Study Shows multimedia helps adults learn more rapidly

I had thought that this was already established but now neuroscience seems to be demonstrating it too.

using stimuli that involve both vision and hearing can be combined to produce speedier learning of visual information and suggest that multi-sensory training programs may be more effective for adults learning new skills -- such as discriminating differences between highly similar objects, or finding an item in cluttered scene.
According to Aaron Seitz, a research assistant professor of psychology at BU and lead investigator of the study, the traditional belief among neuroscientists is that the five senses operate largely as independent systems. However, mounting data suggests that interactions between vision, hearing, smell, touch and taste are the rule rather than the exception when it comes to how the human brain processes sensory information and thus perceives things.

Caveat, while it may turn out that these results are more generalisable. It should be pointe out that this only really demonstrates learning in a fairly constrained set of circumstances. But, assuming on the basis of the kinds of research that gives us those training nostrums about hearing and seeing and how much learning gets done, this is a shot in the arm for those of us who say that liturgy should be multi-sensory if we want to maximise the impact...
ScienceDaily: Study Shows Combination Of Sight And Sound Helps Adults Learn Basic Visual Tasks More Rapidly:
Filed in: learning, adult, multi-media