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I decided to choose a video that relates to my educational comic titled “The Power of Habits”. This video specifically looks at how to break bad habits.

This video looks at how to break a bad habit. Habits form through a trigger, then a behaviour, and then a reward loop (For example: stress – eating ice cream – feeling relief). Our brains learn this loop through the reward they feel once this action is done. To break a bad habit, Judson Brewer recommends using mindfulness. By concentrating on the habit, such as how the habit makes you feel, it is easier to realize it is not as rewarding as your brain initially anticipated the activity to be. Mindful awareness interrupts the habit loop!!

The multimedia learning theory applies to this video due to five simple things that stood out to me. Brewer focuses on dual channels (visual and auditory), coherence principle, cueing, spatial contiguity, and pacing. Brewer uses dual-channel processing by telling the story and pairing it with clear visuals that help reinforce the key ideas he is explaining. By doing this, our learning is enhanced, and the cognitive overload is reduced. In addition, he uses the coherence principle with the focal point of the TED talk being his main message of habit change. He uses cueing by using visual cues to guide the viewers through the talk. Brewer uses spatial contiguity by ensuring that the appropriate visuals are shown at the exact time he talks about them. Lastly he uses pacing to separate his talk into stages. The stages he chooses to go through make sense and allow the listener to have an understanding of the previous topic before moving forward.