Analysing the Relationship Between Mental Load or Mental Effort and Metacomprehension Under Different Conditions of Multimedia Design

Cognitive load theory assumes effort may only lead to comprehension if the material-induced load leaves enough resources for learning processes. Therefore, multimedia materials should induce as little non-relevant load as possible. Metacognition research assumes that learners tap into their memory processes to generate a mental representation of their comprehension to regulate learning. However, when judging their comprehension, learners need to make inferences about actual understanding using cues such as their experienced mental load and effort during learning. Theoretical assumptions would assume both to affect understanding and its metacognitive representation (metacomprehension). However, the question remains how perceived effort and load are related to metacomprehension judgments while learning with multimedia learning material. Additionally, it remains unclear if this varies under different conditions of multimedia design. To better understand the relationship between perceived mental load and effort and comprehension and metacomprehension under different design conditions of multimedia material, we conducted a randomised between-subjects study (N = 156) varying the design of the learning material (text-picture integrated, split attention, active integration). Mediation analyses testing for both direct and indirect effects of mental load and effort on metacomprehension judgments showed various effects. Beyond indirect effects via comprehension, both mental load and effort were directly related to metacomprehension, however, this seems to vary under different conditions of multimedia design, at least for mental effort. As the direction of effect can only be theoretically assumed, but was not empirically tested, follow-up research needs to identify ways to manipulate effort and load perceptions without tinkering with metacognitive processes directly. Despite the limitations due to the correlative design, this research has implications for our understanding of cognitive and metacognitive processes during learning with multimedia.

The Cleft Lip Education with Augmented Reality (CLEAR) VR Phase 2 Trial: A Pilot Randomized Crossover Trial of a Novel Patient Information Leaflet

Background The Cleft Lip Education with Augmented Reality (CLEAR) project centers around the use of augmented reality (AR) in patient leaflets, as a visual means to overcome the “health literacy” gap. This trial followed Virtual Reality (VR CORE) guidelines for VR Phase 2 (Pilot) trials. Methods Participants included families of children treated for Cleft Lip and Palate at the Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow. Interventions were AR leaflet or Traditional Leaflet. Objectives were to calculate sample sizes, assess outcome instruments, trial design, and acceptability to patients. Primary outcome measure was Mental Effort Rating Scale, and secondary outcomes were Patient Satisfaction (Visual Analogue Scale), Usefulness Scale for Patient Information Material (USE) scale, and Instructional Materials Motivation Survey (IMMS). Randomization was by block randomization. The trial was single blinded with assessors blinded to group assignment. Results 12 Participants were randomized, with crossover design permitting analysis of 12 per group. Primary outcome with Mental Effort Rating Scale indicated higher mental effort with Traditional compared to AR Leaflet (4.75 vs 2.00, P = .0003). Secondary outcomes for Satisfaction were Traditional 54.50 versus AR 93.50 ( P = .0001); USE scale 49.42 versus 74.08 ( P = .0011); and IMMS 112.50 versus 161.75 ( P = .0003). Subjective interviews noted overwhelmingly positive patient comments regarding the AR leaflet. Outcome instruments and trial design were acceptable to participants. No harms were recorded. Conclusions The CLEAR pilot trial provides early evidence of clinical efficacy of AR leaflets in patient education. It is hoped that this will provide a future paradigm shift in the way patient education is delivered.

The ANALISIS BEBAN KERJA OPERATOR PAPER MESIN #6 PT. INDAH KIAT PULP AND PAPER TBK MENGGUNAKAN METODE CARDIOVASCULAR LOAD (CVL) DAN SUBJECTIVE WORKLOAD ASSESSMENT TECHNIQUE ( SWAT )

Indah Kiat Pulp and Paper Tbk merupakan perusahaan industri manufaktur yang bergerak dibidang pengolahan bubur kertas, salah satu mesin kertas terbesar di Perawang adalah Paper mesin #6. Paper mesin #6 beroperasi secara kontinyu 24 jam dan untuk mendukung proses produksi tersebut jam kerja karyawan dibagi menjadi 3 shift kerja. Permasalahan yang terjadi pada paper mesin ini adalah tingginya angka kecelakaan kerja dikarenakan tingginya beban kerja yang dirasakan oleh operator sehingga menyebabkan operator kelelahan baik fisik maupun mental. Penelitian dilakukan pada operator stasiun produksi Wet End, Dry End, Chemical, Winder dan Thimons yaitu dilakukan pengukuran beban kerja fisik dengan menggunakan metode Cardiovascular Load (CVL) dan pengukuran beban kerja mental dengan metode Subjective Workload Assessment Technique (SWAT). Hasil perhitungan metode CVL bahwa beban kerja fisik yang paling besar pada shift 3 grup B terjadi pada operator Thimons 1 memiliki nilai % CVL sebesar 46,62 % dengan rekomendasi diperlukan perbaikan dan operator Wet End 3 dengan nilai % CVL sebesar 44,74 % dengan keterangan diperlukan perbaikan. Berdasarkan hasil CVL, sebanyak 12 karyawan mengalami beban kerja fisik. Berbeda dengan kepala shift dan operator Dekstop Control System (DCS), beban kerja yang dirasakan cenderung lebih ke beban mental. Penelitian pada kepala shift dan operator DCS menggunakan metode, metode SWAT digunakan untuk mengukur beban kerja mental. Penelitian dilakukan dengan cara pengamatan dan wawancara secara langsung, selanjutnya kepala shift dan operator DCS diminta untuk mengurutkan 27 lembar kartu SWAT yang terdiri dari Time Load(T), Mental Effort Load(E) dan Psycological Stress Load (S). hasil pengurutan kartu SWAT diolah dengan menggunakan aplikasi DosBox 0.74, setelah itu dilakukan pengkonversian nilai dari Time, Effort dan Stress (T.E.S). Berdasarkan perhitungan beban kerja mental kepala shift, faktor yang paling berpengaruh adalah faktor Time dengan nilai 60,44% diikuti faktor Effort dan Stress dengan nilai 29,64% dan 9,92%. Hal serupa dengan operator DCS, faktor yang paling berpengaruh adalah faktor Time dengan nilai 68,57% diikuti faktor Effort dan Stress dengan nilai 23,29% dan 8,13%. Beban waktu menjadi faktor utama yang dirasakan oleh karyawan karena tuntutan pekerjaan yang mengharuskan karyawan harus cepat dalam melakukan setiap aktivitas.

Factors Affecting the Accessibility of Voice Telephony for People with Hearing Loss: Audio Encoding, Network Impairments, Video and Environmental Noise

This paper describes four studies with a total of 114 individuals with hearing loss and 12 hearing controls that investigate the impact of audio quality parameters on voice telecommunications. These studies were first informed by a survey of 439 individuals with hearing loss on their voice telecommunications experiences. While voice telephony was very important, with high usage of wireless mobile phones, respondents reported relatively low satisfaction with their hearing devices’ performance for telephone listening, noting that improved telephone audio quality was a significant need. The studies cover three categories of audio quality parameters: (1) narrowband (NB) versus wideband (WB) audio; (2) encoding audio at varying bit rates, from typical rates used in today's mobile networks to the highest quality supported by these audio codecs; and (3) absence of packet loss to worst-case packet loss in both mobile and VoIP networks. Additionally, NB versus WB audio was tested in auditory-only and audiovisual presentation modes and in quiet and noisy environments. With WB audio in a quiet environment, individuals with hearing loss exhibited better speech recognition, expended less perceived mental effort, and rated speech quality higher than with NB audio. WB audio provided a greater benefit when listening alone than when the visual channel also was available. The noisy environment significantly degraded performance for both presentation modes, but particularly for listening alone. Bit rate affected speech recognition for NB audio, and speech quality ratings for both NB and WB audio. Packet loss affected all of speech recognition, mental effort, and speech quality ratings. WB versus NB audio also affected hearing individuals, especially under packet loss. These results are discussed in terms of the practical steps they suggest for the implementation of telecommunications systems and related technical standards and policy considerations to improve the accessibility of voice telephony for people with hearing loss.

Extraneous Cognitive Load (ECL) Mahasiswa Calon Guru dalam Pelaksanaan Perkuliahan Pendidikan Biologi

This study aims to determine the ECL of prospective teacher students during lectures. ECL is obtained from the mental effort of students in attending lectures or teaching and learning processes because it will affect the process of constructing students' cognitive schemas from the information received during the learning process. Learning activities are effective and efficient if the ECL of students is in the low category. Data collection was carried out on biology education students who attended group lectures for pedagogic courses and biological science content in the odd semester 2020/2021. This is a descriptive study which was conducted in March-September 2021, with the determination of the sample, namely purposive random sampling. ECL was measured using a mental effort questionnaire in each course in the learning process. The data obtained were analyzed in the conversion of low to high scores, then compared between semester levels to provide an overview of student ECL. The results showed that the mental effort of prospective teacher students was in the low category. The ECL of prospective biology education teacher students is low.

Impact of blended learning approach on students’ achievement and mental effort

Most researchers are interested in investigating the impact of a blended learning approach (BLA) on students’ performance, yet this approach’s instructional efficiency has not yet been quantified. Therefore, this research aims is to determine the impact of teacher-created online Moodle-based materials in combination with face-to-face learning on student achievement and mental effort, i.e., to determine the instructional efficiency of applied teaching approaches at physics classes in high school. For this research, we chose to teach students physical principles of direct current, which involves abstract concepts. Using BLA, students can prepare better for a real experiment in the lab, and this approach also creates a safe environment for the student while providing the ability to demonstrate the learned physical phenomena. The Moodle platform course is developed for this purpose and implemented in a BL environment. Students are gradually guided from easier to more difficult concepts in this research, considering the working memory’s capacity and the teaching material requirements. Our results show that the students who used BLA achieved higher scores on the knowledge test, and they also used less mental effort than students that used a conventional teaching approach. We also show that instructional efficiency for BLA is positive and significantly higher than the instructional efficiency of the conventional approach. This research’s results are primarily designed for physics teachers to understand the effects of the BLA better and apply teaching approaches that respect the principles of cognitive development of a child.

The Effectiveness of Virtual Reality on Anxiety and Performance in Female Soccer Players

With the increased use of technology, relaxation interventions are finding their way into technology devices like virtual reality head-mounted displays (VR HMDs). However, there is a lack of evidence on the efficacy of VR relaxation interventions to reduce anxiety in athletes and how that is portrayed in their movement patterns. The purpose of the current study was to examine how a VR relaxation intervention affected perceived anxiety levels and penalty kick performance of female soccer players. Thirteen female soccer players took five penalty kicks in baseline, stress-induced, and VR relaxation conditions. Perceived levels of anxiety, self-confidence, mental effort, heart rate (HR), accelerometry of the lumbar spine and thigh, and performance in each condition was obtained. Results indicated that the VR intervention significantly reduced cognitive anxiety and somatic anxiety from baseline (p = 0.002; p = 0.001) and stress (p < 0.001; p < 0.001) with large effect sizes (Kendall’s W = 0.72; 0.83). VR significantly increased self-confidence from baseline (p = 0.002) and stress (p = 0.001) with a large effect size (Kendall’s W = 0.71). Additionally, all participants felt that VR helped them relax. Mental effort was significantly higher in the stress condition compared to that in baseline (p = 0.007) with moderate effect size (Kendall’s W = 0.39). Peak acceleration and performance were not significantly influenced by stress or VR. This study serves as an initial step to evaluate VR relaxation interventions on performance in female soccer players.

Sensor-Based Prediction of Mental Effort during Learning from Physiological Data: A Longitudinal Case Study

Trackers for activity and physical fitness have become ubiquitous. Although recent work has demonstrated significant relationships between mental effort and physiological data such as skin temperature, heart rate, and electrodermal activity, we have yet to demonstrate their efficacy for the forecasting of mental effort such that a useful mental effort tracker can be developed. Given prior difficulty in extracting relationships between mental effort and physiological responses that are repeatable across individuals, we make the case that fusing self-report measures with physiological data within an internet or smartphone application may provide an effective method for training a useful mental effort tracking system. In this case study, we utilized over 90 h of data from a single participant over the course of a college semester. By fusing the participant’s self-reported mental effort in different activities over the course of the semester with concurrent physiological data collected with the Empatica E4 wearable sensor, we explored questions around how much data were needed to train such a device, and which types of machine-learning algorithms worked best. We concluded that although baseline models such as logistic regression and Markov models provided useful explanatory information on how the student’s physiology changed with mental effort, deep-learning algorithms were able to generate accurate predictions using the first 28 h of data for training. A system that combines long short-term memory and convolutional neural networks is recommended in order to generate smooth predictions while also being able to capture transitions in mental effort when they occur in the individual using the device.

Study of EEG characteristics while solving scientific problems with different mental effort

Studying the mental effort in problem-solving is important to the understanding of how the brain allocates cognitive resources to process information. The electroencephalogram is a promising physiological approach to assessing the online mental effort. In this study, we investigate the EEG indicators of mental effort while solving scientific problems. By manipulating the complexity of the scientific problem, the level of mental effort also changes. With the increase of mental effort, theta synchronization in the frontal region and lower alpha desynchronization in the parietal and occipital regions significantly increase. Also, upper alpha desynchronization demonstrates a widespread enhancement across the whole brain. According to the functional topography of brain activity in the theta and alpha frequency, our results suggest that the mental effort while solving scientific problems is related to working memory, visuospatial processing, semantic processing and magnitude manipulation. This study suggests the reliability of EEG to evaluate the mental effort in an educational context and provides valuable insights into improving the problem-solving abilities of students in educational practice.