Short videos may hinder learning by fragmenting attention and memory, study finds

June 4, 2026 feature Short videos may hinder learning by fragmenting attention and memory, study finds Ingrid Fadelli Author Stephanie Baum Scientific Editor Robert Egan Associate Editor Recent technological advances and the introduction of new digital media platforms have dramatically changed how people learn and source information about topics that interest them. Some recent studies have found that while browsing online or scrolling down social media platforms, users tend to spend under one minute on average on individual videos. Short videos that summarize concepts have thus become increasingly popular among online content creators. More recently, they have also made their way into some educational settings, yet the extent to which they can support learning and help students memorize information remains unclear. Researchers at Yunnan Normal University and Central China Normal University recently set out to assess the potential of short videos and longer videos as learning resources. Their findings, published in Communications Psychology, suggest that short videos are significantly less effective learning tools than longer videos, as people tend to rapidly forget the information presented in them. "The rapid rise of short videos, particularly social media-style formats characterized by rapid switching and fragmented content, has led to their increasing integration into learning environments," wrote Meiting Wei, Yandan Li and their colleagues in their paper. "However, their efficacy and neurocognitive impact remain contentious. The present study examined whether short videos are superior or inferior to long videos as tools for learning and memory." Memory tests after watching short and long videos The researchers carried out three separate experiments involving over 150 college students. Each of these students was shown videos that contained information about remote travel destinations. The videos that participants watched were either 10 minutes long or spanned between 30 seconds and two and a half minutes. In addition, some participants were explicitly asked to memorize the content of the video, while others were not. "Across three experiments, memory performance and forgetting rate were assessed under both incidental and intentional encoding conditions, and inter-subject correlation (ISC) analysis was employed to investigate neural response patterns during short video viewing," wrote the authors. "Behaviorally, participants learning with short videos showed significantly lower immediate memory accuracy across encoding conditions and exhibited a higher rate of forgetting when explicitly instructed to remember." Notably, the study participants watched videos inside a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner, a machine that maps activity in the brain by tracking changes in blood flow. The research team later analyzed the fMRI scans they collected and tried to uncover neural activity patterns associated with viewing short and long videos. "At the neural level, ISC analyses revealed that short videos elicited reduced neural synchrony in key brain regions supporting visuospatial attention, episodic memory, and cognitive control, including the superior parietal lobule, precuneus, and middle occipital gyrus," wrote the researchers. "In contrast, short videos evoked higher synchrony in temporal and frontal regions associated with bottom-up attentional processing. Furthermore, functional connectivity analyses indicated that SVs weakened coupling between visual, attentional, and cognitive control networks." Implications for education and digital media The results of the team's experiments suggest that when people watch short videos, they do not remember the information presented to them as well as they would when watching longer videos. In addition, the researchers found that while their study participants were watching short videos, brain regions involved in attention, episodic memory (i.e., memory of events or facts) and cognitive control (i.e., the control of mental functions) were less synchronized. In contrast, they recorded a greater synchrony between brain regions linked to a focus on external stimuli. Collectively, these observations suggest that the disjointed and rapidly changing quality of short videos interferes with the deep processing of information, making it harder for viewers to memorize contained information or acquire new knowledge. "Together, these findings suggest that the fragmented and rapidly switching nature of typical social media short videos enhances bottom-up attentional capture at the expense of top-down cognitive processes critical for deep learning and long-term memory consolidation," wrote the authors. "This study provides converging neurobehavioral evidence suggesting that SVs viewing in social media contexts is associated with reduced neural synchronization and poorer memory performance." This recent work could soon inspire further research exploring the potential value of short videos in educational settings. In addition, the team's findings could guide the design of more effective digital media-enhanced classroom experiences, encouraging educators to increase the length of videos to facilitate learning. Written for you by our author Ingrid Fadelli, edited by Stephanie Baum, and fact-checked and reviewed by Robert Egan—this article is the result of careful human work. We rely on readers like you to keep independent science journalism alive. If this reporting matters to you, please consider a donation (especially monthly). You'll get an ad-free account as a thank-you. Publication details Meiting Wei et al, Learning via short videos impairs memory accuracy and reduces brain synchrony, Communications Psychology (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s44271-026-00476-x Journal information: Communications Psychology © 2026 Science X Network