The facts about the effects of pedagogical agents on learners’ cognitive load: a meta-analysis based on 24 studies

The role of pedagogical agents in multimedia learning as an element that gives students social cues to promote cognition has been demonstrated in terms of enhancing students' academic performance and intrinsic motivation. Cognitive load is an important factor in measuring the effectiveness of multimedia learning, but the results of pedagogical agents' effects on learners' cognitive load have been consistently inconsistent. In this study, a meta-analytical approach was used to comprehensively analyse 24 empirical studies to investigate the effects of pedagogical agents on students' cognitive load in multimedia learning and the moderating factors in their process. The results showed that the teaching agent only slightly reduced the cognitive load. Moderating analyses show that the pedagogical agent appearance, pedagogical agent role, subject domain, form of media mix, intervention duration, and learning pace play a moderating role in the process of the pedagogical agent's influence on cognitive load, and can significantly reduce the cognitive load of learners.