Despite growing interest in spaced retrieval methods, a research gap has been discovered, with insufficient data to support best practises in year-one science. After analysing five systematic action cycles, four interrelated themes emerged: dual coding, cognitive load, peer communication, and feedback-driven metacognition. While literature…

The effect of instructor clarity on student learning has been explained using cognitive load theory, which stipulates that students have limited mental resources to devote to activities pertaining to learning. To date, the effect of teacher clarity on students' cognitive burden has been studied in reference to students' extraneous cognitive load…

Visual problem-solving is an essential skill for professionals in various visual domains. Novices in these domains acquire such skills through interactions with experts (e.g., apprenticeships). Experts guide novice visual problem-solving with scaffolding behaviours. However, there is little consensus about the description and classification of…

The debate about whether the capacity of working memory (WM) varies with the complexity of memory items continues. This study employed novel experimental materials to investigate the role of complexity in WM capacity. Across seven experiments, we explored the relationship between complexity and WM capacity. The results indicated that the…

Objective: To investigate the neural mechanisms underlying working memory (WM) deficits in children with ADHD. Method: WM was compared between thirty-four children with ADHD and thirty-four matched controls using neuropsychological tests, spatial and verbal versions of modified delayed matching-to-sample (DMTS) tasks, and the event-related…

The main objective of this methodological article is to discuss the contribution of response times as a tool in education research. The use of response times in research is largely a legacy of the work carried out in cognitive psychology, which has made it possible to describe the cognitive processes involved in information processing. In…

Numerous studies have shown that learned information practiced by testing is better retained than that practiced by restudying (the testing effect). However, results are inconsistent regarding the effect of working memory (WM) capacity on the testing effect. Here, we hypothesize that the effect of WM only emerges when task demands challenge WM…

This study explored the impact of oxidation-reduction reaction problem difficulty on university students' cognitive load using event-related potentials (ERPs). Forty-eight balanced low and high difficulty problems were designed. Fifteen undergraduate students majoring in chemistry (8 females and 7 males) participated in the study. Results…

The current study investigated the effects of segmentation design and drawing on college students' video learning. Participants were 158 college students randomly assigned to view either a segmented or continuous video lecture (video type: segmented vs continuous) and who either received instructed to draw while learning or no instructions at all…

Adopting an evolutionary approach to substantiate major characteristics of human cognitive architecture has been one of the major recent developments in cognitive load theory. According to this approach, human cognitive architecture is a natural information processing system which can be described by five general principles. This paper attempts to…

Recent research shows that the quality of a baseline (i.e., the analysis of one's behavior in normal conditions) decreases when the second narrative is expected and deceitful. However, a first step would be to investigate whether the writing of a first narrative might influence the second, independently of its expectancy. In this study, we…

Background: Coding has become an integral part of STEM education. However, novice learners face difficulties in processing codes within embedded structures (also termed nested structures). This study aimed to investigate the cognitive mechanism underlying the processing of embedded coding structures based on hierarchical complexity theory, which…

The paper examined the relations among problem solving, automaticity, and working memory load (WML) by changing the difficulty level of task characteristics through two applications. In Study 1, involving 68 engineering students, a 2 (automaticity) x 2 (WML) design was utilized for arithmetic problems. In Study 2, involving 76 engineering…

Background: The comprehension profile of people with agrammatism is a debated topic. Syntactic complexity and cognitive resources, in particular phonological short-term memory (pSTM), are considered as crucial components by different interpretative accounts. Aim: To investigate the interaction of syntactic complexity and of pSTM in sentence…

Arithmetic word problems are a staple in mathematical curricula yet give individuals of all ages difficulty. Successful word problem solving requires translating the problem into a symbolic arithmetic format. However, the linguistic component may make problem solving more complex and increase cognitive load, specifically the processes that…