Abstract
According to Cognitive Load Theory, learning material should be designed in a way to decrease unnecessary demands on working memory (WM). However, recent research has shown that additional demands on WM caused by less legible texts lead to better learning outcomes. This so-called disfluency effect can be assumed as a metacognitive regulation process during which learners assign their cognitive resources depending on the perceived difficulty of a cognitive task. Increasing the perceived difficulty associated with a cognitive task stimulates deeper processing and a more analytic and elaborative reasoning. Yet there are studies which could not replicate the disfluency effect indicating that disfluency might be beneficial only for learners with particular learner characteristics. Additional demands on working memory caused by disfluent texts are possibly just usable by learners with a high working memory capacity. Therefore the present study investigated the aptitude-treatment-interaction between working memory capacity and disfluency. Learning outcomes were measured by means of a retention, a comprehension, and a transfer test. Moreover, the three types of cognitive load (intrinsic, extraneous, and germane) were assessed. The results revealed significant aptitude-treatment-interaction effects with respect to retention and comprehension. Working memory capacity had a significant influence only in the disfluency condition: The higher the working memory capacity, the better the retention and comprehension performance in the disfluency condition. No effects were found with respect to transfer or cognitive load. Thus, the role of metacognitive regulation and its possible effects on cognitive load need further investigation.
Highlights
In different learning contexts such as school, higher education, vocational training or apprenticeships, teachers are concerned with the question of how to design instructional material in order to lead their students to the maximum of success in learning
In the present study, we investigated the ATI between working memory capacity (WMC) and disfluency with respect to retention, comprehension and transfer
We found the expected enhancing effect of WMC on retention and comprehension performance: The higher the WMC, the better the retention and comprehension performance in the disfluency condition
Summary
In different learning contexts such as school, higher education, vocational training or apprenticeships, teachers are concerned with the question of how to design instructional material in order to lead their students to the maximum of success in learning. Recent research (Diemand-Yauman et al 2011; Eitel et al 2014 (Experiment 1); French et al 2013; Sungkhasettee et al 2011) has shown that less legible texts can lead to better learning outcomes This so-called disfluency effect manipulates the perceived effort of learning by increasing the perceptual difficulty. Disfluent learning material is a Bdesirable difficulty^, because it doesn’t affect the objective effort simultaneously, but manipulates the subjective effort (Bjork 2013) These difficulties cause an additional cognitive burden, in case of disfluency by using a harder-to-read font. Learners have to engage themselves more during the learning process leading to a deeper processing and better learning outcomes
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