During the COVID-19 epidemic, social media has become the main channel for people to learn information related to the epidemic, among which information in the form of videos has played a significant role in the prevention and control of COVID-19. However, few studies have analyzed the process of knowledge learning of individuals through watching COVID-19 videos. Therefore, to explore the process of COVID-19 video viewers' knowledge acquisition, this paper constructs a knowledge learning path model based on the cognitive mediation model and dual coding theory. A sample of 255 valid questionnaires was collected to validate this model. The results of this study show that an individual's perceived risk of COVID-19 affects their surveillance motivation positively, while surveillance motivation further stimulates the attention and elaboration about the information in COVID-19 videos. Among them, attention positively influences the elaboration about the information. Ultimately, both an individual's attention and elaboration positively influence the knowledge he or she acquires from the COVID-19 videos. This paper not only verifies the hypothesized relationships in the original cognitive mediation model, but also extends the model to the context of video knowledge learning. Analyzing the knowledge learning process of COVID-19 video viewers, this paper can provide suggestions for government propaganda departments and relevant media to improve public knowledge of COVID-19.
Keywords: COVID-19 videos; cognitive mediation model; dual coding theory; knowledge learning.