Cognitive Load Approach Research Articles

A Cognitive Load Approach to Molecular Geometries: Augmented Reality Technology and Visuospatial Abilities in Chemistry

Within chemistry education, methods for effectively teaching students the three-dimensional spatial arrangements of matter at the molecular level remains a topical issue. As a form of geometric problem solving, it requires learners to apply mental rotation abilities as an evolved visuospatial skill to obtain subject-specific content knowledge. Recent research into the use of Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) as a framework for instructional design in conjunction with augmented reality (AR) technology as a learning tool has begun to show promise in reducing unnecessary cognitive activity to improve learning. Yet, broader conclusions remain inconclusive, especially within the context of a learner’s mental rotation abilities. This study investigated the relationship between these factors by collecting data using a 2 × 3 experimental design that divided a sample of Year 10 students (n = 42) into two groups. The intervention group (n = 24) used mobile devices utilising AR technology with instructional 3D molecular geometry content featuring design principles based on CLT to encourage hand movements to rotate three-dimensional molecular structures. The non-AR-based control group (n = 18) was taught using traditional methods. Analysis of the data revealed participants using AR technology that featured CLT design principles experienced less cognitive load and improved achievement in post-testing compared to those taught using traditional methods, suggesting under certain conditions, the use of hand movement applied to AR design material improves learning.

Capper No Cap: Cognitive Load Approach in the Context of Deception Stakes, Age, and Forensic Settings

Deception detection is a crucial yet formidable process within the criminal justice system. The cognitive load approach is a novel methodology for deception detection, which draws upon the cognitive theory emphasising that lying imposes a greater mental tax than truth-telling. This approach has garnered significant attention and is currently undergoing rigorous laboratory testing. Nevertheless, most researchers who advocate for the effectiveness of the cognitive load approach tend to overlook the potential impact of specific contexts that might undermine the accuracy of employing this approach. This review paper addresses three types of contexts that may impact the effectiveness of the cognitive load approach: a) the stakes of deceptions, b) the age of candidates, and c) the authenticity of interviews. In general, the cognitive load approach exhibits more reliability and a higher likelihood of enhancing the deception detection rate in high-stakes contexts than in low-stakes contexts. In comparison with adolescents or adults, this approach appears to be less predictable or consistent when used among young children. Moreover, the cognitive load approach in legal systems seems less viable in real-life applications than in controlled laboratory settings.

Does telling a story in reverse elicit cues to deceit? A replication and extension of Vrij, Leal, Mann and Fisher (2012)

AbstractPurposeThe reverse order recall technique has been suggested as tool to improve deception detection accuracy. We conducted a registered replication and extension of Vrij et al., 2012's two experiments, testing whether the reverse order technique increases cues to deception in liars and accuracy in lie detection.MethodsFollowing Vrij et al., 2012, in Experiment 1, participants were interviewed twice—once lying and once telling the truth—about a mission they completed. In both interviews, participants recounted their experience in chronological and reverse order. We coded interviews for cues to deception according to a cognitive approach: those included in Vrij et al., 2012 (replication) and others included in research on the cognitive load approach (extension). In Experiment 2, participants read two transcripts (replication) or viewed two videos (extension) from Experiment 1 and decided whether senders were lying or telling the truth in continuous (replication) and dichotomous judgements (extension).ResultsIn Experiment 1, truth tellers were more detailed and plausible than liars. However, we failed to find the interaction between veracity and route recall reported by the original research on the replication or extensions cues. In Experiment 2, we only found an interaction between veracity and route recall for senders telling the truth on dichotomous lie detection judgement. However, this was not supported when examining overall accuracy.ConclusionsThese findings do not provide support for the reverse order technique as a tool to improve deception detection. We suggest further theoretical development before this technique is trained to practitioners.

AnswerTruthDetector: a combined cognitive load approach for separating truthful from deceptive answers in computer-administered questionnaires

Abstract In human-computer interaction, much empirical research exists. Online questionnaires increasingly play an important role. Here the quality of the results depend strongly on the quality of the given answers, and it is essential to distinguish truthful from deceptive answers. There exist elegant single modalities for deception detection in the literature, such as mouse tracking and eye tracking (in this paper, respectively, measuring the pupil diameter). Yet, no combination of these two modalities is available. This paper presents a combined approach of two cognitive-load-based lie detection approaches. We address study administrators who conduct questionnaires in the HCI, wanting to improve the validity of questionnaires.

Cognitive Load Approach to Digital Comics Creation: A Student-Centered Learning Case

The use of comics and their creation is an especially promising tool to enable students to construct new knowledge. Comics have already been adopted in many applied sciences disciplines, as the combination of text and images has been recognized as a powerful learning tool. Educational activities and tools, however, must not create an overload on students’ working memory that could hinder learning. In the current study, we investigated, through pre-test and post-test performance, the effect of digital comics creation on students’ efforts to construct new knowledge. Furthermore, through the multidimensional NASA-TLX, we assessed the cognitive load imposed on students. The results were in favor of digital comics creation, ranking it as an efficient instructional activity. Specifically, the students’ performance after digital comics creation improved and the imposed load on students was normal. Also, studying the weighing procedure between the NASA-TLX dimensions, frustration and temporal demand were found to be the most aggravating dimensions. Finally, implications for teachers and future research recommendations are discussed.

认知负荷取向下基于记忆-反应冲突的欺骗检测

认知负荷取向下基于记忆-反应冲突的欺骗检测

The Roles of Working Memory and Cognitive Load in Geoscience Learning

ABSTRACT Working memory is a cognitive system that allows for the simultaneous storage and processing of active information. While working memory has been implicated as an important element for success in many science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, its specific role in geoscience learning is not fully understood. The major goal of this article is to examine the potential role that working memory plays in successful geoscience learning. We start by reviewing two popular approaches to studying working memory in science learning—the individual differences approach and the cognitive load approach—and consider how these two approaches have been utilized in geosciences education research. Next, we highlight examples of various activities and curricular materials that have been used in geoscience classrooms in an effort to improve student learning and offload working memory resources, including using concept sketches and providing varying levels of scaffolding. We outline recommendations about how to structure geoscience classrooms and labs to maximize student learning and suggest potential avenues for future research aimed at investigating the role of working memory in geoscience learning.

Catching a Deceiver in the Act: Processes Underlying Deception in an Interactive Interview Setting

Lying is known to evoke stress and cognitive load. Both form cues to deception and lead to an increase in sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity. But in reality, deceivers stick to the truth most the time and only lie occasionally. The present study therefore examined in an interactive suspect interview setting, whether deceivers still have clearly diverging cognitive and emotional processes from truth tellers when only having the intention to lie incidentally. We found that deceivers who lied constantly diverge from truth tellers in SNS activity, self-reported cognitive load and stress. Across all interviews, SNS activity correlated stronger with self-reports of cognitive load than stress, which supports the cognitive load approach. Furthermore, deceivers who told the truth and lied on only one crucial question, particularly diverged in self-reported stress from truth-tellers. In terms of SNS activity and self-reported cognitive load, no differences were found. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Deception and Cognitive Load: Expanding Our Horizon with a Working Memory Model.

Recently, studies on deception and its detection have increased dramatically. Many of these studies rely on the “cognitive load approach” as the sole explanatory principle to understand deception. These studies have been exclusively on lies about negative actions (usually lies of suspects of [mock] crimes). Instead, we need to re-focus more generally on the cognitive processes involved in generating both lies and truths, not just on manipulations of cognitive load. Using Baddeley’s (2000, 2007, 2012) working memory model, which integrates verbal and visual processes in working memory with retrieval from long-term memory and control of action, not only verbal content cues but also nonverbal, paraverbal, and linguistic cues can be investigated within a single framework. The proposed model considers long-term semantic, episodic and autobiographical memory and their connections with working memory and action. It also incorporates ironic processes of mental control (Wegner, 1994, 2009), the role of scripts and schemata and retrieval cues and retrieval processes. Specific predictions of the model are outlined and support from selective studies is presented. The model is applicable to different types of reports, particularly about lies and truths about complex events, and to different modes of production (oral, hand-written, typed). Predictions regarding several moderator variables and methods to investigate them are proposed.

A Cognitive Load Approach To Learner-Centered Design Of Digital Instructional Media And Supporting Accessibility Tools

Instructional material provided through digital media and various types of educational technology may be able to support students with a wide range of learning abilities, providing better educational opportunities for a greater number of students. Technology-based instructional design, however, often does not take into consideration variation in student abilities. Research on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) promotes the idea of providing students with a variety of means of representation and expression. Investigations into cognitive load note the impact of the complexity of information content (intrinsic cognitive load) and the type of information presentation (extraneous cognitive load) on student learning. The work provided here is part of a larger effort to understand the influence of a student-centered approach to technology-based, instructional design in the field of high school chemistry. In the present study, results from a study by Carlson, Chandler, and Sweller (2003) of cognitive load were replicated in a digital media learning environment to determine whether the elements of cognitive load theory can be extended into design requirements for technology-based instructional materials. In a two-by-two experimental design, participants were required to learn contents in organic chemistry that was designed with either high or low intrinsic load and high or low extraneous load. Results were congruent with Carlson et al. (2003) and further support the following claims: (1) when compared to low element interactivity, high intrinsic load leads to decreased performance and higher subjective workload, (2) extraneous load reduction can promote performance gains and reduction in workload for tasks with high element interactivity.

Examining different types of collaborative learning in a complex computer-based environment: A cognitive load approach

This study compared the effects of two collaborative learning strategies (Open-ended and Task-based) with an individualized learning strategy on individual learning in a computer-based environment. The experiment sought ecological validity by conducting it under real teaching and homework conditions. Ninety-four students from grade 9 participated in a webpage design task. Cognitive load theory was used to predict that the collaborative approaches would outperform the individualized approach due to reduced cognitive load. This hypothesis was confirmed by performance scores and cognitive load only in the case of the Open-ended collaborative learning condition. Evidence was also found that the Open-ended collaborative learning condition outperformed the Task-based collaborative one. It was concluded that in collaborative learning a more Open-ended task design together with moderate independent sub-task requirements leads to more effective learning.

A Cognitive Load Approach to Collaborative Learning: United Brains for Complex Tasks

This article presents a review of research comparing the effectiveness of individual learning environments with collaborative learning environments. In reviewing the literature, it was determined that there is no clear and unequivocal picture of how, when, and why the effectiveness of these two approaches to learning differ, a result which may be due to differing complexities of the learning tasks used in the research and the concomitant load imposed on the learner’s cognitive system. Based upon cognitive load theory, it is argued that learning by an individual becomes less effective and efficient than learning by a group of individuals as task complexity increases. Dividing the processing of information across individuals is useful when the cognitive load is high because it allows information to be divided across a larger reservoir of cognitive capacity. Although such division requires that information be recombined and that processing be coordinated, under high load conditions, these costs are minimal compared to the gain achieved by this division of labor. In contrast, under low load conditions, an individual can adequately carry out the required processing activities, and the costs of recombination and coordination are relatively more substantial. Implications of these ideas for research and practice of collaborative learning are discussed.

A cognitive load approach to lie detection

AbstractWe present two lie detection approaches based on cognitive theory. The first approach, ‘measuring cognitive load’, assumes that the mere act of lying generates observable signs of cognitive load. This is the traditional cognitive lie detection approach formulated by Zuckerman, DePaulo, & Rosenthal (1981). The second approach, ‘imposing cognitive load’, was developed by us (Vrij, Fisher, Mann, & Leal, 2006) and goes one step further. Here, the lie detector attempts to actively increase the differences between lying and truth telling by introducing mentally taxing interventions. We assume that people require more cognitive resources when they lie than when they tell the truth to produce their statements, and therefore will have fewer cognitive resources left over to address these mentally taxing interventions when they lie than when they tell the truth. This should result in more pronounced differences between lying and truth telling in terms of displaying stronger signs of cognitive load. We provide empirical support for this approach: Observers can discriminate better between lying and truth telling when interviewers actively impose mentally taxing interventions. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Making instructional animations more effective: a cognitive load approach

AbstractThis themed issue consists of seven empirical papers, as well as an introduction and discussion, and has its genesis in three symposia, organised by the authors of this article and presented at the 2006 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) in San Francisco, California. The papers investigate a number of conditions under which instructional animations may be effective. This article uses cognitive load theory (CLT) to provide an explanation for why animated instructions have not currently produced the learning benefits expected. A brief overview of the papers with a focus on how they accommodate critical aspects of cognitive load is given. The issue finishes with a discussion on each paper and identifies some common principles and recommendations for instructional design and research into animations. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Can the cognitive load approach make instructional animations more effective?

AbstractThe papers in this themed issue have investigated methods to make animations more effective. The purpose of this paper is to discuss each of the seven empirical papers. The discussion focuses on how they dealt with cognitive load during instruction and problem solving. Critical observations are made on each paper and avenues for future research are proposed. From the overall collection of papers a number of key results are identified and used as a basis for recommending principles for developing effective instructional animations. Lastly, a number of design issues are discussed in the context of enhancing future research in this field. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Rapid Assessment of Learners’ Proficiency: A cognitive load approach

To tailor instruction to levels of learner proficiency in a domain in adaptive learning environments, rapid on‐line methods of assessing learner knowledge and skills are required. Cognitive studies indicate that major factors in expert performance are organised structures in the person’s knowledge base. Measuring different levels of acquisition of such knowledge structures should be a major purpose of cognitive diagnostic assessment. Traditional tests may not provide reliable evidence for diagnostic purposes and are not suitable for dynamic learning environments. This paper discusses an alternative diagnostic approach based on monitoring immediate traces of students’ knowledge structures in working memory. Results of an experimental study applying this method to assessment of user reading skills are described. The study demonstrated a sufficiently high level of correlation (.66) between obtained measures and traditional test scores, and a substantial increase in reliability, with testing time reduced by a factor of 3.8.

Variability of worked examples and transfer of geometrical problem-solving skills: A cognitive-load approach.

Four computer-based training strategies for geometrical problem solving in the domain of computer numerically controlled machinery programming were studied with regard to their effects on training performance, transfer performance, and cognitive load. A low- and a high-variability conventional condition, in which conventional practice problems had to be solved (followed by worked examples), were compared with a low- and a high-variability worked condition, in which worked examples had to be studied. Results showed that students who studied worked examples gained most from high-variability examples, invested less time and mental effort in practice, and attained better and less effort-demanding transfer performance than students who first attempted to solve conventional problems and then studied work examples.

Variability of worked examples and transfer of geometrical problem-solving skills: A cognitive-load approach.

Variability of worked examples and transfer of geometrical problem-solving skills: A cognitive-load approach.

Training strategies for attaining transfer of problem-solving skill in statistics: A cognitive-load approach.

Studied the differential effect on training performance, transfer performance, and cognitive load for 3 computer-based training strategies. The conventional, worked, and completion conditions emphasized, respectively, the solving of conventional problems, the study of worked-out problems, and the completion of partly worked-out problems. The relation between practice-problem type and transfer was expected to be mediated by cognitive load. It was hypothesized that practice with conventional problems would require more time and more effort during training and result in lower and more effort-demanding transfer performance than practice with worked-out or partly worked-out problems. With the exception of time and effort during training, the results supported the hypothesis. The completion strategy and, in particular, the worked strategy proved to be superior to the conventional strategy for attaining transfer.

Training strategies for attaining transfer of problem-solving skill in statistics: A cognitive-load approach.

Training strategies for attaining transfer of problem-solving skill in statistics: A cognitive-load approach.