Cognitive Load in Different Media Environments: When Does Note-taking Help Memory Recall?
Abstract: The study investigates students’ abilities to recall words in three media environments – no-distraction, auditory-distraction, and auditory-visual-distraction settings, with three note-taking tools – no note-taking, note-taking-on-paper, and note-taking on-a-computer. Nine experiments, each with a total of 21-47 undergraduate student participants were conducted. Results indicated that there were significant interactions between environments and note-taking tools. In the no-distraction environment, the participants performed best while taking notes on paper, second best while taking notes on computer, and third while not taking notes. However, in the auditory-visual distraction environment, the participants performed word recall best while not taking notes, second while taking notes on the computer, and third while taking notes on paper. Implications are discussed.
Presider: Francisco Garonce, Universidade de Brasília