The Roles of Pedagogical Agent’s Emotional Support: Dynamics Between Emotions and Learning Strategies in Multimedia Learning

The present research conducted two experiments with an intelligent tutoring system to investigate the overall and dynamic impact of emotional support from a pedagogical agent (PA). In Experiment 1, a single factor intergroup design was used to explore the impact of PA’s emotional support (supportive vs. non-supportive) on learners’ emotions, intrinsic motivation, and learning gain. Sixty participants were recruited and randomly assigned to one of the two conditions. Experiment 2 also conducted a single factor between-subjects design to investigated the dynamic patterns between emotions and learning strategies among 30 participants using lag sequential analysis. Results showed that: Compared with the non-supportive pedagogical agent, the supportive pedagogical agent reduced frustration and improved learning gain, but did not increase intrinsic motivation. In addition, learners with the supportive pedagogical agent used more appropriate strategies after frustration and surprise, and use less ineffective strategies after confusion and enjoyment to avoid reaching a wrong answer. If learners did not receive emotional support in such cases, learning strategies following these emotions were more likely lead to negative cognitive results, or negative emotions tended to appear repeatedly. Instructors or PAs should identify learners’ emotions in time and provide the appropriate emotional support according to learners’ emotions.