Date of Award

8-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Clinical/Counseling Psychology

Department

Psychology

First Reader/Committee Chair

Jason Reimer

Abstract

In an age where social media dominates daily consumption, the impact of engaging multi-modal media, specifically “sludge content,” on attention and memory has garnered significant interest. Sludge content, which generally combines unrelated visual gameplay with narrated audio and subtitles, has emerged as a popular form of online entertainment. This study explored whether this type of content enhances information recall by capturing users’ attention, a claim bolstered by theories of optimal arousal, non-pharmacological interventions such as fidget toys, and audiovisual redundancy. Using a within-subjects experimental design, the study investigated the effects of sludge content on effective recall through three conditions: sludge content, audio and subtitles only, and visual and subtitles only. Participants’ memory of the content was tested through recall tests administered after viewing each video condition. Results showed no significant differences in recall scores across the three video formats, F(1.53,35.15) = 0.05, p = 0.917, η²ₚ = 0.002. Additionally, there were no effects of story version or interactions between story version and video version. These findings suggest that sludge content may not enhance memory in the short term and raise questions about its assumed educational or cognitive benefits.

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