The results of this study are discussed with a focus on social processes while learning.