Cognitive effort during note taking

Abstract

Note taking is a complex activity that requires comprehension and selection of information and written production processes. Here we review the functions, abbreviation procedures, strategies, and working memory constraints of note taking with the aim of improving theoretical and practical understanding of the activity. The time urgency of selecting key points and recording them while comprehending new information at the same time places significant demands on the central executive and other components of working memory. Dual-and triple-task procedures allow the measurement of the momentary cognitive effort or executive attention allocated to note taking. Comparative data show that note taking demands more effort than reading or learning. However, it requires less effort than the creative written composition of an original text.

Affordances of mobile devices and note-taking apps to support cognitively demanding note-taking

“…This is confirmed by Piolat et al (2004) and Bui et al (2013), who state that the process of note-taking is cognitively demanding. University students, and first-year students in particular, have been battling with the question of how to capture and recall the flow of information in traditional lecture periods for many years (Piolat et al 2004).…”

“…This is confirmed by Piolat et al (2004) and Bui et al (2013), who state that the process of note-taking is cognitively demanding. University students, and first-year students in particular, have been battling with the question of how to capture and recall the flow of information in traditional lecture periods for many years (Piolat et al 2004). This may be because students who take notes need to pay attention, organise the information, and then record it in an understandable manner before it is forgotten (Bui and Myerson 2014).…”

“…As the process of note-taking is associated with action words and phrases such as capture, recall (Piolat et al 2004), learn, remember (Anderson and Armbruster 1986), pay attention, organise, record, and making understandable and legible notes (Bui and Myerson 2014), this article focuses on the affordances of mobile devices that make it possible for students to take cognitively demanding notes. For this study, Baffordances of mobile devices^refers to those qualities and properties that mobile devices offer to enable cognitively demanding note-taking, while Bcognitively demanding note-takingr efers to the cognitive processes that take place during note-taking, and not to the notetaking itself that is cognitively demanding.…”

Effects of VDT and paper presentation on consumption and production of information: Psychological and physiological factors

“…It has been stipulated that the production of notes places high demands on the central executive functions as it concurrently involves comprehension, selection, and production processes. Additionally, it has been shown that 'note-taking' requires less executive mobilization than writing and that when note-taking is based on a text, the length of that text is positively correlated with cognitive effort (Piolat et al, 2005). One possible explanation for these findings could be that the amount of information concurrently being processed in the LT-WM is what defines the cognitive demands.…”

“…During 'note-taking', for instance, the object is condensation rather than elaboration. Notetaking refers to the production of short paragraphs of text containing, for instance, a shopping list or the minutes of a work meeting (Piolat, Olive, & Kellogg, 2005). It has been stipulated that the production of notes places high demands on the central executive functions as it concurrently involves comprehension, selection, and production processes.…”