Self-rated mental effort has been and continues to be the most widely used measure of cognitive load. This single-item measure is often used as a predictor variable in linear models for predicting performance or some other response variable. While an advantage of linear models is that they are fairly easy to understand, they fall short when the…

This study examined the impact of noise on cognitive performance in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), while concurrently measuring sympathetic responses. Adolescents with and without ASD completed visually presented span tasks in a 2 × 2 experimental manipulation of noise (quiet vs. 75 dB gated broadband noise) and task difficulty (easier vs.…

With the rapid development of artificial intelligence in many disciplines, computational thinking (CT) has become an important skill for the 21st century. To promote vocational high school students' CT skills in learning about programmable logic controllers, this study intended to examine how cognitive and metacognitive prompts separately or…

Background: Many students struggle with mathematics difficulties, such as arithmetic problem-solving, intuitive geometry concepts and learning disabilities. Currently, there is an increasingly interesting in applying neuroscientific research paradigms to elucidate mathematical thinking and neural mechanisms that underlie academic achievement. On…

At present, environmental issues are of concern to all countries, especially for developing countries, and education on waste sorting is urgent. However, it remains a challenge to improve students' learning achievement and engagement in environmental education. Researchers have pointed out the potential of digital games for promoting students'…

In calculus courses, instructors often use the end-of-section problems in a textbook in homework assignments or other course assessments. As a result, these problems influence the teaching and learning of calculus. In this study, we examine the levels of cognitive demand of these problems in a mainstream calculus textbook and classify them within…

A significant proportion of universities throughout the world switched from conventional face-to-face course delivery to emergency remote teaching (ERT) in response to the pervasive COVID-19 outbreak. A series of challenges are faced by both teachers and students as a result of the rapid and abrupt switch to ERT. Within the context of ERT, physics…

Introduction: The adoption of simulation technologies in schools of nursing has increased significantly over the last 5 years. Results regarding the use of simulation technology have been positive. The use of simulation technologies has been developed to include complex nursing situations that resemble real clinical settings. Research has…

Automated writing feedback supported by artificial intelligence (AI) techniques has attracted the attention of English as Foreign Language (EFL) researchers. However, there is insufficient evidence and inconsistent conclusions on the actual impacts of AI on students' writing skills. In addition, in the field of EFL writing, there are few studies…

The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of undergraduate agricultural students on the cognitive and emotional processes produced after exposure to low- and high-level questions, as well as the effects of post-question wait-time to determine the benefits of differing lengths of post-question wait-time based on the level of…

Research on instructional design provides inconsistent results on the use of game elements in cognitive tasks or learning. Cognitive load theory suggests that game elements increase extraneous cognitive load and, thus, may distract the users. In contrast, from an emotional design perspective, the use of game elements is argued to increase…

A consistent finding in the Stroop literature is that congruency effects (i.e., the color-naming latency difference between words presented in incongruent vs. congruent colors) are larger for mostly-congruent items (e.g., the word RED presented most often in red) than for mostly-incongruent items (e.g., the word GREEN presented most often in…

This study explored the effects of prior knowledge and cueing on the learning (retention, transfer, and matching) and mental effort of learners who studied an instructional animation with accompanying narration about photosynthesis. A 4 × 2 between-subjects factorial design with four levels of cueing (no cueing, label cueing, picture cueing, and…

Cognitive load can play a key role in learners' abilities to solve complex problems like mathematics. Many factors can affect the presence of cognitive load in learning including instructional strategy, task difficulty and prior knowledge. To understand the interaction of above factors and their influence on learner cognitive load and performance,…

Emotional design for multimedia learning can be implemented primarily using aesthetic design elements (e.g., color, shape and layout); however, we still have limited understanding on emotional design using content features visually depicting motivational cues. This study examines how valence and arousal of emotional learning content, generated by…