Table 5.

Summary of animation studies.

Reference	Study description	Sample and design	Types of animation	Outcomes	Duration of animation	Findings	Case control
[25]	The audience's interaction with digital characters and the emotional impact of such films were examined. Undergraduate students of film, media, communication, and psychology courses from the Southwestern United States have participated in the study.	n = 144 (65 male and 79 female) Mean age: 20.6 years Design not reported	Computer-generated imagery (CGI)	Psychological outcome	60-100 min	CGI is very effective in creating a scene with characters featuring an actor either alive or passed away. In addition, it enhanced their parasocial interaction and relatability with such characters.	Real condition (n = 49): real human characters played by real actors CGI condition (n = 44): all-CG characters Hybrid condition (n = 51): a hybrid of characters with real humans and CG
[26]	A qualitative analysis was performed to learn the visual impacts of stop motion animated films towards the audience.	n = 9 (gender not mentioned) Age: 21-23 years Qualitative analysis	Stop motion	Psychological outcome	NR	The participant unknowingly noticed the techniques behind the making of stop motion film. Some of them even observed the sense of space in them.	NA
[27]	The comprehension reading of children was investigated by making them read an augmented reality (AR) storybook and was compared with those reading its printed version. The participants were selected from five children's libraries in Tehran.	n = 34 (20 girls and 14 boys) Age: 7-9 years Quasi-experimental methodology	2D animation AR	Cognitive outcome	NR	The AR storybooks with more interactive 3D images with added value can be used as a tool to support children's literacy learning.	Experimental group (n = 18; 11 girls and 7 boys): read AR storybooks Control group (n = 16; 9 girls and 7 boys): read the printed version of the same book
[28]	The influence of watching an animated show with fantastical events on the Chinese preschooler's executive function (EF) was investigated. The preschoolers from urban public schools in central China participated in the study.	Experiment 1 n = 90 (41 girls and 49 boys) Mean age: 60.37 months Latin square design Experiment 2 n = 20 (9 girls and 11 boys) Mean age: 63.94 months Eye-tracking technology Experiment 3 n = 20 (9 girls and 11 boys) Mean age: 63.94 months Strengths and difficulties questionnaire	3D animation	Cognitive outcome	Experiments 1 and 2 19 min 25 s (low fantasy) 18 min 37 s (high fantasy) Experiment 3 6 min 50 s (low fantasy and high fantasy)	The animated videos with high fantastical events have a negative impact on the preschooler's executive function.	Experiment 1 (30 participants each): high fantasy, low fantasy, no viewing Experiment 2 (10 participants each): high fantasy and low fantasy No control group Experiment 3 (10 participants each): high fantasy and low fantasy No control group
[29]	The study investigated the effectiveness of employing animated films as a measure of microintervention in a possible way to improve children's body image. Participants were selected from eastern, central, and western regions of six major US cities through a commercial research agency.	n = 1,329 (41% girls and 59% boys) Age: 7-14 years Randomized controlled trial	3D	Physical outcome	60 s	Microintervention effects played an essential role in creating awareness in adolescents who concern more about their body image.	Appearance teasing and bulling animation showing positive appearance self-talk (n = 442), media and celebrities animation showing unrealistic social media images (n = 441), and active control showing no body image (n = 446)
[30]	An interactive computer-animated agent (prototype) was developed to provide information on breast density to the women. The effectiveness of the prototype was assessed for its approval. Mammography-eligible English-speaking women were selected for the study.	n = 44 (all female) Age: 40-74 Cross-sectional study	Computer animation	Psychological outcome	3 min	The computer-animated agent delivers satisfied informational needs of women regarding breast density. It can be more beneficial if it is designed to deliver the psychological needs of the women undergoing the diagnosis.	NA
[31]	The changes in the student attitudes toward physical activity were evaluated by implementing Brain Breaks®videos for four months. The participants are primary grade students (3rd, 4th, and 5th) from 16 schools like Croatia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, South Africa, and Turkey.	n = 3,036 (1,496 males and 1,540 females) Quasi-experimental design	NR	Physical outcome	3-5 min 2 times per day 5 days each week	The student's attitude towards physical health and self-efficacy in doing exercises improved.	Experimental group (1914 participants) participated in group activity exercises and Brain Breaks®videos, and the control group (1122 participants) standard teaching materials
[32]	The effect of children's reactions towards unhealthy versus healthy products was investigated. The children's visual attention, such as dwell time and pupil dilation, was measured. The children from primary school in Austria participated in the study.	n = 68 (34 boys and 34 girls) Age: 6-11 years Fruit condition n = 34 Candy condition n = 34 Eye-tracking technology	2D animation cartoon style	Psychological outcome	6 min	The attractive and cartoonistic media presentation did not automatically influence the children's visual attention or emotional arousal toward unhealthy foods. However, it may prompt them when there is a restriction on taking healthy foods imposed by the parents at home.	NA
[33]	The adoption of 3D animation as a teaching tool for illustrating surgical skills in medical education was investigated. The 3D animation was hosted on Moodle platform. Third- and fifth-year medical students from the University of Botswana have participated in the study.	n = 90 (gender not mentioned) Age: not mentioned Randomized comparative study	Motion graphics in the form of 3D animation	Cognitive outcome	8 mins	The students preferred the adoption of 3D animation and the traditional teaching method.	Group A (traditional teaching group) is the control group, and group B (3D animation teaching group) is the experimental group
[34]	The reward learning mechanism in an infant's visual behavior was investigated. Participants are the infants recruited from the community via ads and birth records.	n = 51 (23 females and 28 males) Mean age: 7 months Eye-tracking technology	Animation using Adobe flash	Cognitive outcome	8 s ∗ six videos 2 times per session	Reward learning of the infant is significantly observed in the infant's mother. It played an essential role in enhancing the early cognitive development of infants.	NA
[35]	The influence of animated storybooks (motion and sound) on preschoolers' visual attention and Mandarin language learning was investigated. Children from 21 kindergartens of PAP community foundation, Singapore, were selected for the study.	n = 102 (49 boys and 53 girls) Age: 4-5 years Eye-tracking technology	ebook motion animation	Cognitive outcome	245 sec	The animated ebooks featuring sound and motion facilitate the children's attention, enhancing story comprehension and word learning.	Animation ebook reading group, static ebook with sound, static ebook with no motion and no sound and no reading exposure control group
[36]	The observation of hand action in visualizing the animation and static graphics was investigated. Also, the respective influence on learning the hand manipulative tasks was explored. The psychology students from Erasmus University Rotterdam have participated in the study.	n = 100 (20 males and 80 females) Mean age: 20.26 years	Animations were recorded in video clips	Physical outcome	NR	In learning hand manipulative tasks (i.e., knot tying), the animation delivers better knowledge than static graphics. The motor task performance was not hindered by hand appearance.	Animation with hands (n = 24), animation without hands (n = 25), statics with hands (n = 25), and statics without hands (n = 26)
[37]	The possible application of traditional animation principles to photorealistic animated animal characters was analyzed. The influence of varying degrees of exaggeration on perceived believability was investigated.	n = 82 (gender not mentioned) Age: 18 years Randomized block design	3D	Psychological outcome	18 sec	The animated characters should be presented realistically to achieve a higher level of the audience's perception of believability and appeal	No exaggeration, low exaggeration, high exaggeration
[38]	The influence of learning Japanese using an interactive manga-based ebook on the university students' visual attention and learning performance was investigated. The university students from the applied foreign languages department at the university in Taiwan have participated in the study.	n = 60 (gender not mentioned) Age: NR Eye-tracking technology	2D graphics (annotation animation)	Physical outcome	NR	Overall, students spent more time reading text and annotation than graphic information.	High prior knowledge (PK) group (n = 30) and low prior knowledge group (n = 30)
[39]	The effectiveness of using animation and static pictures to support the learning of genetics was assessed and compared. Seventh-grade students from a public junior high school participated in the study.	n = 181 (gender not mentioned) Age: NR	2D animation	Cognitive outcome	40 min	The animation approach is an easy and effective way to help students learn invisible infinitesimal phenomena as it lowers the perceived extraneous cognitive load.	Static pictures group (n = 89) and animation group (n = 92)
[40]	The influence of attention cueing on the learner's prior knowledge of cognitive load was investigated. Participants were students from a technology university in southeastern China.	n = 55 (7 male and 48 female) Mean age: 19.85 years Quasi-experimental design	Adobe flash-based animation	Physical outcome	255 sec	The interactive features of the animation help to explore knowledge	Animation only group (n = 27) Animation plus cueing group (n = 28)
[41]	The influence of characteristics of eSports virtual ads on viewers' attention was examined. It also determined how the dynamic nature of gameplay can influence those, as mentioned earlier.	n = 114 (40 female and 74 male) Mean age: 22.83 Eye-tracking technology	Ad animation	Psychological outcome	5 min	The advertising practitioners should take care of virtual ad designs for eSports and their placing timing.	Static condition (n = 58) and animated conditions (n = 56).
[42]	Infants' responsiveness to social attention was observed by providing training on essential attentional functions. The participants were recruited from a population-based database from the Tampere area in Finland.	n = 70 (37 females and 33 males) Age: 9 months Eye-tracking technology	NR	Cognitive outcome	NR	Basic training on visual attention plays an essential role in the early development of socio-cognitive skills in infants. It helps to increase the infant's responsiveness to social-communicative cues.	Training group (n = 35; 19 females, 16 males): four gaze-interactive games in terms of attention switching, visual search, sustained attention, and interference control and control group (n = 35; 18 females, 17 males), watching noncontingent, child-appropriate animations, and television clips
[43]	The virtual audiovisual environment with animated characters was employed to study hearing aid benefits. The influence of visual cues on the head and eye movements during listening talks in such an environment was investigated. Participants were young normal hearing students from the Oldenburg University.	n = 14 (7 males and 7 females) Age: 19-35 years	3D animation	Physical outcome	NR	The realistic animation condition was more comfortable investigating the effects of hearing aid signal processing on motion behavior. Also, it helps to identify the limitations of the technology developed.	NA
[44]	The experiences of pleasantness in viewer's emotions which stimulates the perception of pleasure portrayed in Malaysian animated cartoon characters were investigated.	n = 143 (78 male and 65 female) Age: 17-27 years Questionnaire's survey	3D animation	Psychological outcome	NR	During the early stage of animation production, the relationship between a character's theme and the character's appearance plays a significant role	NA
[45]	An attempt was made to increase the knowledge of glaucoma patients through animation. The factors influencing the knowledge level of such patients were determined. The patients who were diagnosed with glaucoma for six months at the King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital were included in the study.	n = 196 (108 males and 88 females) Mean age: 55.7 ± 15.5 years Self-identification	Motion graphics	Psychological outcome	3 min	The animated video was influential in spreading the knowledge of glaucoma among its patients. The video should contain more information regarding the importance of long-term follow-ups with an ophthalmologist.	NA
[46]	The influence of sponsorship signage's animation intensity on the sports viewer's attention was investigated. The arousal of the viewer's confusion due to increased levels of animation intensity was explored. Participants were undergraduate and graduate sports students from the German Sport University Cologne.	n = 52 (40.4% female and 59.6% male) Mean age: 24.98 years Eye-tracking technology	Flash	Psychological outcome	3 min 19 sec	The visual animation has drawn sports viewers' attention to sponsorship signage even in an attractive sports environment. The animation intensity played a significant role in attracting the sports viewer's attention.	NA
[47]	The infants' recognizing ability to facial expression changes were investigated. The participants were infants recruited through newspaper ads.	n = 25 (15 boys and 10 girls) Mean age: 226 days Principles of the Helsinki Declaration	NR	Physical outcome	1,800 ms	The infants' ability to recognize expression was disturbed by dynamic change of facial identity using dynamic morphing animation.	Pre- and post-familiarization tests were conducted under two conditions: expression test condition and ID test condition
[48]	The audience's response to the uncanny valley, while observing different types of 3D animated characters were assessed. Also, the audience's response towards the animation films rendered in different styles was evaluated.	n = 50 (gender not mentioned) Age: 18-23 years Volunteer sampling	3D Computer-generated and motion capture	Psychological outcome	3 min	The participants could not feel the warmth of the real human character.	NA
[49]	The significant effect on learning idioms through English animated movies was investigated. Iranian intermediate EFL learners were selected randomly from the English language institutes in Sari for the study.	n = 40 (all female) Age: 14-18 years Oxford Placement Test	Animated movies	Cognitive outcome	NR	Animated movies can motivate the learners to understand the idioms in a much better way.	Experimental group (n = 20) provided idioms using English animated movies, and the control group (n = 20) exposed to those during the instruction session
[50]	The usefulness of Sasang typology in providing a theoretical backbone to the animation industry was investigated. The biopsychological features of seven animated characters in Pororo the Little Penguin were analyzed. The analysis was validated with the standardized measures of Sasang typology. The graduate school students from Pusan National University were selected for the analysis.	n = 41 (17 males and 24 females) Mean age: 30.64 ± 9.08 (male) and 28.62 ± 4.08 (female) Body mass index (BMI) Sasang Personality Questionnaire (SPQ)	3D animation cartoon	Physical outcome	15 min	The SPQ and BMI help analyze the biopsychosocial features as well as patients. It remained a valuable tool to educate health-care professionals and the general public regarding Korean medicine.	NA
[51]	The impact of licensed cartoon characters on children's attention to healthy food/beverages packages and their preferences was investigated. Participants were children aged 6-9 years selected via online and in-person techniques in 2012 and 2013.	n = 149 (gender not mentioned) Age: 6-9 years Eye-tracking technology	2D	Psychological outcome	60 trials	Healthy food and beverage packages with featured cartoon characters may enhance the children's attention and product choice.	NA
[52]	The pharmacology interleaved learning virtual reality (PILL-VR) simulation was developed to learn medication administration procedures. Its effectiveness was evaluated by employing it in nursing education.	n = 129 (97 female and 32 male) Mean age: 23 ± 3 years Quasi-experimental design	3D virtual reality	Psychological outcome	45 min	The VR simulations provide an affordable and flexible environment to practice medical administration. The learning practice may be made more accessible by improving students' sense of control.	Experimental group (n = 82; 67 female and 21 male) learned via PILL-VR environment for 3 h Comparison group (n = 47; 36 female and 11 male) learned via normative lecture with PowerPoint presentation for 3-4 h
[53]	The 12th grade female students from Ad Dakhiliyah Governorate in the Sultanate of Oman participated in the study. The corresponding students' spatial ability and scientific reasoning skills were observed.	n = 60 (all female) Mean age: NR Quasi-experimental design	2D and 3D	Cognitive outcome	8 weeks	Visualizing the chemistry concepts in 2D and 3D enhanced the spatial ability and reasoning skills of the participants	Experimental group (n = 32) and control group (n = 28).
[54]	The influence of animated film culture on the child's involvement in extended meditation in animated films is derived. Participants were preschoolers from Moscow kindergarten.	n = 50 (gender not mentioned) Age: 6-7 years	Animated films	Cognitive outcome	NR	Animated films enhance the child's capacity for symbolic mediation and their level of arbitrary behavior.	NA
[55]	The five-year-old children's visual perception development using 3D animated movies and interactive applications was investigated. The children from two kindergartens in Turkey participated in the study.	n = 38 (22 girls and 16 boys) Age: 5 years Test of visual perceptual skills-3	3D	Physical outcome	10 min Every 15 days for 16 weeks	The 3D animated movies, as well as interactive applications such as worksheets and touchscreen, can enrich the visual perceptual development of infants	Test group 1 (n = 12; 7 girls and 5 boys) trained with 3D animated movies and interactive application with computer Test group II (n = 12; 7 girls and 5 boys) trained with 3D animated movies and worksheets of the interactive application Control group (n = 14; 8 girls and 6 boys) trained with preschool program
[56]	The audience's perception of animated cartoons telecasted on television for political communication was investigated. The frequency of exposure to such cartoons among males and females and the audience with primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of education was determined.	n = 357 (182 male and 175 female) Multistage sampling	TV animated cartoons	Psychological outcome	NA	Females are more exposed to animated TV cartoons. Furthermore, the perception depends on the level of education. The cartoons should be in such a way to motivate voting behavior.	NA
[57]	The influence of animated storybooks (motion) on children's visual attention and story comprehension was investigated. Participants were children from three public schools in the Netherlands.	n = 39 (22 boys and 17 girls) Mean age: 61.26 months Eye-tracking technology	2D	Psychological outcome	120 s	The motion in animated illustrations caused the children to focus longer and steadily, which enhanced their capability of retelling the stories.	Storybook with animated illustrations, a storybook with static illustrations, and a control condition (only post-testing and no reading).
[58]	The influence of pedagogical agents with cueing on the students' learning ability was investigated. Seventh-grade students from a large junior high school in Taipei, Taiwan, have participated in the study.	n = 133 (67 boys and 66 girls) Age: 12 years	3D animation	Cognitive outcome	40 min	Implementing a pedagogical agent with cueing may help reduce the complexity of animation. It may support the learners to have a clear-cut view of the complex concepts of the biology domain.	Experimental group (n = 64): animation with a pedagogical agent and control group (n = 69), animation without a pedagogical agent
[59]	The impact of color and animation types on the sports viewer's attention to sponsorship signage was investigated. The arousal of confusion among sports viewers due to the animated sponsor signage was analyzed. Participants were assigned to four highlighted video clips (soccer, handball, biathlon, and formula one) according to their treatment conditions.	n = 176 (56.3% male and 43.7% female) Mean age: 24.4 ± 5 years Eye-tracking technology	Flash	Psychological outcome	15-20 min	Attention measures are more important than exposure quantities while designing sports sponsorship signage boards	Animation treatment (blinking, running, twisting, and spotlight) and color treatment (four chromatic primary hues such as red, green, blue, and yellow).