Subjective Measures of Cognitive Load

Abstract

This chapter examines what subjective measures of cognitive load can measure and how reliable they are in doing so. It describes the main methods used to measure cognitive load within the cognitive load theory (CLT) framework. The chapter briefly identifies objective measures to measure cognitive load and also describes the different types of cognitive load. It then compares subjective measures with objective measures. CLT has identified a number of factors that inhibit learning while at the same time providing a number of strategies that can facilitate learning. The initial research into CLT used a number of indirect methods to obtain a measure of cognitive load. Like many models of learning, CLT argues that new information needs to be first processed and integrated with prior knowledge in working memory before it is encoded into long-term memory as new knowledge. The traditional method of assessing working memory load is through a dual-task approach, which uses both primary and secondary tasks.