Journal
LEARNING AND INSTRUCTION
Volume 51, Issue -, Pages 36-46Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.learninstruc.2016.12.002
Keywords
Mental effort; Feedback valence; Problem solving; Cognitive load measurement
Funding
- Netherlands Initiative for Education Research (NRO PROO) [411-12-015]
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We investigated whether the valence of performance feedback provided after a task, would affect participants' perceptions of how much mental effort they invested in that same task. In three experiments, we presented participants with problem-solving tasks and manipulated the presence and valence of feedback between conditions (no, positive, or negative feedback valence), prior to asking them to rate how much mental effort they invested in solving that problem. Across the three experiments with different problem-solving tasks and participant populations we found that subjective ratings of effort investment were significantly higher after negative than after positive feedback; ratings given without feedback fell in between. These findings show that feedback valence alters perceived effort investment (possibly via task perceptions or affect), which can be problematic when effort is measured as an indicator of cognitive load. Therefore, it seems advisable to measure mental effort directly after each task, before giving feedback on performance. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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