Abstract
<title>Abstract</title> <p> <bold>Background:</bold> Visual emotional cues are widely used in digital learning materials, yet their effects on learners’ cognitive processing remain debated. <bold>Methods:</bold> This study used a three-level meta-analysis of 47 primary studies and 121 effect sizes to examine the overall effects of visual emotional cues and their moderators. <bold>Results:</bold> Visual emotional cues improved retention performance (g = 0.122) but reduced transfer performance (g = −0.303), resulting in a small negative overall learning effect (g = −0.140). They increased intrinsic cognitive load (g = 0.150) and reduced germane cognitive load (g = −0.115). Moderation analyses showed that effects varied according to the emotional characteristics of the learning materials, learners’ emotional states, presentation formats, and subject areas; PowerPoint and animation were associated with positive retention effects. The heterogeneity was primarily attributable to differences among outcome measures within the same studies. <bold>Conclusions:</bold> These findings qualify the assumption that emotional cues necessarily improve learning and support differentiated, adaptive design of digital instructional materials. </p>