How content complexity and sensory modality influence student satisfaction in art education

Art education plays a vital role in preserving cultural heritage and promoting sustainable development. However, growing curricular complexity and abstraction present challenges to student satisfaction, a key metric in educational sustainability. This study investigates how perceived content complexity and modality structure affect student satisfaction in art-related programs, drawing on Construal Level Theory (CLT) to explain the psychological mechanisms involved. Based on aggregated data from 73,368 students across 1524 academic programs in China, the results indicate that higher content complexity significantly reduces satisfaction. Moreover, a lower auditory–visual (A/V) ratio—indicating reduced emphasis on visual input—also decreases satisfaction but moderates the negative effect of content complexity. The findings suggest that cognitive-perceptual mechanisms play a central role in shaping students’ evaluative responses and offer implications for improving curriculum design and institutional strategies in art education.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  Scientific Reports

• Publication date

  2025-07-01

• Fields of study

  Art, Medicine, Education, Psychology

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1038/s41598-025-08242-5PMID 40595225PMCID 12219321
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• The Role of Knowledge in Creative Thinking

  2024cited by this paper
• Construal levels and innovation project time estimations in mental health management intervention: visual versus acoustic

  2023cited by this paper
• K-pop music diffusion in Korea and East Asia: the convergence of visual technology and concrete narratives

  2023cited by this paper
• International medical students’ perspectives on factors affecting their academic success in China: a qualitative study

  2022cited by this paper
• Acceptability of a Preventative Coping and Connectedness Curriculum for High School Students Entering Accelerated Curricula

  2022cited by this paper
• Evaluating the effectiveness of enhanced family planning education on knowledge and use of family planning in fishing communities of Lake Victoria in Uganda: a randomized controlled trial

  2022cited by this paper
• The Effects of Emotional Design on Multimedia Learning and Appreciation of Chinese Poetry

  2021cited by this paper
• The Role of Cultural Festivals in Regional Economic Development:

  2021cited by this paper
• INTEGRATED APPROACH FOR EXPLORING CRITICAL ELEMENTS THAT AFFECT SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF CULTURAL AND CREATIVE INDUSTRIES

  2021cited by this paper
• Structural Relationship of Key Factors for Student Satisfaction and Achievement in Asynchronous Online Learning

  2021cited by this paper
• For the Future Sustainable Career Development of College Students: Exploring the Impact of Core Self-Evaluation and Career Calling on Career Decision-Making Difficulty

  2021cited by this paper
• Visual Arts in the University Educational Ecosystem: Analysis of Schools of Knowledge

  2021cited by this paper
• Bridging the Gap Between Science and Practice: Research Collaboration and the Perception of Research Findings

  2021cited by this paper
• The Gastronomy as an Art and its Role in the Local Economic Development of a Tourism Destination: A Literature Review

  2020cited by this paper
• Art and Aesthetics in Higher Education.

  2020cited by this paper
• Is either peripheral detail(s) or central feature(s) easy to mentally process?: EEG examination of mental workload based on construal level theory

  2020cited by this paper
• Local-level implementation of Social Emotional Learning in arts education: moving the heart through the arts

  2020cited by this paper
• Determinants of Students' Satisfaction At Higher Educational Institution in Bangladesh: Evidence From Private and Public Universities

  2019cited by this paper
• The Link Between Creativity, Cognition, and Creative Drives and Underlying Neural Mechanisms

  2019cited by this paper
• Does e-learning service quality influence e-learning student satisfaction and loyalty? Evidence from Vietnam

  2019cited by this paper
• Higher education service quality and student satisfaction, institutional image, and behavioral intention

  2019cited by this paper
• Ignored or Rejected: Retail Exclusion Effects on Construal Levels and Consumer Responses to Compensation

  2019cited by this paper
• Cognitive load in multimedia learning environments: A systematic review

  2019cited by this paper
• Integrating Construal-level Theory in Designing Fear Appeals in IS Security Research

  2019cited by this paper
• Curriculum integration in arts education: connecting multiple art forms through the idea of ‘space’

  2016cited by this paper
• Leading from different psychological distances: A construal-level perspective on vision communication, goal setting, and follower motivation

  2015cited by this paper
• Effects of task complexity on individual creativity through knowledge interaction: A comparison of temporary and permanent teams

  2015cited by this paper
• Factors Affecting College Students' Satisfaction with Major Curriculum: Evidence from Nine Years of Data

  2012cited by this paper
• Effects of Construal Level on the Price-Quality Relationship

  2011cited by this paper
• The Arts and Australian education: Realising potential

  2011cited by this paper
• It's the Mind-Set that Matters: The Role of Construal Level and Message Framing in Influencing Consumer Efficacy and Conservation Behaviors

  2011cited by this paper
• Construal-level theory of psychological distance.

  2010cited by this paper
• Measuring College Student Satisfaction: A Multi-Year Study of the Factors Leading to Persistence

  2008cited by this paper
• Seeing the Forest Beyond the Trees: A Construal-Level Approach to Self-Control

  2008cited by this paper
• Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work: An Analysis of the Failure of Constructivist, Discovery, Problem-Based, Experiential, and Inquiry-Based Teaching

  2006cited by this paper
• Temporal construal.

  2003cited by this paper
• Cognitive Load Theory and Instructional Design: Recent Developments

  2003cited by this paper
• Leaving College: Rethinking the Causes and Cures of Student Attrition

  1987cited by this paper

• No citing papers are available for this paper.