Measuring Perceived Cognitive Load: Relationships With Affective, Behavioral, and Cognitive Learning Outcomes

• In Event: Cognitive and Metacognitive Processes to Improve Learning

Abstract

To detect the degree of cognitive load that learners perceive in authentic learning contexts beyond experimental settings, accurate measurement is essential. We investigated the psychometric properties, such as scale reliability, factor loadings of items, associations with other indices of cognitive load, and relationships with diverse learning outcomes, of the two most frequently used scales of perceived cognitive load among college students (N = 250). The results demonstrated intrinsic and extraneous cognitive load were better represented by Leppink et al.’s (2013, 2014) scale, whereas germane cognitive load was better illustrated by Zu et al.’s (2021) scale. The associations of perceived cognitive load with diverse learning outcomes were mostly in the expected direction but slightly differed in magnitude by the scale employed.

Authors

• Dayeon Jeong, Korea University - Brain and Motivation Research Institute

• Mimi Bong, Korea University

• Sung-il Kim, Korea University