Cognitive Load Perspective Research Articles

The seductive details in online mathematics learning

The new technologies and multimedia formats have given rise to highly attractive synchronous virtual environments for learning mathematics. However, the cognitive theory of multimedia learning suggests that it is preferable to eliminate seductive information from a multimedia presentation. Nevertheless, it is still unclear whether this effect manifests in ecological situations such as synchronous video conferences. In order to address this gap, two experiments were conducted to examine the effect of instructional, decorative, and seductive images on mathematics learning through synchronous video conferences, for both beginner and advanced students. The first experiment (n = 156) revealed that both materials with instructional graphics and materials without graphics are more efficient (i.e., they generate higher performance with equal mental effort) than materials with seductive graphics. In the second experiment, the moderating role of prior knowledge was analyzed (n = 163), including advanced students in the study. The results suggested that novice students performed better with materials containing instructional and decorative graphics compared to those presenting seductive graphics. However, this disadvantage of learning with seductive graphics disappeared in advanced students. It is concluded that the effectiveness of online mathematics learning depends on the type of graphics used and the level of prior knowledge. These results are discussed from the perspective of cognitive load and multimedia learning, and practical guidelines are provided for teaching and researching online mathematics learning.

The comparison of two incidental learning scenarios on a digital learning platform from the cognitive load perspective

The comparison of two incidental learning scenarios on a digital learning platform from the cognitive load perspective

The effect of worked examples on learning solution steps and knowledge transfer

The worked example effect has been well documented within the framework of Cognitive Load Theory (CLT), which suggests that teaching with examples would be superior to engaging in unguided problem solving, particularly for novices, as using worked examples would reduce their cognitive load, compared to solving problems, thus facilitating knowledge retention. This paper, using multiple-step mathematics problems, reports an experiment investigating the micro level of the worked example effect on learning solution steps, from the perspective of cognitive load and challenge (as a relevant affective, motivational factor), testing the worked example effect with a transfer test. The results favoured worked examples on both the retention and transfer tests after learning and showed that using worked examples would reduce cognitive load and impose less challenge on each step during learning.

Exploring influencing mechanism of herd behavior in academic information use: The perspective of cognitive load

In general, when users search in academic databases, the search result page directly shows the download count and citation count next to each paper. The download count and citation count are likely to produce information cascade effects. Based on the cognitive load theory, this study employs the semi-structured interview and grounded theory methods to explore herd behavior in academic information use in the university digital academic platform context, and develops a theoretical model of influencing mechanism of herd behavior in academic information use through three levels of coding. The results show that intrinsic cognitive load, extraneous cognitive load, and germane cognitive load all have direct impacts on herd behavior in academic information use. Germane cognitive load has moderating effects on the links from intrinsic cognitive load and extraneous cognitive load to herd behavior in academic information use. Meanwhile, information quality, source reliability, reputation, and convenience have direct impacts on information usefulness. Scientific research literacy and prior experience are elicited as germane cognitive load. It is recommended that researchers' scientific research literacy should be cultivated as far as possible, and researchers should be greatly encouraged to become familiar with scientific research tasks and become familiar with academic databases.

Impact of the normativeness and intelligibility of privacy interpretation information on the willingness to accept targeted advertising -A cognitive load perspective.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-023-04325-6.

Research on the Design and Evaluation Method of a Tractor Intelligent Control Interface

With the development of technology, future tractors will become more intelligent. More complex interfaces and several control components tend to cause drivers’ cognitive load to be easily overloaded. Therefore, an evaluation method of the control interface should be proposed from the cognitive load perspective. To realise this concept, first, the influence of the design elements of the interface on behaviour time was investigated and a behaviour time model was established. Consequently, the experimental data could be well fitted by the model (R 2 > 0.9), and the behaviour time of the operating interfaces could be effectively predicted. Second, an evaluation index of the interface was proposed based on behaviour time, which could evaluate the interface’s design level. Finally, the validity of the evaluation method was verified. The results provide theoretical guidance for human–machine interfaces for tractors from the perspective of drivers’ cognitive load.

Investigating Students' Answering Behaviors in a Computer-Based Mathematics Algebra Test: A Cognitive-Load Perspective.

Computer-based testing is an emerging method to evaluate students’ mathematics learning outcomes. However, algebra problems impose a high cognitive load due to requiring multiple calculation steps, which might reduce students’ performance in computer-based testing. In order to understand students’ cognitive load when answering algebra questions in a computer-based testing environment, three perspectives, element interactivity, practice effect, and individual differences, were investigated in this study. Seven levels of algebra exam questions were created using unary and simultaneous linear equations, and the inverse efficiency scores were employed as a measure of cognitive load in the study. Forty undergraduate and graduate students were tested. There were four findings: (1) As the element interactivity of test materials increased, the cognitive load increased rapidly. (2) The high-efficiency group had a lower cognitive load than the low-efficiency group, suggesting that the high-efficiency group had an advantage in a computer-based testing environment. (3) “Practice” has a considerable effect on reducing cognitive load, particularly in level 6 and 7 test items. (4) The low-efficiency group can reduce but not eliminate the gap with the high-efficiency group; they may require additional experience in a computer-based testing environment in order to improve reducing their cognitive load.

Learning English as a Foreign Language Writing Skills in Collaborative Settings: A Cognitive Load Perspective.

Learning to write in a foreign language is a complex cognitive process. The process-genre approach is a common instructional practice adopted by language teachers to develop learners’ writing abilities. However, the interacting elements of procedural knowledge, linguistic knowledge, and generic knowledge in this approach may exceed the capacity of an individual learner’s working memory, thus actually hindering the acquisition of writing skills. According to the collective working memory effect, it was hypothesized that teaching writing skills of English as a foreign language by adopting a process-genre approach in collaborative conditions could lead to better writing performance, lower cognitive load, and higher instructional efficiency. The reported experiment compared learning writing skills of English as a foreign language in individual and collaborative instructional conditions from a cognitive load perspective, a rarely adopted approach in this field. The results indicated that the collaborative instructional condition was more effective and efficient than the individual instructional condition in improving the quality of written products as well as in optimizing the cognitive (working memory) load experienced by the learners. Measures of cognitive load were used to support the cognitive load theory’s interpretation of the results, which is the unique contribution of this research study to the field.

The Role of Error Correction in Teaching and Learning of English from the Cognitive Load Perspective: A Case Study

In second language teaching and learning, making errors is inevitable as language learning requires a lot of cognitive effort and concentration on the part of learners. Understanding the types and frequencies of student errors is, therefore, an important issue for ESL and EFL teachers to determine how students can be helped to improve their skills through instruction. This case study focuses on the frequency and types of errors and aims to identify any possible relationship between learner-based errors and the perceived cognitive load of the student. Data was received through 36 essays written by an adult learner of English who received 104 hours of formal instruction. The instruction was designed pursuing Cognitive Load Theory (CLT), and corrective feedback was provided. At the end of each month, a subjective cognitive load scale was applied to identify the perceived cognitive load of the learner. Errors were regarded as indicators of the student’s developmental competence and were analyzed not as a failure but as a sign in reflecting the learner’s progress. The results revealed that an improvement in the writings of the learner can be observed when the perceived cognitive load of the learner is lowered in the second language learning process.

Can Visually Impaired Use Gestures to Interact With Computers? A Cognitive Load Perspective

Production of gestures does not require vision. Everyone—even those who are blind since birth—produces hand gestures while interacting with others. In our previous study, a gesture-based technique called Dactylology has been developed for the visually impaired to help them interact with computers. Cognitive load is an important indicator and a critical research issue while designing and adopting such new techniques. Hence, a study was conducted to compare the performance on a task between two computer input techniques (i.e., Dactylology and Braille) under varying levels of cognitive load (low, medium, and high), introduced by manipulating the task complexity. For the purpose of the study, 14 visually impaired participants were trained on Dactylology and Braille techniques to interact with the computer. The task performance was measured through the response time (RT) and false responses (FR). The results confirm that the participants had significantly lower RT and committed fewer FR in the Dactylology technique than the Braille under all cognitive load conditions. Altogether, these results render sufficient support to consider gesture-based Dactylology as a potential technique for the visually impaired to interact with the computer.

A multimodal analysis of college students' collaborative problem solving in virtual experimentation activities: a perspective of cognitive load.

Distance education programs have become the preferred option for most higher education institutions to continue teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the effectiveness of some online courses, especially those engineering courses with experimentation activities, remains disputed. The main challenge is fostering collaborative problem solving skills for novice students as online collaboration increases their cognitive load. This research thus tapped into novice engineering students’ cognitive load to develop a more granular, multimodal view of how cognitive load influences student performance in collaborative problem solving during virtual experimentation activities. The findings of this research provided significant implications for the future design and implementation of virtual laboratories in computer science engineering education.

Advancing the study of solving linear equations with negative pronumerals: A smarter way from a cognitive load perspective.

Central to cognitive load theory is the concept of element interactivity, which reflects the complexity of material. The complexity of linear equations depends on the number of operational and relational lines and the nature of the operation (balance versus inverse) in the solution procedure. A relational line refers to the quantitative relation whereby the right-hand side of the equation equals to its left-hand side. An operational line refers to the application of an operation and such a procedural step preserves the equality of the linear equation. The balance method and inverse method differ in the operational line (e.g., + 3 on both sides vs.– 3 becomes + 3) where the inverse operation imposes half the level of element interactivity as the balance method. Seventy-five students randomly assigned to either the balance group or inverse group to complete (i) one-step equations (Experiment 1), (ii) two-step equations (Experiment 2), and (iii) one-step and two-step equations with a focus on equations with negative pronumerals (Experiment 3). Performance favoured the inverse group when the gap between the low and high element interactivity equations was substantial enough. Both groups performed better and invested lower mental effort on the inverse operation than the balance operation.

Differences in Learning Effectiveness across Learning Environments: A Cognitive Load Perspective

Empirical evidence in the extant literature indicates that blended learning environments lead to better learning outcomes in management education than traditional lectures. However, the working memory of the cognitive system, which processes all incoming information, is highly limited and can be assumed to be working at capacity in traditional lectures. As blended learning environments cannot expand this capacity, they can only improve learning effectiveness if they are able to influence the underlying mechanics of the working memory. To examine such potential influences, we draw on cognitive load theory from educational psychology research. We posit that effective blended learning environments reduce a learner’s extraneous cognitive load, which refers to the working memory capacity related to understanding the instructional design, and increase their germane cognitive load, which is related to learning outcomes. An experiment involving 115 graduate management students provides empirical evidence for our hypotheses. We contribute to management education research on blended learning environments by explicitly considering the mechanics of the human cognitive system. Our results suggest that blended environments can improve learning effectiveness if their designs enable more efficient use of the working memory. This can be facilitated through the application of learning technologies in research and practice.

Glossing and incidental vocabulary learning in L2 reading: a cognitive load perspective

Abstract Considering the relationship between reading and incidental vocabulary learning, in this study the effects of electronic glosses as well as working memory (WM) capacity on readers’ intake of new words were investigated. One hundred twenty users of English read an electronic text annotated with either lexical or topic-level glosses placed in either a pop-up window or a separate window. Upon reading, they took immediate and delayed form recognition and meaning recall tests as well as a subjective rating of cognitive load (CL). The results showed that lexical annotations led to a better performance on the unannounced immediate meaning recall test. In the pop-up window condition, high capacity readers were able to supply more definitions for the target words than low capacity readers on the delayed post-test. While no effects of WM, gloss type, or gloss location emerged for the reported CL, pop-up window annotations were the most frequently accessed ones.

The Effectiveness of Infographic via Interactive Smart Board on enhancing Creative Thinking: A Cognitive Load Perspective

The Effectiveness of Infographic via Interactive Smart Board on enhancing Creative Thinking: A Cognitive Load Perspective

Learning Echocardiography in the Workplace: A Cognitive Load Perspective.

Although workplace learning environments provide authentic tasks to promote learning, elements of clinical settings may distract trainees and impede learning. The characteristics of workplace learning environments that require optimization are ill-defined. Applying principles of cognitive load theory (CLT) to optimize learning environments by managing intrinsic load (complexity of the task matched to learner knowledge and skill), minimizing extraneous load (any aspect that is not part of task completion), and increasing germane load (processing for storage in long-term memory) could be advantageous. The authors explored trainee perceptions of characteristics that helped or impaired learning from a cognitive load perspective. Echocardiography interpretation was used as a model. The authors conducted semistructured interviews between December 2018 and March 2019 with a purposeful sample of 10 cardiology trainees at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine until thematic sufficiency was achieved. Participants represented a range of training levels (3 fourth-year trainees, 2 fifth-year trainees, 3 sixth-year trainees, and 2 advanced echocardiography fellows) and career aspirations (4 desired careers in imaging). Two independent coders analyzed interview transcripts using template analysis. Codes were mapped to CLT subcomponents. Trainees selected their own echocardiograms to interpret; if trainees' skill levels and the complexity of the selected echocardiograms were mismatched, excess intrinsic load could result. Needing to look up information essential for task completion, interruptions, reporting software, and time pressures were characteristics that contributed to extraneous load. Characteristics that related to increasing germane load included the shared physical space (facilitating reading echocardiograms with attendings and just-in-time guidance from near peers) and the availability of final reports to obtain feedback independent of teachers. As interpreted from a cognitive load perspective, findings highlight characteristics of workplace learning environments that could be optimized to improve learning. The findings have direct application to redesigning these learning environments.

Collaborative group work and the different types of cognitive load

ABSTRACT From a cognitive load perspective, successful collaborative learning occurs if groups achieve their goals, and if each member processes information in a way that contributes to individual learning. This research looked at group work among postgraduate STEM students in South Korea (N = 55) to see if successful collaborative learning and individual contribution were associated with greater individual course success. Results showed that students who participated in successful group work showed higher levels of germane cognitive load, which contributes to learning, and also earned higher scores on the final research paper for the course. Implications of this study highlight the need for synchronous collaborative writing to be used as a way of sharing ideas and knowledge to produce higher levels of individual understanding and quality writing.

Exploring Older Adults' Views on Health Information Seeking: A Cognitive Load Perspective and Qualitative Approach

Exploring Older Adults' Views on Health Information Seeking: A Cognitive Load Perspective and Qualitative Approach

Misinformation sharing and social media fatigue during COVID-19: An affordance and cognitive load perspective

Social media plays a significant role during pandemics such as COVID-19, as it enables people to share news as well as personal experiences and viewpoints with one another in real-time, globally. Building off the affordance lens and cognitive load theory, we investigate how motivational factors and personal attributes influence social media fatigue and the sharing of unverified information during the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, we develop a model which we analyse using the structural equation modelling and neural network techniques with data collected from young adults in Bangladesh (N = 433). The results show that people, who are driven by self-promotion and entertainment, and those suffering from deficient self-regulation, are more likely to share unverified information. Exploration and religiosity correlated negatively with the sharing of unverified information. However, exploration also increased social media fatigue. Our findings indicate that the different use purposes of social media introduce problematic consequences, in particular, increased misinformation sharing.

How multimedia shape crowdfunding outcomes: The overshadowing effect of images and videos on text in campaign information

This study aims to explore the moderating effect of the number of images and videos on the relationship between text length in crowdfunding campaign descriptions and crowdfunding outcomes. We use data from 13,622 technology campaigns on the Kickstarter website to test our hypotheses. The findings indicate that an increased number of images and videos improves fundraising performance but weakens the positive effect of description length on the fundraising performance of technology campaigns. In other words, on the Kickstarter website, we find an overshadowing effect between multimedia. The term “overshadowing effect” proposed in this paper suggests that redundant media can obscure the effect of other media in working memory. This study is among the first to explore the interaction between multimedia types from the theoretical perspective of cognitive load.