It seems that most self-report tools can be used only after the task was finished (eg. NASA TLX, Paas Scale, Subjective Workload Assessment Technique, Rating Scale Mental Effort). However, I would like to compare the level of cognitive load before starting the task and after finishing it. Is there a self-report tool to do that?
Hi Daniel,
when you say cognitive load, I assume that you refer to the "cognitive load theory" (Sweller & Chandler), which separates intrinsic, extrinsic and germane cognitive load. The first two are features ascribed to the learning task/material (the difficulty/complexity of the task/material and aspects of type of task/material presentation style, respectively). That is, these two cannot be measured before the task is done by definition.Germane load finally is something that describes the "required" engagement of the learner for building up knowledge through the task, in other words, how much effort is recommended. So taken together, I would like to ask you whether you really are intrested in 'cognitive load' as defined in the literature, or maybe something else like... "how stressed is the participant"? It seems that cognitive load might be not the concept you are aiming at.
Best, René
If you mean the cognitive load imposed by the task, (a) how can anyone know "before" the task?, and (b) questionnaires or scales administered after the task are weak assessments because they rely on memory. The more usual approach would be to add a secondary task to be performed along with the main task and then see how the two are adversely affected.
There are some issue with task demands. Ideally the main task is being performed as well as possible with full resources being tapped, and it stays at the same performance level when the secondary task is added, so depletion of the resources hits the secondary task alone and can be measured in some "pure way." It is good to add a variable that manipulates load on one or both tasks to achieve this.
You'll want to use physiological methods in this case. It sounds like you want a baseline cognitive load measure. Self-report can't get you that as it requires a person have some kind of task to reflect on.
Is it possible to measure 'Multiple intelligences' through self reports?
Thank you all for your answers. It seems that the main conclusion is that you can get a baseline for anxiety/stress but not for the cognitive load imposed by the task (it seems pretty obvious now, when you've pointed it out).
I've used pupilometry as a physiological metric and NASA TLX as self-assessment.
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