Listening ability is affected by external factors such as background noise and internal factors such as attention-allocation. I varied listening conditions and cognitive load and evaluated auditory word recognition and ratings of listening effort. Additionally, I investigated how individual differences in working memory capacity affected word recognition, recall, listening effort, and how working memory capacity interacted with other factors. Rönnberg et al.’s (2013) Ease of Language Understanding (ELU) model states that individual differences in working memory capacity will lead to differences in language comprehension in challenging listening conditions, where those with higher working memory capacity will be better at speech recognition. Using a dual-task experiment, participants heard and repeated words presented in three listening conditions: masked with pink noise, masked with babble, and processed through a hearing loss simulator. To manipulate cognitive load, participants completed the speech recognition task in both single- and dual-task paradigms. In the dual-task paradigm, participants continuously tracked a pseudo-randomly moving target on a screen for half the experiment. Participants reported perceived listening effort for each combination of listening condition and tracking condition. Additionally, memory for correctly heard words was tested with a recognition memory test. Word recognition performance and listening effort rating data agreed with my hypotheses that difficult listening conditions would produce poorer word recognition performance and increased listening effort. Interesting effects of cognitive load are discussed. The relation between working memory capacity and performance on various measures is also discussed in the context of the ELU model and theories of working memory capacity. Internal and external factors clearly interact to affect listening, and this interaction varies across individuals. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / The ability to hear is affected by many factors, including attention and memory. The goal of this research is to investigate the cognitive factors (attention and memory) that affect hearing and how these effects differ on an individual level. My findings contribute to a better understanding of how background noise and mental demand affect hearing ability and listening effort, as well as how individual differences in cognitive ability further influence these factors. Results suggest that background noise and increased mental demand will decrease listening ability and increase listening effort. These changes in listening differ according to individual cognitive ability.

Language production often requires speakers to convey information to a conversational partner about objects in their environment. According to Grice’s Maxim of Quantity (1975), speakers should provide only the precise amount of information needed to identify an object. However, it is frequently observed that speakers will include redundant adjectives in their referring expressions, rendering their descriptions overspecified. The majority of the research investigating overspecification has focused on how scene characteristics influence the likelihood of this behaviour. To date, less is known about the internal characteristics of the speaker that may play a role in the production of overspecified descriptions, and in referential communication more generally. The current experiment investigates the role of working memory in the generation of referential descriptions and examines how this interacts with manipulations of scene characteristics and cognitive load. Participants were asked to provide instructions to a confederate about which object to select from an array of either three or six unrelated objects while they simultaneously remembered a series of either zero, three, or five numbers. Participants also completed an operation span task to measure their individual working memory capacity (WMC). Results showed a main effect of array size for speech onset times, confirming that speakers are faster to initiate their speech when there are fewer objects in the display. Further, there was a significant three-way interaction between array size, cognitive load, and operation span scores, indicating that speakers with lower WMC are more likely to use redundant adjectives for three object arrays under low levels of load. Finally, there was a significant, negative correlation between speech rate and adjective use, indicating that speakers adjust their rate of speech depending on their choice of referring expression. The results of this research suggest a potential role for individual WMC in the production of overspecified descriptions. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / Interactive communication often involves speakers relaying information to a conversational partner about objects in the environment, a phenomenon typically referred to as referential communication. A significant focus of previous research in this area is on how speakers chose to identify objects for a conversational partner. The focus of the current research is to examine the underlying cognitive mechanisms that support this behaviour. Participants were asked to communicate with a partner about objects on a computer screen while completing a secondary memory task. The findings of this research suggest that individual working memory capacity influences the amount of information speakers choose to include in their referential descriptions. Further, we show that including unnecessary information in object descriptions (i.e., referring to object attributes in the absence of contrastive objects) leads to a reduced speech rate, likely because of increased demands on speech planning.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Compared to people who are White and have high socioeconomic status (SES), those who are Black and have low SES are more likely to receive suboptimal pain care. One potential contributor to these disparities is biased provider decision-making—there is compelling evidence that providers are influenced by patient race and SES when making pain treatment decisions. According to the dual process model, people are more likely to be influenced by demographic stereotypes, including implicit beliefs, when they are under high cognitive load (i.e., mental workload). One stereotype belief relevant to pain care is that Black and low SES people are more pain tolerant. Aligned with the dual process model, providers who are under high cognitive load and have strong implicit beliefs that Black and low SES people are more pain tolerant may be particularly likely to recommend fewer pain treatments to them. To test this hypothesis, I recruited physician residents and fellows (n=120) to make pain treatment decisions for 12 computer-simulated patients with back pain that varied by race (Black/White) and SES (low/high). Half of the providers were randomized to the high cognitive load group in which they were interrupted during the decision task to make conversions involving hypertension medications for another patient. Remaining providers completed the task without being interrupted. Providers’ implicit beliefs about race and SES differences in pain tolerance were measured with two separate Implicit Association Tests (IATs). Multilevel modeling indicated that providers recommended stronger medications to low than high SES patients (OR=.68, p=.03). There was also a significant interaction between patient SES and cognitive load (OR=-.56, p=.05) and a trending interaction between patient race and cognitive load (OR=1.7, p=.07). Under low cognitive load, providers recommended more pain treatments to high SES (vs. low SES) and Black (vs. White) patients, but under high cognitive load, providers recommended more pain treatments to low SES (vs. high SES) patients and equivalent treatment to Black and White patients. There were no three-way interactions between patient demographics (race or SES), cognitive load, and providers’ implicit beliefs (race-pain or SES-pain IAT scores). However, there was a trending interaction between patient race and race-pain IAT scores (OR=2.56, p=.09). Providers with stronger implicit beliefs that White people are pain sensitive and Black people are pain tolerant recommended more pain treatments to White patients and fewer pain treatments to Black patients. Lastly, there was a trending effect that providers with stronger implicit beliefs that high SES people are pain sensitive and low SES people are pain tolerant recommended stronger medications in general (OR=13.03, p=.07). Results support that provider cognitive load is clinically relevant and impacts clinical decision-making for chronic pain for racially and socioeconomically diverse patients. Future studies are needed to further understand the impact of cognitive load on providers’ pain care decisions, which may inform evidence-based interventions to improve pain care and reduce disparities.

Syftet med studien var att ge en bild över hur två olika matematiska läromedel för årskurs fyra är utformade och vad i utformningen som är anpassat för elever med NPF. Studiens inledning beskriver bakgrunden till val av ämne samt kortfattat viktiga delar för studien. Efter studiens inledning kommer bakgrundsavsnittet som inleds med att beskriva styrdomententens roll för studien. Fortsatt i inledningen berörs sedan NPF samt diagnoser inom NPF. Därefter beskrivs en gemensam svårighet för elever med NPF och det är de exekutiva funktionerna och som avslutning av bakgrunden beskrivs läromedlets roll i skolan, läromedlets roll för elever med NPF och en sammanfattning av tidigare forskning. Sedan lyfts studiens syfte och forskningsfrågor. Studiens teoretiska utgångspunkter är det relationella specialpedagogiska perspektivet samt Cognitive load theory. Metoden bygger på en sammanställning av variabler för vad anpassat läromedel för elever med NPF är samt variabler för minskad kognitiv belastning. Dessa jämfördes och bildade tillsammans tre dimensioner med tillhörande frågor. Frågorna ställdes till läromedlen som blev resultatet av studien. Resultatet diskuteras sedan genom att jämföra läromedel med varandra för att sedan lyfta upp de positiva delarna i läromedlen för vad som är anpassade för elever med NPF och vad som minskar den kognitiva belastningen. Det framkommer av studien att det finns positiva företeelser i läromedlen som bland annat ökande svårighetsgrader av uppgifterna, uppgifterna bygger till vissa delar på elevernas förkunskaper och läromedlen har en igenkännande struktur. Det finns exempeluppgifter med lösningsförslag i läromedlen som är till fördel för elever som i vanliga fall har en historia av att misslyckas och underprestera i matematik. Slutsatsen är att det finns positiva företeelser i de båda läromedlen som är bra för elever med NPF, dock finns stora variationer mellan elever med NPF vilket medför att dessa företeelser inte alltid passar för alla. Det är upp till varje undervisande lärare att anpassa undervisningen till rådande situation, grupp och individ.

Yes / Participants generated both autobiographical memories (AMs) that they believed to be true and intentionally fabricated autobiographical memories (IFAMs). Memories were constructed while a concurrent memory load (random 8-digit sequence) was held in mind or while there was no concurrent load. Amount and accuracy of recall of the concurrent memory load was reliably poorer following generation of IFAMs than following generation of AMs. There was no reliable effect of load on memory generation times; however, IFAMs always took longer to construct than AMs. Finally, replicating previous findings, fewer IFAMs had a field perspective than AMs, IFAMs were less vivid than AMs, and IFAMs contained more motion words (indicative of increased cognitive load). Taken together, these findings show a pattern of systematic differences that mark out IFAMs, and they also show that IFAMs can be identified indirectly by lowered performance on concurrent tasks that increase cognitive load.

While the education sector keeps embracing and propagating AI-chatbot integration and usage in their pedagogical practices. This study aimed at investigating the impact of AI-chatbots on the knowledge construction process and critical reasoning of university students, using a mixed method approach to sample the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) students’ performances and teachers’ observation. The purpose is to Investigate the extent of the impacts of AI-chatbots usage on the knowledge construction and critical reasoning abilities and to provide some proven approaches to engaging educational AI-chatbot in a manner that does not hamper the natural knowledge construction process according to constructivism theoretical paradigm. Three research questions were poised to harvest the teachers’ observations, which were matched against the principles and assumptions of constructivism learning theory and the result showed that AI-chatbot usage has some positive impact on the students’ knowledge construction and critical reasoning abilities which include learning efficiency enhancement, gendering plethora of perspectives and furnishing the students cognitively. Paradoxically, it also makes the students boycott knowledge construction process, leading to a dearth of experience, irrationality, passive learning, groupthink, academic dishonesty, and a diminished propensity for critical thinking. Recommendations were drawn from the success stories of the teachers which are to orient the students properly on the ethical usage of AI-chatbots, while integrating critical thinking education and praxis approaches in their pedagogical practice.

This quantitative study examined the effects of stored color knowledge on learning achievement and cognitive load using a randomized pretest-posttest control group design. Social media was used to recruit 60 adult participants, randomized into control and experimental groups. A multimedia lesson was presented where the control group viewed images with congruent colors applied, and the experimental group viewed images with incongruent colors applied. Lessons applied seven of Mayer's principles for computer-based instruction for optimal design. Principles used include the spatial contiguity principle, temporal contiguity principle, coherence principle, modality principle, redundancy principle, and the individual difference principle. Learning achievement was measured using a pretest and post-test, and cognitive load was measured using the standard Leppink et al. subjective survey. Multiple paired-sample t-tests were used to analyze the pretest and post-test, and a MANOVA was used to analyze cognitive load. Findings showed that the control group had significantly higher learning achievement and higher germane load than the experimental group.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the alignments in the use of theory, principles and guidelines in instructional design books and popular books on design. The review of literature was conducted in three parts. The first part of the literature review was a general review of literature and it was conducted on cognitive information processing, cognitive load theory, affordance theory and text display. The second part of the literature review extracted the theories, principles and guidelines from four books on instructional design and technology. Six theories were extracted. The six theories extracted from these four books of instructional design and technology were cognitive information processing theory, cognitive load theory, multimedia theory, perception theory, minimalism theory and motivation theories. The third part of the review of literature was on content analysis, the different definitions of content analysis and the historical background of content analysis. Two sets of books were used in the study. The first set of books was instructional design and technology textbooks. These books were referred to as the scholarly books. The second set of books was selected by systematic sampling. These second set of books were the ten most positively reviewed books on web design from Amazon.com Inc. These ten books were pruned down to four books by a panel of experts. This second set of books was referred to as the popular books. A content analysis was conducted on the scholarly and the popular books. The theories, principles and guidelines extracted from the four scholarly books were aligned with the codified themes, word phrases and word sense from the four popular books. The results were tabulated under categories identified. The results showed that two of the popular books did not address theory in their content. The two other popular books addressed guidelines and principles applicable to the theories extracted in the scholarly books. The scholarly books gave theoretical foundations for their guidelines while the popular books did not give a theoretical foundation for their guidelines. / Ph. D.

Advances in computer technology have hastened the development and dissemination of a wide range of electronic media into the workplace and educational settings. Electronic media offer many advantages, including quicker access to information and easier information sharing among professions. However, electronic reading media have still not been well integrated into these settings, especially for non-routine cognitive tasks like active reading. Conflicting results from different measures (e.g., performance, preference) have been reported regarding their efficacy. Despite the fact that there are no significant performance differences between reading from paper and reading from electronic media, people still show a preference for reading from paper and resist changes in the workplace, which often results in the abandonment of electronic reading media. Therefore, in order to maximize the potential benefits from electronic reading media, researchers and designers need more valid ways to assess the effectiveness of electronic reading media than relying on existing methods using outcome-based measures of reading. Although the act of reading is primarily a cognitive process, there are relatively few comprehensive empirical reports on how the use of different reading media impacts cognitive processes like reading strategies. Moreover, researchers have rarely considered generational differences, even though generation-specific reading practices could significantly affect readers' current reading practices using different media. Therefore, the overall objective of this research was to develop and evaluate a new method to test the effectiveness of reading medium in terms of supporting design and evaluation. Specifically, this research examined how reading strategies can be used as a process measure. The research consisted of three parts: (1) investigating readers' use of reading strategies using different types of media, (2) identifying the relationship between readers' use of reading strategies and their performance and subjective response, and (3) identifying the relationship between readers' use of reading strategies and cognitive load. Resultant findings are expected to improve how we measure the effectiveness of electronic reading media. First, readers' use of reading strategies for different types of media was examined and associated generational differences were investigated. A laboratory experiment was conducted in which three generations of participants (Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y) were asked to perform an active reading task (a simulated work-related reading task) with three types of media (paper, computer, and iPad). Readers' uses of reading strategies were identified from task observation and Retrospective Think Aloud (RTA) sessions. Quantitative analyses revealed significant differences in readers' use of reading strategies, and which depended on both the type of media and individual attributes (generation). Detailed qualitative analyses were conducted to help explain the underlying reasons for these differences in the use of reading strategies. Second, based on the identified reading strategies, the relationships between readers' use of reading strategies and their performance and subjective responses were examined. Such outcome measures have traditionally been used to assess the efficacy of different reading media. However, previous studies have generated conflicting results and did not clearly demonstrate the underlying aspects that influence readers' performance and subjective responses. The results of this study showed a clear association between readers' use of reading strategies and their performance and subjective responses. Accordingly, it was revealed that participants who used the reading strategies they developed in their formative period exhibited higher subjective responses. Third, again based on the identified reading strategies, the association between readers' use of reading strategies and cognitive load was examined. Reading from electronic media has been regarded as requiring more cognitive resources than reading from paper. However, it has not been well understood precisely which aspects of reading from different media actually influence cognitive load in terms of cognitive and metacognitive perspectives. The results reported herein showed an association between reading strategies and cognitive load. Therefore, this study revealed that the use of reading strategies was critical to their cognitive load. Overall, this research demonstrated how reading strategies could be used as process measures to assess the effectiveness of specific media for active reading activities. The way in which people interact with a text (readers' use of reading strategies) was affected by the medium, as well as by generation-specific reading practices. The extent to which reading strategies can explain reading differences was confirmed, by investigating the associations between readers' use of reading strategies and other measures. These findings can contribute to the design of reading media and help to determine the most suitable reading media for active reading activities (e.g., work-related reading activities). In addition, the findings also support the importance of culturally situated experience for non-routine cognitive activities and the use of an integrated approach that takes into account both cognitive and cultural aspects in designing human-computer interaction for non-routine cognitive activities. / Ph. D.

National dialogue and scholarly research illustrate the need for engaging science, math, technology, and engineering (STEM) innovations in K-12 environments, most importantly in low-income communities (President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, 2012). According to Educating the Engineer of 2020, "current curricular material does not portray STEM in ways that seem likely to excite the interest of students from a variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds" (Phase, 2005). The National Educational Technology Plan of 2010 believes that one of the most powerful ways to transform and improve K-12 STEM education it to instill a culture of innovation by leveraging cutting edge technology (Polly et al., 2010). Augmented reality (AR) is an emerging and promising educational intervention that has the potential to engage students and transform their learning of STEM concepts. AR blends the real and virtual worlds by overlaying computer-generated content such as images, animations, and 3D models directly onto the student's view of the real world. Visual representations of STEM concepts using AR produce new educational learning opportunities, for example, allowing students to visualize abstract concepts and make them concrete (Radu, 2014). Although evidence suggests that learning can be enhanced by implementing AR in the classroom, it is important to take into account how students are processing AR content. Therefore, this research aims to examine the unique benefits and challenges of utilizing augmented reality (AR) as a supplemental learning technique to reinforce mathematical concepts while concurrently responding to students' cognitive demands. To examine and understand how cognitive demands affect students' information processing and creation of new knowledge, Mayer's Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML) is leveraged as a theoretical framework to ground the AR application and supporting research. Also, to enhance students' engagement, gamification was used to incorporate game elements (e.g. rewards and leaderboards) into the AR applications. This research applies gamification and CTML principles to tablet-based gamified learning AR (GLAR) applications as a supplemental tool to address three research objectives: (1) understanding the role of prior knowledge on cognitive performance, (2) examining if adherence to CTML principles applies to GLAR, and, (3) investigating the impact of cognitive style on cognitive performance. Each objective investigates how the inclusion of CTML in gamifying an AR experience influences students' perception of cognitive effects and how GLAR affects or enhances their ability to create new knowledge. Significant results from objective one suggest, (1) there were no differences between novice and experienced students' cognitive load, and, (2) novice students' content-based learning gains can be improved through interaction with GLAR. Objective two found that high adherence to CTML's principles was effective at (1) lowering students' cognitive load, and, (2) improving GLAR performance. The key findings of objective three are (1) there was no difference in FID students' cognitive load when voice and coherence were manipulated, and, (2) both FID and FD students had content-based learning gains after engagement with GLAR. The results of this research adds to the existing knowledge base for researchers, designers and practitioners to consider when creating gamified AR applications. Specifically, this research provides contributions to the field that include empirical evidence to suggest to what degree CTML is effective as an AR-based supplemental pedagogical tool for underrepresented students in southwest Virginia. And moreover, offers empirical data on the relationship between underrepresented students' perceived benefits of GLAR and it is impact on students' cognitive load. This research further offers recommendations as well as design considerations regarding the applicability of CTML when developing GLAR applications. / PHD / The purpose of this research is to examine the unique benefits and challenges of using augmented reality (AR) to reinforce underrepresented students’ math concepts while observing how their process information. Gamification and Mayer’s Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML) principles are applied to create tablet-based gamified learning AR (GLAR) applications to address three research objectives: (1) understanding the role of prior knowledge on cognitive performance, (2) examining if adherence to CTML principles applies to GLAR, and, (3) investigating the impact of cognitive style on cognitive performance. Each objective investigates how the inclusion of CTML in gamifying an AR experience influences students’ perception of cognitive effects and how GLAR affects or enhances their ability to create new knowledge. This research offers recommendations as well as design considerations regarding the applicability of CTML when developing GLAR applications for underrepresented students in southwest Virginia.