ICLTC 2018

1/18 | www.janclaes.info
Jan Claes
Yet another reconsideration of
cognitive load theory

About me
Jan Claes
Postdoctoral researcher
Ghent University, Belgium
Economics Faculty
Computer Science Department
Ph.D. about differentiated process modeling
Postdoc about differentiated problem solving

Types of cognitive load
“Extraneous cognitive load is defined as any cognitive activity that is engaged in
because of the way the task is organized and presented rather than because
it is essential to attaining relevant goals.” (Sweller et al., 1990, p. 176)
“A further distinction can be made between extraneous cognitive load and
germane cognitive load. (…) Extraneous cognitive load reflects the effort
required to process poorly designed instruction, whereas germane cognitive
load reflects the effort that contributes to the construction of schemas.”
(Sweller et al., 1998, p. 259)
Extraneous load
(ECL)
..is load related to the
presentation format
..is load not essential to
solve the task

Problem 1. Definitions
Load type Source Cognitive process Effect on learning
Intrinsic Domain complexity
Necessary for task
execution
Harmful,
but effective
Extraneous
Poor instructional
design
Irrelevant to schema
construction and
automation
Harmful
and ineffective
Germane
Supportive
instructional design
Relevant to schema
construction and
automation
Helpful
and effective
Adapted from Gerjets et al., 2009, p. 45

Problem 1. Definitions
“The notion of cognitive load is not explicit enough to allow one to determine
what sorts of manipulations will and will not reduce load and, hence, improve the
usefulness of instructional materials.” (Dixon, 1991, p. 347)
“The studies are not sufficiently detailed to test the utility of such a
prescription, either in terms of the operational definition of learning or guidelines
for determining what activities might be ‘extraneous’ to the learning task.”
(Goldman, 1991, p. 335)

Problem 2. Measures
“There will be no reliable and valid methods of measuring distinct kinds of
cognitive load in the next and even in the farer future.” (Schnotz & Kürschner,
2007, p. 500)
“Of course, special care has to be taken to characterize cognitive load concepts
independently from learning.” (Schnotz & Kürschner, 2007, p. 503)
“Second, and even more important to avoid circularity, the measurement
methods that are used to test assumptions (…) must not presuppose these
assumptions already in their rationale.” (Gerjets et al., 2009, p. 46)
Related to
learning only

Problem 3. Germane load
“Germane cognitive (…) is not an independent source of cognitive load like
intrinsic and extraneous cognitive load.” (Sweller, 2010, p. 136)
“A meaningful way of treating this concept suggested recently by Sweller (2010)
is to redefine the idea of germane load as associated with working memory
resources actually devoted to dealing with intrinsic cognitive load that leads to
learning” (Kalyuga, 2011, p. 14)
”Germane load is cognitive load due to cognitive activities in working memory
that aim at intentional learning and that go beyond simple task performance”
(Schnotz & Kürschner, 2007, p. 496)

What if?
“We do not assimilate information in the form that it is
presented, but rather, in order to represent it, we
transform it. (…) Information is not remembered in the
way a tape recorder might be considered to ‘remember’
material, in a form identical to its presentation form.” (Sweller
& Chandler, 1991, p. 356)
“It therefore emphasizes the capacity of working memory to
manipulate and create new representations, rather than
simply activating old memories.” (Baddeley, 2003, p. 836)

Introduction to neuropsychology
PREFRONTAL CORTEX
Working memory (WM)
• Left: verbal processing
• Right: visual processing
THALAMUS
Sensory memory (SM)
• Connects to the visual,
auditory, olfactory,
gustatory and somesthetic
cortexes
NEOCORTEX
Long-term memory (LTM)
(explicit - semantic - declarative)
• Sensory perception
• Generation of motor
commands
• Spatial reasoning
• Language
AMYGDALA
(explicit - episodic - declarative)
• Attach emotional significance
(makes it harder to forget)
• Memorized after few
repetitions
BASAL GANGLIA
(implicit - procedural)
• For emotion
• For reward processing
• For habit formation
• For movement
• For learning
• For coordination of motor
activity
CEREBELLUM
(implicit)
• Fine motor control
• Arm-leg coordination
• Balance
HIPPOCAMPUS
(explicit)
• Transfer from WM to LTM
• Formation of episodic
memories
• Indexing for later access

Working memory as a transformation system
Sensory
memory
Working
memory
Long-term
memory
ECL GCLICL
interpretation reasoning learning
Transformation from
external stimuli to
internal/mental images
Transformation within
working memory, e.g.
deduction, induction,
abduction
Transformation of
information to be stored
in cognitive schema’s in
working memory

What if?
“Students acquire different kinds of knowledge. Many
theories of learning and cognition make a distinction
between declarative and procedural knowledge.
Whereas declarative knowledge is related to semantic
and episodic memory, procedural knowledge refers to
the ability to perform skilled actions.” (Schnotz &
Kürschner, 2007, p. 494)

Subtypes of the types of cognitive load
Visual vs. auditory extraneous load
 Visuospatial sketchpad  phonological loop
Declarative vs. procedural intrinsic load
 Semantic  episodic + procedural knowledge
 “about facts”  “about procedures”
Declarative vs. procedural germane load
 Building expertise  experience
 Semantic + episodic  procedural knowledge
 “facts about”  “procedures about”

What if we consider
multiple subtypes
of extraneous, intrinsic, and germane load?
What if?
What if we would consider
working memory
as an information
transformation system?

Benefits of these definitions
Reasoning about WM capacity measures
 Solving ‘simple’ tasks with varying ‘complexity’
 Fixed procedural ICL and variable declarative ICL
 May explain different found capacity limits
Reasoning about cognitive load types
 The types of load are additive
 The types of load are interactive (=not independent)
 May shed more light on additivity discussion

 Overload = insufficient capacity for total required
or desired load at certain time
 “Consequences” become evident options:
 Reduce required/desire load (introduce biases)
 Reduce effective GCL (stop learning)
 Reduce effective ECL (make interpretation errors)
 Reduce effective declarative ICL (conceptual errors)
 Reduce effective procedural ICL (procedural errors)
 Reduce effective procedural ICL (become slower)

Measurement via active zones in memory
 Extraneous load: sensory and working memory
 Intrinsic load: only working memory
 Germane load: working and long-term memory
Comparing tasks via number and interconnectivity
 of required transformations
 of desired transformations
May thus introduce new measure alternatives
for actual, required, and desired load?

Reasoning about described effects
 Modality effect (increasing total capacity for ECL)
 Problem-solving strategies (procedural ICL & GCL)
 Goal-free effect (less procedural ICL)
 Guidance fading (interaction procedural ICL & GCL)
 Expertise-reversal (procedural GCL)
 Etcetera

 Do you have any questions?
 Do you have feedback?
Thanks for you attention!
Jan Claes
jan.claes@ugent.be
www.janclaes.info

ICLTC 2018

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