A Neurocomputational Instructional Indicator of Working Memory Load in Cognitive Load Theory

2020 ◽

Vol 29 (4) ◽

pp. 394-398

Author(s):

Fred Paas ◽

Jeroen J. G. van Merriënboer

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Cognitive Load ◽

Cognitive Load Theory ◽

Memory Load ◽

Cognitive Architecture ◽

Learning Task ◽

Working Memory Load ◽

Instructional Control ◽

Load Theory ◽

New Methods

Cognitive-load researchers attempt to engineer the instructional control of cognitive load by designing methods that substitute productive for unproductive cognitive load. This article highlights proven and new methods to achieve this instructional control by focusing on the cognitive architecture used by cognitive-load theory and aspects of the learning task, the learner, and the learning environment.

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Cognitive Load Theory, Spacing Effect, and Working Memory Resources Depletion

Form, Function, and Style in Instructional Design - Advances in Educational Technologies and Instructional Design ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-9833-6.ch001 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-26 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Ouhao Chen ◽

Slava Kalyuga

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Instructional Design ◽

Cognitive Load ◽

Student Performance ◽

Cognitive Load Theory ◽

Memory Load ◽

Cognitive Effort ◽

Massed Practice ◽

Load Theory ◽

Memory Resources

In classroom, student learning is affected by multiple factors that influence information processing. Working memory with its limited capacity and duration plays a key role in learner ability to process information and, therefore, is critical for student performance. Cognitive load theory, based on human cognitive architecture, focuses on the instructional implications of relations between working memory and learner knowledge base in long-term memory. The ultimate goal of this theory is to generate effective instructional methods that allow managing students' working memory load to optimize their learning, indicating the relations between the form of instructional design and the function of instructional design. This chapter considers recent additions to the theory based on working memory resources depletion that occurs after exerting significant cognitive effort and reverses after a rest period. The discussed implications for instructional design include optimal sequencing of learning and assessment tasks using spaced and massed practice tasks, immediate and delayed tests.

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Auditory Working Memory Load Impairs Visual Ventral Stream Processing: Toward a Unified Model of Attentional Load

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn.2009.21204 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 22 (3) ◽

pp. 437-446 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

Jane Klemen ◽

Christian Büchel ◽

Mira Bühler ◽

Mareike M. Menz ◽

Michael Rose

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Cognitive Control ◽

Cognitive Load ◽

Human Performance ◽

Memory Load ◽

Matching Task ◽

Load Theory ◽

Attentional Load ◽

Relevant Task ◽

Task Irrelevant

Attentional interference between tasks performed in parallel is known to have strong and often undesired effects. As yet, however, the mechanisms by which interference operates remain elusive. A better knowledge of these processes may facilitate our understanding of the effects of attention on human performance and the debilitating consequences that disruptions to attention can have. According to the load theory of cognitive control, processing of task-irrelevant stimuli is increased by attending in parallel to a relevant task with high cognitive demands. This is due to the relevant task engaging cognitive control resources that are, hence, unavailable to inhibit the processing of task-irrelevant stimuli. However, it has also been demonstrated that a variety of types of load (perceptual and emotional) can result in a reduction of the processing of task-irrelevant stimuli, suggesting a uniform effect of increased load irrespective of the type of load. In the present study, we concurrently presented a relevant auditory matching task [n-back working memory (WM)] of low or high cognitive load (1-back or 2-back WM) and task-irrelevant images at one of three object visibility levels (0%, 50%, or 100%). fMRI activation during the processing of the task-irrelevant visual stimuli was measured in the lateral occipital cortex and found to be reduced under high, compared to low, WM load. In combination with previous findings, this result is suggestive of a more generalized load theory, whereby cognitive load, as well as other types of load (e.g., perceptual), can result in a reduction of the processing of task-irrelevant stimuli, in line with a uniform effect of increased load irrespective of the type of load.

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Working memory is limited: improving knowledge transfer by optimising simulation through cognitive load theory

BMJ Simulation and Technology Enhanced Learning ◽

10.1136/bmjstel-2015-000098 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 2 (4) ◽

pp. 131-138 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Michael Meguerdichian ◽

Katie Walker ◽

Komal Bajaj

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Knowledge Transfer ◽

Cognitive Load ◽

Curriculum Design ◽

Cognitive Load Theory ◽

Scenario Development ◽

Load Theory ◽

Healthcare Simulation ◽

Simulation Scenario ◽

Complex Knowledge

This analysis explores how to optimise knowledge transfer in healthcare simulation by applying cognitive load theory to curriculum design and delivery for both novice and expert learners. This is particularly relevant for interprofessional learning which is team-based, as each participant comes to the simulation experience with different levels of expertise. Healthcare simulation can offer opportunities to create complex and dynamic experiences that replicate real clinical situations. Understanding Cognitive Load Theory can foster the acquisition of complex knowledge, skills and abilities required to deliver excellence in patient care without overwhelming a learner's ability to handle new materials due to working memory limitations. The 2 aspects of working memory that will be explored in this paper are intrinsic load and extrinsic load. These will be addressed in terms of the learner's level of expertise and how to consider these elements to enhance the learning environment in simulation scenario development and delivery. By applying the concepts of Cognitive Load Theory, this paper offers educators a method to tailor their curricula to navigate working memory and optimise the opportunity for knowledge transfer.

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Working Memory Resources Depletion Makes Delayed Testing Beneficial

Journal of Cognitive Education and Psychology ◽

10.1891/jcep-d-20-00024 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

pp. 38-46

Author(s):

Ouhao Chen ◽

Slava Kalyuga

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Cognitive Load ◽

Cognitive Load Theory ◽

Primary Students ◽

Single Session ◽

Load Theory ◽

Spaced Learning ◽

Learning Tasks ◽

Depletion Effect ◽

Memory Resources

Cognitive load theory (CLT) uses working memory resources depletion to explain the superiority of spaced learning, predicting that working memory resources will be less taxed if there are resting/spacing periods inserted between learning tasks, in comparison to learning from the same tasks in a single session. This article uses the working memory resources depletion effect, as a factor, to investigate the hypothesis that delayed testing would show superior results to immediate testing on math tasks for primary students in Singapore, as participants' working memory resources might be restored because of the resting between the immediate and delayed tests. Results confirmed higher performance on the delayed test than on the immediate test, as well as more working memory resources available for the delayed test.

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Cognitive load theory and working memory models

Advances in Cognitive Load Theory ◽

10.4324/9780429283895-4 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 41-52 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Sébastien Puma ◽

André Tricot

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Cognitive Load ◽

Cognitive Load Theory ◽

Memory Models ◽

Load Theory ◽

Working Memory Models

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Cognitive load during route selection increases reliance on spatial heuristics

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology ◽

10.1080/17470218.2017.1310268 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 71 (5) ◽

pp. 1045-1056 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Tad T Brunyé ◽

Shaina B Martis ◽

Holly A Taylor

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Working Memory ◽

Cognitive Load ◽

Initial Segment ◽

Memory Load ◽

Route Planning ◽

Task Demands ◽

Route Selection ◽

Working Memory Load ◽

Southern Route

Planning routes from maps involves perceiving the symbolic environment, identifying alternate routes and applying explicit strategies and implicit heuristics to select an option. Two implicit heuristics have received considerable attention, the southern route preference and initial segment strategy. This study tested a prediction from decision-making theory that increasing cognitive load during route planning will increase reliance on these heuristics. In two experiments, participants planned routes while under conditions of minimal (0-back) or high (2-back) working memory load. In Experiment 1, we examined how memory load impacts the southern route heuristic. In Experiment 2, we examined how memory load impacts the initial segment heuristic. Results replicated earlier results demonstrating a southern route preference (Experiment 1) and initial segment strategy (Experiment 2) and further demonstrated that evidence for heuristic reliance is more likely under conditions of concurrent working memory load. Furthermore, the extent to which participants maintained efficient route selection latencies in the 2-back condition predicted the magnitude of this effect. Together, results demonstrate that working memory load increases the application of heuristics during spatial decision making, particularly when participants attempt to maintain quick decisions while managing concurrent task demands.

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Understanding Cognitive Processes in Educational Hypermedia

Encyclopedia of Human Computer Interaction ◽

10.4018/978-1-59140-562-7.ch097 ◽

2006 ◽

pp. 648-651

Author(s):

Patricia M. Boechler

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Instructional Design ◽

Cognitive Load ◽

Cognitive Load Theory ◽

Cognitive Theory ◽

Cognitive Architecture ◽

Cognitive Activity ◽

Human Memory ◽

Load Theory ◽

Educational Hypermedia

Cognitive load theory (CLT) is currently the most prominent cognitive theory pertaining to instructional design and is referred to in numerous empirical articles in the educational literature (for example, Brünken, Plass, & Leutner, 2003; Chandler & Sweller, 1991; Paas, Tuovinen, Tabbers, & Van Gerven, 2003; Sweller, van Merri¸nboer, & Paas, 1998). CLT was developed to assist educators in designing optimal presentations of information to encourage learning. CLT has also been extended and applied to the design of educational hypermedia and multimedia (Mayer & Moreno, 2003). The theory is built around the idea that the human cognitive architecture has inherent limitations related to capacity, in particular, the limitations of human working memory. As Sweller et al. (pp. 252-253) state: The implications of working memory limitations on instructional design cannot be overstated. All conscious cognitive activity learners engage in occurs in a structure whose limitations seem to preclude all but the most basic processes. Anything beyond the simplest cognitive activities appear to overwhelm working memory. Prima facie, any instructional design that flouts or merely ignores working memory limitations inevitably is deficient. It is this factor that provides a central claim to cognitive load theory. In order to understand the full implications of cognitive load theory, an overview of the human memory system is necessary.

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