ABSTRACT
Element interactivity is a measure of complexity that is central to cognitive load theory. It provides the ultimate determinant of both intrinsic and extraneous cognitive load. It differs from most other measures of complexity in that it not only takes into consideration the characteristics of the information being processed, but also simultaneously takes into consideration the knowledge base held in long-term memory of the person processing that information. By taking both factors into consideration, the concept of element interactivity is able to connect human cognitive architecture to cognitive load theory-generated instructional design with its emphasis on reducing working memory load to facilitate the transfer of information to long-term memory. Cognitive load theory is primarily concerned with high element interactivity information. Most cognitive load effects are likely to disappear or reverse using low element interactivity information. Since much work on instructional design ignores the concept of element interactivity, we run the risk of apparently contradictory experimental results. Some of those contradictory results and how they can be explained by cognitive load theory are discussed in this chapter.
