Can prior knowledge increase task complexity? – Cases in which higher prior knowledge leads to higher intrinsic cognitive load

• Published in: British journal of educational psychology Vol. 93; no. S2; pp. 305 - 317
• Main Authors: Endres, Tino, Lovell, Oliver, Morkunas, David, Rieß, Werner, Renkl, Alexander
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Wiley 01.08.2023; British Psychological Society
• Subjects: Climate; Climate Change; Cognition; Cognitive Ability; Cognitive load; cognitive load theory; Cognitive Processes; Difficulty Level; Educational psychology; Elementary School Students; Expertise; Foreign Countries; Forestry; Germany; Humans; intrinsic load; Knowledge; Mathematics; Novices; Prior knowledge; Prior Learning; problem representations; Problem Solving; Students; Task complexity; Word Problems (Mathematics); Germany; Black Forest; cognitive load theory; intrinsic load; prior knowledge; problem representations; problem-solving
• ISSN: 0007-0998; 2044-8279; 2044-8279
• DOI: 10.1111/bjep.12563

Background & Aims Cognitive load theory assumes that the higher the learner's prior knowledge (i.e., the more expert the learner), the lower the intrinsic cognitive load (complexity) experienced for a given problem. While this is the case in many scenarios, there can be cases in which the converse is also true, resulting in more expert learners reporting higher intrinsic cognitive load than novices for the same problem. This can occur in relation to problems involving complex systems (e.g., ecological systems), for which novices' problem representations may underestimate problem complexity and therefore report lower intrinsic load than experts. This finding is borne out in the current paper. Samples, Methods & Results In Study 1 with 118 participants from the Black Forest area in Germany, participants with higher levels of forestry and ecological expertise evaluated a problem relating to the restructuring of the Black Forest to adapt to climate change as more complex than did novices. In Study 2 (within‐subjects design, n = 66 primary‐school students), we conceptually replicated this finding in a domain more typical of cognitive load theory studies, mathematics. We found that higher prior knowledge also reduced the underestimation of the complexity of ‘tricky’, but frequently used, mathematics word problems. Conclusion Our findings suggest that cognitive load theory's assumptions about intrinsic load and prior knowledge should be refined, as there seems to exist a sub‐set of problem‐solving tasks for which the traditional relationship between prior knowledge and reported ICL is reversed.