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“Overloading” Cognitive (Work)Load: What Are We Really Measuring?

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Information Systems and Neuroscience (NeuroIS 2021)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Information Systems and Organisation ((LNISO,volume 52))

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Abstract

Cognitive load is one of the most studied constructs in NeuroIS [1]. Not surprisingly, we have identified 27 papers presented at NeuroIS retreats between 2012 and 2020 which included measurement of cognitive load or related constructs. This paper reviews terminology used to refer to cognitive load, mental workload and its variations, as well as their operationalizations and measurements. All 27 papers employed physiological NeuroIS measures, while six of them additionally used subjective self-ratings. The wide range of measurements prompts us to question if we are measuring the same construct. We provide an overview and a summary of cognitive load terminology and measurement used in these 27 papers and conclude with recommendations for future research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Information, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, USA

    Jacek Gwizdka

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  1. Jacek Gwizdka
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Correspondence to Jacek Gwizdka .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA

    Fred D. Davis

  2. University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria and University of Linz, Steyr/Linz, Austria

    René Riedl

  3. University of Liechtenstein, Vaduz, Liechtenstein

    Jan vom Brocke

  4. HEC Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada

    Pierre-Majorique Léger

  5. Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA, USA

    Adriane B. Randolph

  6. Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria

    Gernot Müller-Putz

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Gwizdka, J. (2021). “Overloading” Cognitive (Work)Load: What Are We Really Measuring?. In: Davis, F.D., Riedl, R., vom Brocke, J., Léger, PM., Randolph, A.B., Müller-Putz, G. (eds) Information Systems and Neuroscience. NeuroIS 2021. Lecture Notes in Information Systems and Organisation, vol 52. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88900-5_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88900-5_9

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-88900-5

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