Automatic cognitive load evaluation using writing features: An exploratory study

The association between physiological and eye-tracking metrics and cognitive load in drivers: A meta-analysis

The open and generative nature of multimedia learning environments tends to cause cognitive overload in learners, and cognitive load is difficult for researchers to observe objectively because of its implicit and complex nature. Event-related potentials (ERP), a method of studying potential changes associated with specific events or stimuli by recording the electroencephalogram (EEG), has become an important method of measuring cognitive load in cognitive psychology. Although many studies have relied on ERP output measurements to compare different levels of cognitive load in multimedia learning, the results of the effect of cognitive load on ERP have been inconsistent. In this study, we used a meta-analysis of evidence-based research to quantitatively analyze 17 experimental studies to quantitatively evaluate which ERP component (amplitude) is most sensitive to cognitive load. Forty five effect sizes from 26 studies involving 360 participants were calculated. (1) The results of the studies analyzed in subgroups indicated high level effect sizes for P300 and P200 (2) Analyses of moderating variables for signal acquisition did not find that different methods of signal acquisition had a significant effect on the measurement of cognitive load (3) Analyses of moderating variables for task design found that a task system with feedback was more convenient for the measurement of cognitive load, and that designing for 3 levels of cognitive load was more convenient for the measurement of cognitive load than for 2 levels of cognitive load. (4) Analyses of continuous moderating variables for subject characteristics did not find significant effects of age, gender, or sample size on the results.

Dysphagia frequently co-occurs with cognitive impairment, suggesting that swallowing may involve cognitive processes. However, the relationship between cognitive load and swallowing performance remains unclear. This study aimed to examine the effects of different levels of cognitive load on swallowing performance under dual-task conditions in healthy adults. Forty-three graduate students (mean age: 24.49 ± 1.63 years, male/female: 22/21) were recruited and performed five tasks: swallowing single task (SST), low-load cognitive single task (STlow), high-load cognitive single task (SThigh), low-load cognitive-swallowing dual task (DTlow), and high-load cognitive-swallowing dual task (DThigh). Here, a dual-task refers to the concurrent execution of a swallowing task and a cognitive task, designed to evaluate the competition for attentional resources and performance trade-offs. The low-load cognitive task consisted of a digit forward-span task, while the high-load cognitive task involved a digit backward-span task, which demands greater cognitive processing complexity and working memory load. Swallowing measures (e.g., swallowing volume) and cognitive task accuracy were recorded, and dual-task cost (DTC) was calculated to evaluate performance changes under dual-task conditions. Swallowing volume differed significantly among SST, DTlow, and DThigh (p < 0.05), with lower volume in DThigh compared to SST (p < 0.05). Cognitive accuracy was significantly lower in DThigh than in DTlow (p < 0.05), indicating greater interference under high cognitive load. The findings confirm that swallowing engages executive function and attentional resources, and suggest that participants prioritize swallowing performance during dual-task conditions by adjusting prefrontal activation patterns rather than increasing overall cortical activation to manage interference. This study provides preliminary evidence for the cognitive involvement in swallowing and highlights the need to consider cognitive load in dysphagia assessment and rehabilitation.

Exploring the cognitive loads of high-school students as they learn concepts in web-based environments

Misinformation is an important topic in the Information Retrieval (IR) context and has implications for both system-centered and user-centered IR. While it has been established that the performance in discerning misinformation is affected by a person's cognitive load, the variation in cognitive load in judging the veracity of news is less understood. To understand the variation in cognitive load imposed by reading news headlines related to COVID-19 claims, within the context of a fact-checking system, we conducted a within-subject, lab-based, quasi-experiment (N=40) with eye-tracking. Our results suggest that examining true claims imposed a higher cognitive load on participants when news headlines provided incorrect evidence for a claim and were inconsistent with the person's prior beliefs. In contrast, checking false claims imposed a higher cognitive load when the news headlines provided correct evidence for a claim and were consistent with the participants' prior beliefs. However, changing beliefs after examining a claim did not have a significant relationship with cognitive load while reading the news headlines. The results illustrate that reading news headlines related to true and false claims in the fact-checking context impose different levels of cognitive load. Our findings suggest that user engagement with tools for discerning misinformation needs to account for the possible variation in the mental effort involved in different information contexts.

The effects of individual differences, prior experience and cognitive load on the transfer of dynamic decision-making performance

The use of multimedia learning is increasing in modern education. On the other hand, it is crucial to design multimedia contents that impose an optimal amount of cognitive load, which leads to efficient learning. Objective assessment of instantaneous cognitive load plays a critical role in educational design quality evaluation. Electroencephalography (EEG) has been considered a potential candidate for cognitive load assessment among neurophysiological methods. In this study, we experiment to collect EEG signals during a multimedia learning task and then build a model for instantaneous cognitive load measurement. In the experiment, we designed four educational multimedia in two categories to impose different levels of cognitive load by intentionally applying/violating Mayer’s multimedia design principles. Thirty university students with homogenous English language proficiency participated in our experiment. We divided them randomly into two groups, and each watched a version of the multimedia followed by a recall test task and filling out a NASA-TLX questionnaire. EEG signals are collected during these tasks. To construct the load assessment model, at first, power spectral density (PSD) based features are extracted from EEG signals. Using the minimum redundancy - maximum relevance (MRMR) feature selection approach, the best features are selected. In this way, the selected features consist of only about 12% of the total number of features. In the next step, we propose a scoring model using a support vector machine (SVM) for instantaneous cognitive load assessment in 3s segments of multimedia. Our experiments indicate that the selected feature set can classify the instantaneous cognitive load with an accuracy of 84.5 ± 2.1%. The findings of this study indicate that EEG signals can be used as an appropriate tool for measuring the cognitive load introduced by educational videos. This can be help instructional designers to develop more effective content.

A key for earcon design in public environments is to incorporate an individual’s perceived level of cognitive load for better communication. This study aimed to examine the cognitive load changes required to perform a melodic contour identification task (CIT). While healthy college students (N = 16) were presented with five CITs, behavioral (reaction time and accuracy) and cerebral hemodynamic responses were measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Our behavioral findings showed a gradual increase in cognitive load from CIT1 to CIT3 followed by an abrupt increase between CIT4 (i.e., listening to two concurrent melodic contours in an alternating manner and identifying the direction of the target contour, p < 0.001) and CIT5 (i.e., listening to two concurrent melodic contours in a divided manner and identifying the directions of both contours, p < 0.001). Cerebral hemodynamic responses showed a congruent trend with behavioral findings. Specific to the frontopolar area (Brodmann’s area 10), oxygenated hemoglobin increased significantly between CIT4 and CIT5 (p < 0.05) while the level of deoxygenated hemoglobin decreased. Altogether, the findings indicate that the cognitive threshold for young adults (CIT5) and appropriate tuning of the relationship between timbre and pitch contour can lower the perceived cognitive load and, thus, can be an effective design strategy for earcon in a public environment.

The inability to perceive a visible but unexpected stimulus is a phenomenon studied in cognitive psychology under the name of inattentional blindness (IB). IB reflects the limited capacity of human attention, as a demanding task may leave few, if any, attentional resources available for an unexpected yet visible stimulus to capture attention. The main cognitive mechanism involved is selective attention, which allows individuals to prioritize information relevant to the task at hand while filtering out irrelevant elements. However, depending on the context, some information may be mistakenly considered as distracting, particularly when it is unexpected. According to load theory, the efficiency of selective attention depends on the level of cognitive and perceptual load during task execution. To date, IB has been primarily explained through the lens of perceptual load, with cognitive load often reduced to executive control tasks. Moreover, the interaction between these two types of load remains underexplored, as does the investigation of IB in applied contexts relevant to everyday activities. To address these gaps, the present study aims to identify the occurrence of IB during manual assembly tasks in industrial settings. A 2x2 within-subject experimental design (N=32) was implemented, independently manipulating perceptual and cognitive load. Participants performed simulated assembly tasks using LEGO components. The main dependent variable was the detection rate of an unexpected stimulus, which was briefly presented on the instruction screen. Results show a significantly higher overall rate of non-detection compared to the control condition. In addition, a high level of either cognitive or perceptual load significantly increased the rate of non-detection. A strong interaction effect between the two types of load was also observed. These findings highlight the importance of considering both cognitive and perceptual load in the design of human-machine interfaces (HMIs), especially when information is delivered dynamically. Inattentional blindness, as a cognitive bias, can affect any individual particularly in high-load environments such as assembly procedures. Modern HMIs increasingly rely on real-time adaptability and contextualized alerts. However, their effectiveness depends on the timely availability of attentional resources, which this study shows to be significantly modulated by task-induced load. Then, a visible but unexpected stimulus may go unnoticed under high load conditions. By demonstrating for the first time the occurrence of IB in an assembly task context, while simultaneously manipulating both types of load, this research reveals limitations of current HMIs and emphasizes the need to integrate this phenomenon into future interface design through a human-centered approach.

摘要： 设计模拟网络引擎搜索和心算双任务实验，分析主观评定、绩效测量和生理测量三类评估指标对认知负荷变化的敏感性；采用因素分析、BP神经网络和自组织神经网络三种建模方法，探索人机交互过程中认知负荷的综合评估建模方法。结果显示：心理努力、任务主观难度、注视时间、注视次数、主任务反应时、主任务正确率6个指标对认知负荷变化敏感；采用多维综合评估模型对双任务作业认知负荷进行测量总体上比采用单一评估指标的测量更为有效。BP网络和自组织神经网络两种神经网络模型对认知负荷的测量结果优于传统的因素分析方法

Interest in applying cognitive load theory in health care simulation is growing. This line of inquiry requires measures that are sensitive to changes in cognitive load arising from different instructional designs. Recently, mental effort ratings and secondary task performance have shown promise as measures of cognitive load in health care simulation. We investigate the sensitivity of these measures to predicted differences in intrinsic load arising from variations in task complexity and learner expertise during simulation-based surgical skills training. We randomly assigned 28 novice medical students to simulation training on a simple or complex surgical knot-tying task. Participants completed 13 practice trials, interspersed with computer-based video instruction. On trials 1, 5, 9 and 13, knot-tying performance was assessed using time and movement efficiency measures, and cognitive load was assessed using subjective rating of mental effort (SRME) and simple reaction time (SRT) on a vibrotactile stimulus-monitoring secondary task. Significant improvements in knot-tying performance (F(1.04,24.95) =41.1, p<0.001 for movements; F(1.04,25.90) =49.9, p<0.001 for time) and reduced cognitive load (F(2.3,58.5) =57.7, p<0.001 for SRME; F(1.8,47.3) =10.5, p<0.001 for SRT) were observed in both groups during training. The simple-task group demonstrated superior knot tying (F(1,24) =5.2, p=0.031 for movements; F(1,24) =6.5, p=0.017 for time) and a faster decline in SRME over the first five trials (F(1,26) = 6.45, p=0.017) compared with their peers. Although SRT followed a similar pattern, group differences were not statistically significant. Both secondary task performance and mental effort ratings are sensitive to changes in intrinsic load among novices engaged in simulation-based learning. These measures can be used to track cognitive load during skills training. Mental effort ratings are also sensitive to small differences in intrinsic load arising from variations in the physical complexity of a simulation task. The complementary nature of these subjective and objective measures suggests their combined use is advantageous in simulation instructional design research.

Design representations play a crucial role in facilitating communication between individuals in design. Sketches and physical prototypes are frequently used to communicate design concepts in early-stage design. However, we lack an understanding of the communicative benefits each representation provides and how these benefits relate to the effort and resources required to create each representation. A mixed-methods study was conducted with 44 participants to identify whether sketches and physical prototypes led to different levels of cognitive load perceived by a communicator and listener and the characteristics that shape their cognitive load during communication. Results showed that listeners perceived higher levels of mental and physical demands when understanding ideas as low-fidelity physical prototypes, as compared to sketches. No significant differences were found in the cognitive load levels of communicators between the two conditions. Qualitative analyses of post-task semi-structured interviews identified five themes relating to verbal explanations and visual representations that shape designers’ cognitive load when understanding and communicating ideas through design representations. Results indicate that designers should be aware of the specific objectives they seek to accomplish when selecting the design representation used to communicate. This work contributes to the knowledge base needed for designers to use design representations more effectively as tools for communication.

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of cognitive load level on students’ attitude towards the gamified course. It was also found out the students’ views regarding the 14-week gamified course. Participants consisted of 66 undergraduate students. 40 of them had low cognitive load level and 26 of them had high cognitive load level. According to the results, gamification enabled students to have a positive attitude towards the course, even though they had different cognitive load levels. Furthermore, it was determined a negative and medium significant correlation between the cognitive load and attitude of students with low cognitive load. The gamified course had a positive effect on the “Valuing” and “Positive Effects” sub-dimensions of the attitude in favor of students with low cognitive load. The positive views of many students in qualitative findings strengthened these results. While the gamified course had a negative effect on the "Resisting" sub-dimension in favor of students with high cognitive load, it did not have any significant effect on the "Cost Belief" sub-dimension. A few negative views of students in qualitative findings supported the items in these dimensions of attitude scale. Consequently, this study will strengthen the few studies examining both cognitive and affective effects of a gamified course on students. However, further studies need to confirm these results. For this reason, it is recommended to carry out such studies that reveal all the situations which can affect the attitude in the gamified course in order to achieve positive outcomes of students with different cognitive load levels.

A sample of 33 experiments was extracted from the Web-of-Science database over a 5-year period (2016–2020) that used physiological measures to measure intrinsic cognitive load. Only studies that required participants to solve tasks of varying complexities using a within-subjects design were included. The sample identified a number of different physiological measures obtained by recording signals from four main body categories (heart and lungs, eyes, skin, and brain), as well as subjective measures. The overall validity of the measures was assessed by examining construct validity and sensitivity. It was found that the vast majority of physiological measures had some level of validity, but varied considerably in sensitivity to detect subtle changes in intrinsic cognitive load. Validity was also influenced by the type of task. Eye-measures were found to be the most sensitive followed by the heart and lungs, skin, and brain. However, subjective measures had the highest levels of validity. It is concluded that a combination of physiological and subjective measures is most effective in detecting changes in intrinsic cognitive load.

The current study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of using a proposed virtual environment based on DAISY technology for developing EFL reading comprehension skills of preparatory stage visually- impaired pupils and reducing their cognitive load while reading. Based on the literature review, related studies and content specification of first year prep, seven EFL reading comprehension sub-skills were determined. Two intact groups were assigned as experimental studying reading through the proposed E- environment; and the other as control studying through the traditional method. Instruments of the study included: a reading comprehension test, and a cognitive load scale for measuring those pupils’ cognitive load level before and after the experiment. The content of the units was taught to pupils through the proposed virtual environment. Results revealed that the proposed virtual environment had a great effect on enhancing the pupils’ EFL reading skills and reducing their cognitive load while reading as there were statistically significant differences between each of the pre- and post- administrations of both the reading comprehension test and the cognitive load scale. The study also proposed some recommendations and suggestions for further research. Key Words: DAISY Technology, EFL Reading comprehension skills, Cognitive load, the Visually-Impaired. Introduction: Learning a foreign language is important for everybody, particularly if the person’s native language is not very widespread, and it is a demand for communication in modern cognitive load level before and after the experiment. The content of the units was taught to pupils through the proposed virtual environment. Results revealed that the proposed virtual environment had a great effect on enhancing the pupils’ EFL reading skills and reducing their cognitive load while reading as there were statistically significant differences between each of the pre- and post- administrations of both the reading comprehension test and the cognitive load scale. The study also proposed some recommendations and suggestions for further research. Key Words: DAISY Technology, EFL Reading comprehension skills, Cognitive load, the Visually-Impaired.