Cognitive Load Effects Robert Whelan E19.2174 Cognitive Science - - PDF document

New York University Cognitive Science and Educational Technology I Spring 2004

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Cognitive Load Effects

Robert Whelan E19.2174 Cognitive Science & Educational Technology I

Split Attention Effect Redundancy Effect Goal Free Examples Expertise Reversal Strategies

Cognitive Load Effects

Sweller (1994), Baddeley (1998), Mayer (2001)

Poorly designed instruction is harder to understand Working memory - dual channel - capacity is limited Cognitive processes take time and energy Intrinsic, extraneous, and germane load How can instruction be made effective? How can schema construction, understanding, be aided? How can cognitive load be reduced?

New York University Cognitive Science and Educational Technology I Spring 2004

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Split Attention Effect

Integration, cross-referencing of discontiguities Sources separated in time Sources separated in space Attention is serial in complex tasks Split sources invoke processing costs Integrate, reduce redundancy, incoherence

Redundancy Effect

Recognizing and managing extraneous sources Use of image + text + narration (Mayer) Use of material that’s already known (Kalyuga) Additional processing required to ignore and focus Avoid extraneous sources, information Reduce incoherent material

New York University Cognitive Science and Educational Technology I Spring 2004

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Goal Free/Worked Examples

Problem-solving processes induce high load Worked examples facilitate understanding Novices prefer worked examples to problems Experts prefer problems; W.E. are redundant Means-ends analysis, subtasks tracking, operators Unrelated, high-load schema construction Tailor instruction to individual differences

Modality Effect

Advantage of bimodal presentation Auditory + visual versus visual-only Efficiency of narrated animations Load is spread across 2 channels Dual-channel processing increases spare capacity Reduce overload on one channel

New York University Cognitive Science and Educational Technology I Spring 2004

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Expertise Reversal Effect

Novices benefit from CLT techniques more than experts Applies to S/A, Redundancy, Modality, W.E, Contiguity Novices learn from examples -> build schemas Experts solve problems -> speed and accuracy Cognitive load, skills acquisition, changes over time Transition to expertise: Principles, operators, coherence Stages of expertise and germane load Fading: Increased blanks

Strategies (Mayer & Moreno, 2003)

Visual Overload Off-load to auditory channel Bimodal Overload Segmenting; Pretraining Extraneous Load Weeding; Signaling/Cues Redundancy Alignment; Avoid reproduction Discontiguities Synchronize; Spatial ability effect

New York University Cognitive Science and Educational Technology I Spring 2004

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Conclusions

Techniques can reduce S/A, redundancy, problem-solving, modality load, increase learning Load effects/techniques are often intuitively “obvious” Design for experts has more sophisticated requirements Interaction bet. CLT techniques, Expertise, Redundancy Auditory modality provides different, richer information