ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses cognitive load assessment from the perspective of its temporal dynamics and the electrophysiology of working memory. It suggests that Electroencephalography (EEG)-based measures of cognitive load such as Novelty-P300 dynamics, event-related (de)synchronization of alpha and theta waves, and cognitive state classification methods provide a methodological paradigm for direct and objective assessment of cognitive load in educational research. Many methods of cognitive load assessment, each of them can be described as either subjective or objective. Cognitive load theory researchers have long recognized that cognitive load can be measured directly and objectively with brain-activity measures. Brain-activity measures are widely categorized as either high-spatial-resolution methods that track slow changes in brain metabolism; or tools that provide high temporal resolution and detect fluctuations in the electrical activity of the brain, such as EEG, often used to derive event-related potentials. EEG measurement paradigm provides educational researchers with frameworks, and tools to detect subtle fluctuations in brain activity associated with cognitive dynamics.
