According to cognitive load theory, instructions can impose three types of cognitive load on the learner: intrinsic load, extraneous load, and germane load. Proper measurement of the different types of cognitive load can help us understand why the effectiveness and efficiency of learning environments may differ as a function of instructional formats and learner characteristics. In this article, we present a ten-item instrument for the measurement of the three types of cognitive load. Principal component analysis on data from a lecture in statistics for PhD students (n = 56) in psychology and health sciences revealed a threecomponent solution, consistent with the types of load that the different items were intended to measure. This solution was confirmed by a confirmatory factor analysis of data from three lectures in statistics for different cohorts of bachelor students in the social and health sciences (ns = 171, 136, and 148), and received further support from a randomized experiment with university freshmen in the health sciences (n = 58).

In two studies, we investigated whether a recently developed psychometric instrument can differentiate intrinsic, extraneous, and germane cognitive load. Study I revealed a similar three-factor solution for language learning (n ¼ 108) and a statistics lecture (n ¼ 174), and statistics exam scores correlated negatively with the factors assumed to represent intrinsic and extraneous cognitive load during the lecture. In Study II, university freshmen who studied applications of Bayes' theorem in exampleeexample (n ¼ 18) or exampleeproblem (n ¼ 18) condition demonstrated better posttest performance than their peers who studied the applications in problemeexample (n ¼ 18) or problemeproblem (n ¼ 20) condition, and a slightly modified version of the aforementioned psychometric instrument could help researchers to differentiate intrinsic and extraneous cognitive load. The findings provide support for a recent reconceptualization of germane cognitive load as referring to the actual working memory resources devoted to dealing with intrinsic cognitive load.

Application of physiological methods, in particular electroencephalography (EEG), offers new and promising approaches to educational psychology research. EEG is identified as a physiological index that can serve as an online, continuous measure of cognitive load detecting subtle fluctuations in instantaneous load, which can help explain effects of instructional interventions when measures of overall cognitive load fail to reflect such differences in cognitive processing. This paper presents a review of seminal literature on the use of continuous EEG to measure cognitive load and describes two case studies on learning from hypertext and multimedia that employed EEG methodology to collect and analyze cognitive load data. Keywords Electroencephalography . Cognitive load . Educational psychologyResearchers working in the context of cognitive load theory (CLT; Paas et al. 2003a, b;Sweller 1988;Sweller et al. 1998) have been concerned with analyzing the effects of cognitive load on learning and devising strategies and tools to help learners maintain an optimal level of load in various learning contexts. As a consequence, measurement of cognitive load plays a key role in CLT research (Paas et al. 2003a, b). In this article, we will discuss new possibilities for cognitive load measurement offered by neuroscience, focusing in particular on (EEG).

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