Cognitive Load and Learner Expertise: Split-Attention and Redundancy Effects in Reading with Explanatory Notes

Five experiments were conducted to examine the effects of cognitive load management using explanatory notes in reading passages for readers with different levels of expertise. Experiment 1 found that explanatory notes improved 5th-grade, first-language learners' comprehension (high-level processing) but not vocabulary learning (low-level processing). Experiment 2 found that vocabulary definitions integrated within a passage (integrated format) enhanced 5th graders' comprehension compared to a separate vocabulary list (separated format) but reduced vocabulary learning. Experiment 3, using adult readers, found that an integrated format reduced comprehension but enhanced vocabulary learning. Experiment 4 used low-ability 8th-grade learners of English as a second language (ESL) and found an effect similar to the 5th graders in Experiment 2. Experiment 5 showed that the effect for high-ability ESL learners was similar to the adults in Experiment 3. We argue that the efficiency of instruction depends on the extent to which it imposes an extraneous cognitive load. The same presentation format may facilitate performance or interfere with performance either through split-attention or redundancy effects, depending on learners' expertise.     

Expertise Reversal Effect and Its Implications for Learner-Tailored Instruction

The interactions between levels of learner prior knowledge and effectiveness of different instructional techniques and procedures have been intensively investigated within a cognitive load framework since mid-90s. This line of research has become known as the expertise reversal effect. Apart from their cognitive load theory-based prediction and explanation, patterns of empirical findings on the effect fit well those in studies of Aptitude Treatment Interactions (ATI) that were originally initiated in mid-60s. This paper reviews recent empirical findings associated with the expertise reversal effect, their interpretation within cognitive load theory, relations to ATI studies, implications for the design of learner-tailored instructional systems, and some recent experimental attempts of implementing these findings into realistic adaptive learning environments.     

The Expertise Reversal Effect is a Variant of the More General Element Interactivity Effect

Within the framework of cognitive load theory, the element interactivity and the expertise reversal effects usually are not treated as closely related effects. We argue that the two effects may be intertwined with the expertise reversal effect constituting a particular example of the element interactivity effect. Specifically, the element interactivity effect relies on changes in element interactivity due to changes in the type of material being learned, while the expertise reversal effect also relies on changes in relative levels of element interactivity but in this case, due to changes in relative levels of expertise. If so, both effects rely on equivalent changes in element interactivity with the changes induced by different factors. Empirical evidence is used to support this contention.     

Expertise reversal for different forms of instructional designs in dynamic visual representations

The recent advances in software and computer technology have enabled the incorporation of dynamic representations into a multitude of educational and training environments. Cognitive load theory has been extensively used to enhance learning from complex dynamic representations by providing appropriate instructional designs to manage learner cognitive load. The available evidence, however, indicates that the suggested instructional designs that are effective for novice learners can reverse and become ineffective for learners with higher levels of prior knowledge. This phenomenon is called the expertise reversal effect. This paper reviews a series of recent experimental studies that have found interactions between levels of learners' organized knowledge structures (endogenous support) and effectiveness of different instructional designs (exogenous support), leading to the expertise reversal effect. It is argued that adapting instructional designs to learners with different amount of prior knowledge is a crucial part of effective learning.     

Examining the influence of expertise on the effectiveness of diagramming and summarising when studying scientific materials

A 2 (learning strategies: diagram vs. summary) × 2 (levels of expertise: low vs. high) experiment was conducted to compare the effectiveness of using diagrams to writing summaries for students given biological information to learn and who possessed different levels of expertise in that topic area. A main effect of learning strategy used on number of idea units encoded (in diagrams or summaries) was found: drawing diagrams was superior to writing summaries. However, no interaction effect between learning strategies and expertise was found. An examination of students’ subjective ratings of cognitive load revealed that those with low expertise reported higher levels of cognitive load when constructing diagrams. These findings suggest that using diagrams is effective for identifying and encoding important information when learning, but that it would be helpful to provide guidance about diagram use particularly to students who are novices in the topic area to reduce cognitive load.     

The expertise reversal effect concerning instructional explanations

The expertise reversal effect occurs when learner’s expertise moderates design principles derived from cognitive load theory. Although this effect is supported by numerous empirical studies, indicating an overall large effect size, the effect was never tested by inducing expertise experimentally and using instructional explanations in a computer-based environment. The present experiment used an illustrated introductory text and a computer program about statistical data analyses with 93 students. Retention and transfer tests were employed as dependent measures. Each learner was randomly assigned to one condition of a 2 × 2 between subjects factorial design with the two factors expertise (novices vs. ‘experts’) and explanations (with vs. without). Expertise was induced by adding expository examples and illustrations to the introductory text to enhance text coherence and facilitate text comprehension. The expertise reversal effect was replicated for the dependent measure transfer, but not for retention. Results and implications for adaptive learning environments are discussed.     

Effects of In-video Questions and Feedback on Learning Performance

The eye-tracking technology was used in this study to investigate the effects of embedded questions and feedback in instructional videos on learning performance and attention allocation and whether an expertise reversal effect existed. The experiment involved 49 learners with high-level prior knowledge and 45 ones with low-level prior knowledge from a university. Meanwhile, they learned instructional videos with no embedded feedback, embedded questions without feedback and embedded questions with feedback. Findings from the experiment showed that the instructional videos with embedded questions but without feedback not only improved the participants’ attention but also enhanced their learning performance. Furthermore, there was an expertise reversal effect on the learning performance whereby instructional videos with embedded questions but without feedback improved the learning performance of learners with low-level prior knowledge, but not those with high-level prior knowledge.     

Chemistry problem solving instruction: a comparison of three computer-based formats for learning from hierarchical network problem representations

Within the cognitive load theory framework, we designed and compared three alternative instructional solution formats that can be derived from a common static hierarchical network representation depicting problem structure. The interactive-solution format permitted students to search in self-controlled manner for solution steps, static-solution format displayed all solutions steps, and no-solution format did not have solution steps. When we matched instructional time across the formats, in relation to the complex molarity problems rather than the dilution problems, differential transfer performance existed between the static-solution or no-solution formats and the interactive-solution format, but not between the static-solution format and no-solution format. The manner in which learners interact with the static-solution and no-solution formats depends on their level of expertise in the chemistry domain. With considerable learner expertise, provision of solution steps may be redundant incurring extraneous cognitive load. Absence of the solution steps may not have left sufficient cognitive capacity for germane cognitive load as some beginning learners lacked the prior knowledge to deduce the solution steps. Searching for solution steps presumably incurred extraneous cognitive load which interfered with learning and hence, in the interactive-solution format, it outweighed the benefit of engaging in self-regulated interaction with the content. Hence, cognitive load theory is a promising tool to predict the mental load associated with learning from the three alternative computer-based instructional formats.     

Expertise reversal effect in using explanatory notes for readers of Shakespearean text

The reported study compared the instructional effectiveness of Modern English explanatory interpretations of Shakespearean play extracts integrated line by line into original Elizabethan English text, with a conventional unguided original text condition. Experiment 1 demonstrated that the explanatory notes group reported a lower cognitive load and performed better in a comprehension test than the control group when students had no prior knowledge of the text. In Experiment 2, a reverse effect occurred when the same material was presented to a group of Shakespearean experts. Experiment 3 replicated the results of Experiment 1 using a different Shakespearean play. The study demonstrated that the relative effectiveness of instructional conditions depended on learner levels of expertise. In accordance with the expertise reversal effect, the benefits of guided instruction reversed and became detrimental for learners with high prior knowledge levels. Retrospective verbal protocols indicated that the explanations were redundant for expert readers.     

The Curious Case of Improving Foreign Language Listening Skills by Reading Rather than Listening: an Expertise Reversal Effect

The expertise reversal effect occurs when instruction that is effective for novice learners is ineffective or even counterproductive for more expert learners. Four experiments designed to explore the expertise reversal effect in the field of teaching and learning foreign language listening skills were conducted. Three instructional formats (read-only, listen-only, and read-and-listen) were designed to teach native Chinese students English (experiments 1–3) or French (experiment 4) listening skills. Experiment 1 found a significant interaction with no effect for learners with lower levels of listening expertise but a significant effect for learners with higher levels of listening expertise favoring the read-only approach. The results of experiment 2 replicated the counterintuitive findings of experiment 1. Experiment 3 testing less knowledgeable students than experiments 1 and 2 indicated that the read-and-listen condition was more effective for novice learners. Experiment 4 testing beginner-level learners of French as a foreign language obtained results consistent with those of experiment 3 in that lower expertise learners gained greater benefits from the read-and-listen than the read-only or listen-only teaching approaches. It is concluded that the read-and-listen approach benefitted novice learners but more expert learners could benefit more from the read-only approach.     

Exploring effects of background context familiarity and signaling on comprehension,recall, and cognitive load

This study was designed to explore the effects of different geographical background contexts and signalling for information about global warming on comprehension, recall and cognitive load. Two different geographical contexts, US and Korean, were employed to frame explanations of global warming phenomena to US students. Two signalling conditions were also adopted in which passages about global warming were either signalled or nonsignalled. Comparisons within the experimental framework of the study showed that context familiarity had positive effects on students’ deep comprehension (knowledge application), self-reported levels of motivation and perceived levels of difficulty, and that signalling had a negative effect on deep comprehension. An expertise reversal effect was also noted. The findings of the current study imply that to-be-learned information framed within an unfamiliar context can create disadvantages for students’ motivation, perceived difficulty and deep comprehension.     

Interactions between the isolated–interactive elements effect and levels of learner expertise: experimental evidence from an accountancy class

This study investigated interactions between the isolated–interactive elements effect and levels of learner expertise with first year undergraduate university accounting students. The isolated–interactive elements effect occurs when learning is facilitated by initially presenting elements of information sequentially in an isolated form rather than in a fully interactive form. The expertise reversal effect occurs when the relevant advantage of one instructional technique over another reverses depending on the learner’s level of expertise. The results provided support for the predicted interaction with lower expertise students benefitting from the isolated elements instructional method, while students with more expertise learned more from the interacting elements format.     

Learning from equations or words

A series of four experiments was designed to study the cognitive load consequences of learning from equations, as compared to words. Cognitive load theory suggests that some instructional procedures require learners to engage in cognitive activities solely because of the manner in which information is presented rather than because of intrinsic characteristics of the material. As a consequence, a heavy extraneous cognitive load that interferes with learning may be imposed. It is suggested that in studying equations with unfamiliar notations, a heavy extraneous cognitive load is generated because mental integration of notations and meanings is required. The results of Experiment 1 supported this suggestion. Experiment 2 found that when an equation format involves simple equations and familiar notations, it is more effective than an equivalent verbal format which requires substantial reading. Experiment 3 showed that when the use of notations becomes automated after extended practice and thus reduces the extraneous cognitive load required to mentally integrate notations and meanings, an equation format can be more effective than a verbal format. Experiment 4 indicated that supplementing a concise equation format with extensive verbal information does not assist learning, because processing the extensive verbal information induces a heavy cognitive load which creates redundancy effects. It was concluded that the efficacy of equations or words may depend, in part, on their cognitive load consequences.     

The impact of complexity on the expertise reversal effect: experimental evidence from testing accounting students

Element interactivity is a central concept of cognitive load theory that defines the complexity of a learning task. The reduction of task complexity through a temporary segmentation or isolation of interacting elements was investigated with 104 students randomly assigned to an interacting elements group, where participants were required to deal with complex accounting problems in their entirety, or an isolated elements group, where the task was broken down into constituent components. The results provide strong support for the expertise reversal effect with isolated elements beneficial for novices, while interacting elements were appropriate for more knowledgeable learners. Critically, these results only were obtained for high rather than low element interactivity materials. It was concluded that segmentation or element isolation should consider the expertise of the learner in conjunction with the complexity of the learning material.     

Effects of different text display types on reading comprehension,sustained attention and cognitive load in mobile reading contexts

Despite the popularity of mobile reading devices, many studies have indicated that small screens restrict information transmission, adversely affecting reading performance on mobile devices. Moreover, mobile reading typically occurs in different reading contexts. Therefore, suitable text display type for mobile reading in different reading contexts should be considered, such that learners can effectively read content. This work selected the frequently used static and dynamic text display types (i.e. Paging and Auto-scrolling) and assessed their effects on mobile reading performance. Furthermore, the features of static and dynamic text display types were considered when designing a mixed text display type for mobile reading. Based on brainwave detector, reading-comprehension test sheet, and cognitive-load scale, this work designed a mobile reading experiment with a two-factor experimental design to assess the effects of the selected static, dynamic, and designed text display types, which were respectively presented in sitting, standing, and walking contexts, on reading comprehension, sustained attention, and cognitive load of learners. Experimental results show that sitting obtained the highest sustained attention and the mixed text garnered lowest sustained attention. Moreover, although analytical results show that no significant difference existed in overall reading comprehension with each text type presented with the mobile reading contexts, reading comprehension (i.e. memory, comprehension, and application types) was significantly affected by the reading context, and to some degree, the text display type. This work also found that the text display type is a major factor affecting learners' cognitive load; however, learners' cognitive load is not be affected by the considered reading contexts. Among the three text display types, the mixed type generates the highest cognitive load, followed by the dynamic type, and then the static type. In conclusion, the three reading contexts with the three text display types have both advantages and disadvantages for reading comprehension, sustained attention, and cognitive load. As a result, text display type for mobile reading on small screens should be adjusted according to reading context or to improve reading comprehension, attention, or cognitive load.     

Expertise reversal effects in writing-to-learn

This article presents two longitudinal studies that investigated expertise reversal effects in journal writing. In Experiment 1, students wrote regular journal entries over a whole term. The experimental group received a combination of cognitive and metacognitive prompts. The control group received no prompts. In the first half of the term, the experimental group applied more cognitive and metacognitive strategies in their journals and showed higher learning outcomes than the control group. Towards the end of the term, the amount of cognitive and metacognitive strategies elicited by the experimental group decreased while the number of cognitive strategies applied by the control group increased. Accordingly, the experimental group lost its superiority on learning outcomes. In order to avoid these negative long-term effects of prompts, a gradual and adaptive fading-out of the prompts was introduced in the experimental group in Experiment 2 while a control group received permanent prompts. The results showed that, over the course of the term, the fading group applied increasingly more cognitive strategies while the control group applied fewer and fewer cognitive strategies. Accordingly, at the end of the term, the permanent prompts group showed substantially lower learning outcomes than the fading group. Together, these results provide evidence for an expertise reversal effect in writing-to-learn. The more the students became skilled in journal writing and internalized the desired strategies, the more the external guidance by prompts became a redundant stimulus that interfered with the students’ internal tendency to apply the strategies and, thus, induced extraneous cognitive load. Accordingly, a gradual fading-out of the prompts in line with the learners’ growing competencies proved to be effective in mitigating the negative side-effects of the provided instructional support.     

Using mimicking gestures to improve observational learning from instructional videos

Abstract

This study, generated from considerations of embodied cognition, observational learning, and cognitive load theory, investigated the effect of mimicking gestures on learning to play piano tasks. Fifty university students from an Australian University, with two different levels of piano-playing experience, were randomly assigned to one of the two different gesturing conditions in a 2 (gestures vs. no-gestures) × 2 (novice vs. more expertise) design. All groups viewed an animated video presentation of four musical scores being played on a piano with the hand motions visible, accompanied by the sounds of the notes played. Participants in the gesturing condition were required to gesture while watching the presentations, but in the no-gesturing condition, gesturing was prohibited. Test results indicated a significant learning advantage to gesturing with reduced cognitive load. It was also evident that the efficacy of gesturing was influenced by learner expertise and task complexity.     

Instructional design for advanced learners: Establishing connections between the theoretical frameworks of cognitive load and deliberate practice

Cognitive load theory (CLT) has been successful in identifying instructional formats that are more effective and efficient than conventional problem solving in the initial, novice phase of skill acquisition. However, recent findings regarding the “expertise reversal effect” have begun to stimulate cognitive load theorists to broaden their horizon to the question of how instructional design should be altered as a learner's knowledge increases. To answer this question, it is important to understand how expertise is acquired and what fosters its development. Expert performance research, and, in particular, the theoretical framework of deliberate practice have given us a better understanding of the principles and activities that are essential in order to excel in a domain. This article explores how these activities and principles can be used to design instructional formats based on CLT for higher levels of skills mastery. The value of these formats for e-learning environments in which learning tasks can be adaptively selected on the basis of online assessments of the learner's level of expertise is discussed. In their preparation of this article, the first and last authors were supported by an Internationalization grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO, The Hague, project number 411-01-010).