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STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF COGNITIVE LOAD ON PERFORMANCE IN ENGINEERING DESIGN

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 July 2021

Christoph Zimmerer  and
Sven Matthiesen
Christoph Zimmerer*
Affiliation:
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Sven Matthiesen
Affiliation:
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
*
Zimmerer, Christoph, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), IPEK Institute of Product Engineering, Germany, christoph.zimmerer@kit.edu

Abstract

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The objective evaluation of empirical studies is an important part when assessing demand and validating design methods. However, metrics that can also map cognitive processes during design are still lacking. In order to address this problem, an online study with 12 participants was conducted. The aim of this investigation was to find a relation between cognitive load and performance in engineering design tasks. To assess the cognitive load, the NASA-RTLX questionnaire was used as an established measurement tool and was related to the results achieved by the participants. The results show that there is a correlation between the two investigated parameters. Based on a statistical analysis a correlation between increasing cognitive load and a decrease in performance could be identified. The tasks used produce comparable results to other studies investigating cognitive load, but the task causing the highest cognitive load shows the widest scatter in performance. The u-curve as suggested by the state of the art was not visible in the study’s results, but the cognitive load should be nevertheless used for studies of design processes, because it may reveal a need for methodical support.

Keywords

Design cognitionHuman behaviour in designDesign engineeringcognitive load
Type
Article
Information
Proceedings of the Design Society , Volume 1: ICED21 , August 2021 , pp. 2761 - 2770
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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