Leppink, J., Paas, F., Van der Vleuten, C. P., Van Gog, T., & Van Merriënboer, J. J. (2013). Development of an instrument for measuring different types of cognitive load. Behavior research methods, 45(4), 1058-1072.


Development of an instrument for measuring different types of cognitive load

2 scales for measuring different types of cognitive load.

Johns Hopkins University

1. Effort rating 
2. NASA TLX
3. Scale by Eysink et al. (2009)
4. Scales by Leppink et al. (2013)
5. Dual-task methodology

Measuring Cognitive Load

Brünken, R., Plass, J.. L., & Leutner, D. (2003). Direct Measurement of Cognitive Load in Multimedia Learning. Educational Psychology, 38(1), 53-61. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15326985EP3801_7.

Direct measurement of cognitive load in multimedia learning

A direct, observable measurement of extraneous cognitive load based on working memory research, whereby a participant must work on two tasks simultaneously, a primary and secondary task. Participants must attend to two tasks that utilize the same cognitive resources. If extraneous cognitive load is too high, i.e. the presentation of text is incoherent, then performance on both tasks suffers.

Dual-task methodology

1. Mostly used to measure overall cognitive load. 
2. DeLeeuw et al. 2008 suggest that effort rating is correlated with extraneous load and intrinsic load. 
3. Paas 1992 utilizes a 9-grade symmetrical category scale from very, very low mental effort (1) to very, very high mental effort (9).
4. Castro-Alonso et al.  slightly modified scale from Paas 1992 to be "How much mental effort did you invest in completing the task?"; range = 1 (extremely small amount) to 9 (extremely large amount). 

Effort Rating

A measurement of human workload. Contains six question items: mental demand, physical demand, temporal demand, performance, effort, and frustration. Assign weights to answers according to task type. 

NASA-TLX

9-point Likert scale of 6 categories, higher scores indicate greater loads.

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