Diana Yu. Kulchitskaya

The author of the article argues that multimedia content can be used not only for entertainment purposes, but also may help achieve various psychological effects on the audience. The paper provides a brief overview of the psychological research performed in the field of multimedia perception and describes the cognitive theory of multimedia learning. The article analyses two phenomena that may be regarded as prerequisites for the emergence of multimedia as a new technology: multimodality of human perception and so-called polyphony of reality. Multimedia content affects various sensory systems and thus imitates the real world, which is full of stimuli from various modalities. The author also highlights a range of psychological effects that may accompany the usage of multimedia content in the mass media.