Abstract Exposure to uncontrollable stimuli produces deficits in task performance linked to learned helplessness. It is not widely appreciated, however, that many of these stimuli are environmental stressors. Both acute and chronic exposure to noise, crowding, traffic congestion, and pollution are capable of causing learned helplessness in adults and children. Pre-exposure to brief, acute environmental stressors that are uncontrollable produces learned helplessness wherein participants manifest difficulties in learning a new task because of their mistaken belief that they are incapable of influencing their environment. Another index of learned helplessness, less persistence in the face of challenge also follows acute exposure to uncontrollable environmental stressors. Finally depressed affect may co-occur with learned helplessness under certain circumstances. Field studies of chronic environmental stressors reveal parallel trends. Chronic environmental stressors also heighten vulnerability to the induction of learned helplessness by acute, uncontrollable stimuli. The potential pathway linking chronic environmental stressor exposure to helplessness and then, in turn, to mental health is an important area for future research. Furthermore, the generalizability of environmental stressor-induced motivational deficits, as well as their longevity, particularly among children, remains to be investigated.

Motivational Consequences of Environmental Stress

Cognitive load theory has been a major influence for the field of educational psychology. One of the main guidelines of the theory is that extraneous cognitive load should be reduced to leave sufficient cognitive resources for the actual learning to take place. In recent years, research regarding various design factors, in particular from the field of digital and online learning, have challenged this assumption. Interactive learning media, immersion, disfluency, realism, and redundant elements constitute five major challenges, since these design factors have been shown to induce task-irrelevant cognitive load, i.e., extraneous load, while still promoting motivation and learning. However, currently there is no unified approach to integrate such effects into cognitive load theory. By including aspects of constructive alignment, an approach aimed at fostering deep forms of learning in order to achieve specific learning outcomes, we devise a strategy to balance cognitive load in digital learning. Most importantly, we suggest considering both the positive and negative effects on cognitive load that certain design factors of digital learning can cause. In addition, a number of research results highlight that some types of positive effects of digital learning can only be detected using a suitable assessment method. This strategy of aligning cognitive load with desired learning outcomes will be useful for formulating theory-guided and empirically testable hypotheses, but can be particularly helpful for practitioners to embrace emerging technologies while minimizing potential extraneous drawbacks.

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Understanding Cognitive Load in Digital and Online Learning: a New Perspective on Extraneous Cognitive Load

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jcal.12617

The impact of augmented reality on cognitive load and performance: A systematic review

Classrooms full of pupils can be very overwhelming, both for teachers and students, as well as for their joint interactions. It is thus crucial that both can distil the relevant information in this complex scenario and interpret it appropriately. This distilling and interpreting happen to a large extent via visual perception, which is the core focus of the current Special Issue. Six empirical studies present examples of how to capture visual perception in the complexity of a classroom lesson. These examples open up new avenues that go beyond studying perception in restricted and artificial laboratory scenarios: some using video recordings from authentic lessons to others studying actual classrooms. This movement towards more realistic scenarios allows to study the visual perception in classrooms from new perspectives, namely that of the teachers, the learners, and their interactions. This in turn enables to shed novel light onto well-established theoretical concepts, namely students’ engagement during actual lessons, teachers’ professional vision while teaching, and establishment of joint attention between teachers and students in a lesson. Additionally, one theoretical contribution provides the very first model of teachers’ cognitions during teaching in relation to their visual perception, which in turn will allow future research to move beyond explorations towards hypothesis testing. However, to fully thrive, this field of research has to address two crucial challenges: (i) the heterogeneity of its methodological approaches (e.g., varying age groups, subjects taught, lesson formats) and (ii) the recording and processing of personal data of many people (often minors). Hence, these new approaches bear not only new chances for insights but also new responsibilities for the researchers.

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Eye-Tracking in Educational Practice: Investigating Visual Perception Underlying Teaching and Learning in the Classroom.

Many large-scale, school-based interventions have attempted to improve academic performance through promoting students’ growth mindset, defined as the belief that one’s intellectual ability can increase with practice and time. However, most have shown weak to no effects. Thus, it is important to examine how growth mindset might affect retention and transfer of learning, as well as process-related variables such as cognitive load. In a double-blind, randomized controlled experiment based on 138 secondary school students, the effects of an experimentally induced growth mindset belief were examined during a learning phase in a classroom setting. Participants in the growth mindset condition perceived a lower intrinsic load and extraneous load and performed better on retention and transfer tests. Students with some prior knowledge also reported a higher mastery goal orientation. Supplementary mediation analysis suggested that the effect on transfer could be fully accounted for by changes in cognitive load perceptions. Future interventions may benefit from designs that promote motivational beliefs that reduce intrinsic and extraneous cognitive load perceptions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)

A growth mindset lowers perceived cognitive load and improves learning: Integrating motivation to cognitive load

The impact of Co-actors on cognitive load: When the mere presence of others makes learning more difficult

The use of computer-based tests (CBTs), for both formative and summative purposes, has greatly increased over the past years. One major advantage of CBTs is the easy integration of multimedia. It is unclear, though, how to design such CBT environments with multimedia. The purpose of the current study was to examine whether guidelines for designing multimedia instruction based on the Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) and Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML) will yield similar effects in CBT. In a within-subject design, thirty-three vocational students completed a computer-based arithmetic exam, in which half of the items were presented in an original design format, and the other half was redesigned based on the CTML principles for instructional design (i.e., adapted format). Results showed that applying CTML principles to a CBT decreased the difficulty of the test items, i.e., students scored significantly higher on the adapted test items. Moreover, eye-tracking data showed that the adapted items required less visual search and increased attention for the question and answer. Finally, cognitive load, measured as silent pauses during a secondary think-aloud task, decreased. Mean fixation duration (a different indicator of cognitive load), however, did not significantly differ between adapted and original items. These results indicate that applying multimedia principles to CBTs can be beneficial. It seems to prevent cognitive overload and helps students to focus on important parts of the test items (e.g., the question), leading to better test results.

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Irene T. Skuballa

Papers

Eye-Tracking in Educational Practice: Investigating Visual Perception Underlying Teaching and Learning in the Classroom.

A growth mindset lowers perceived cognitive load and improves learning: Integrating motivation to cognitive load

The impact of Co-actors on cognitive load: When the mere presence of others makes learning more difficult

Designing computer-based tests: design guidelines from multimedia learning studied with eye tracking