CONTEXT Cognitive load theory aims to develop instructional design guidelines based on a model of human cognitive architecture. The architecture assumes a limited working memory and an unlimited long-term memory holding cognitive schemas; expertise exclusively comes from knowledge stored as schemas in long-term memory. Learning is described as the construction and automation of such schemas. Th...

Cognitive load is a major factor affecting user performance. Hence, a better understanding of cognitive load can help design better information systems. To achieve this goal, in this study we looked at the relationship between cognitive load and pupillary responses for a task that required people to either read a text passage from an actual website or read the simplified version of the same tex...

Emotion and cognition are both considered influential factors in language learning. In this study, the role of "emotioncy" (which is a combination of emotion and frequency) in the cognitive load and sentence comprehension of a group of language learners was examined. Emotioncy includes emotions that are evoked by the senses. To this aim, 200 English as a foreign language (EFL) learners were ask...

A load theory of attention in which distractor rejection depends on the level and type of load involved in current processing was tested. A series of experiments demonstrates that whereas high perceptual load reduces distractor interference, working memory load or dual-task coordination load increases distractor interference. These findings suggest 2 selective attention mechanisms: a perceptual...

We investigate how stable individuals’ risk attitudes are with respect to changes in cognitive load. In a laboratory experiment using pairwise lottery choice and a within-subject design, we show that putting subjects under load via a concurrent working-memory task significantly increases their risk aversion. Subjects made significantly faster choices under load. Regardless of load, they respond...

Chee Siang Ang We conducted a qualitative study to explore the effect of cognitive overloads in Maple Story, a typical Massively Multiplayer Role Playing Game (MMORPG). Our results reveal that several types of cognitive overloads emerge during the game playing. While some of these overloads pose serious problems, even to expert players, some are actually desirable in order to make the game chal...

INTRODUCTION The ability to maintain good performance with low cognitive load is an important marker of expertise. Incorporating cognitive load measurements in the context of simulation training may help to inform judgements of competence. This exploratory study investigated relationships between demographic markers of expertise, cognitive load measures, and simulator performance in the context...

In recent years there has been a good deal of debate about the role of rote, repetitive rehearsal (called Type I or maintenance rehearsal) on the establishment of memory traces that outlast the rehearsal process itself. One advance in the technology used to study this problem is the operational definition of maintenance rehearsal proposed by Glenberg and Adams (1978, Journal of Verbal Learning ...

Previous research reveals that older adults sometimes show enhanced processing of emotionally positive stimuli relative to negative stimuli, but that this positivity bias reverses to become a negativity bias when cognitive control resources are less available. In this study, we test the hypothesis that emotionally positive feedback will attenuate well-established age-related deficits in rule le...