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Background: Though pedagogical artificial agents are expected to play a crucial role in the years to come, earlier studies provide inconsistent results regarding their effect on learning. This might be because their potential for exhibiting subtle nonverbal behaviours we know from human teachers has been untapped. What is more, there is little evidence of the processes underlying the effect of nonverbal behaviours of teachers (either human or artificial) on learning, so as to better guide their practical application. Objectives: The aims of the current research were threefold: firstly, to examine the effect of an artificial agent's vocal expressiveness on non‐verbal immediacy (teachers' ability to increase psychological closeness through nonverbal communication). Secondly, to test whether an artificial agent showing strong vocal expressiveness will enhance affective and cognitive learning (perceived and actual), as compared to an artificial agent that shows weak vocal expressiveness. Thirdly, to examine whether the underlying mechanisms of motivation and attention explain the effect of immediacy (and thereby also of vocal expressiveness) on the two learning outcomes. Methods: The study used a between‐participants design, with the participants being randomly assigned to one of the two experimental conditions: artificial modelling with strong expressiveness and artificial modelling with weak vocal expressiveness. Results and conclusions: Results showed that an artificial agent with strong vocal expressiveness increased affective and perceived cognitive learning. Partial support was found for actual cognitive learning. What is more, our findings revealed that vocal expressiveness is related to affective and perceived cognitive learning because it promotes nonverbal immediacy. Finally, results provided evidence of motivation as a mediator of the path from immediacy to affective learning. Major takeaways: The current findings verify the important role of nonverbal immediacy found in traditional educational settings. However, showing that these results also apply to artificial teachers is essential, given that the educational landscape is changing and reshaping by artificial intelligence. Thus, taking into consideration the role of vocal expressiveness in the development of artificial teachers or voice assistants like Alexa, Siri, and Google assistant, as a way to enhance immediacy and affective experience of learners is of imperative value, since they will be found more and more in our societies. Lay Description: What is currently known about the subject matter: There is a positive effect of nonverbal cues of human teachers on students' learningThe artificial agent's voice is important for learning. What their paper adds to this: Provides strong evidence of the positive effect of vocal expressiveness of artificial agents on learning outcomes.Reveals that vocal expressiveness is related to learning outcomes because it enhances immediacy.Examines the proposed mechanisms of motivation and attention as mediators of the path from immediacy to affective and cognitive learning. Implications of study findings for practitioners: Taking into consideration vocal expressiveness of artificial agents during the design process is essential for increased learning.The combination of the vocal parameters of pitch and speech rate is effective for constructing vocal expressiveness.By showing the underlying mechanisms of artificial agents' nonverbal cues (i.e., vocal cues) on learning, it helps designers to make a better decisions during construction.The study's findings are also pertinent for human teachers in improving students' learning in traditional educational settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earlier research provides inconsistent evidence for effects of pedagogical agents on learning outcomes. We claim that the agent's instructional method helps to explain the inconsistency, with agents that offer behavioral modeling as an instructional method leading to better learning. We conducted two studies to investigate effects of the use of an artificial agent as a persuasive behavioral model on individuals' learning outcomes in the context of computer training. Specifically, in both studies, participants watched an instructional video on how to perform a web search with their eyes using a novel eye-tracking software. Study 1 examined the effects of agent-delivered modeling vs. two non-modeling instructional methods (agent-delivered instructional narration and no agent, text-only instruction) on participants' (N = 197) self-efficacy and system-specific perceptions of ease of use. Study 2 extends findings of Study 1 by examining effects of agent-delivered modeling vs. two non-modeling instructional methods (agent-delivered instructional narration and no agent, voice-only instructional narration) on participants' (N = 99) declarative knowledge and task performance. Previous work with human behavioral models showed an advantage of behavioral modeling over other non-modeling instructional methods in influencing learning outcomes. Therefore, agent-delivered modeling was predicted to be more effective in influencing motivational (i.e., self-efficacy) and learning outcomes (i.e., declarative knowledge, task performance). In accordance with our hypotheses, results revealed that participants who received instructions from an artificial agent as a behavioral model reported significantly stronger self-efficacy beliefs, tended to have higher system-specific ease of use, exhibited enhanced declarative knowledge, and better task performance skills. • An artificial agent as a behavioral model increases learners' self-efficacy and system perceived ease of use. • An artificial agent as a behavioral model enhances learners' task performance. • An artificial agent as a behavioral model can lead to better declarative knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]