Psychophysiological responses have been studied as objective indicators for measuring a learner’s cognitive load. Previous studies have correlated pupil dilation or fixation length with increased cognitive load. Our aims were to confirm whether these findings could be applied in a general learning context and to verify the additivity hypothesis of cognitive load theory based on psychophysiological responses. Three responses (i.e., mean pupil diameter, area under the pupil response curve, and sum of fixation duration) were recorded while 94 participants completed a computer-based test. Participants were randomly assigned to low (n = 46) or high (n = 48) extraneous cognitive load conditions. Because the given test, which consisted of a low and a high task complexity problem, was the same for all participants, the difference in intrinsic cognitive load was compared as a within-subjects factor. Each psychophysiological indicator was calculated and compared under different intrinsic and extraneous cognitive load conditions. The results showed that psychophysiological responses significantly distinguished the differences in intrinsic and extraneous cognitive loads. In addition, the sum of the different types of cognitive loads corresponded to the total cognitive load. Based on the results, further studies are suggested to apply psychophysiological responses as the standard of judgment for different levels of cognitive load.

中文翻译：

---

复杂问题解决中心理负荷措施对认知负荷理论的验证

已经研究了心理生理反应作为衡量学习者认知负荷的客观指标。先前的研究已经将瞳孔扩张或注视长度与认知负荷增加相关。我们的目的是确认这些发现是否可以在一般学习环境中应用，并基于心理生理反应验证认知负荷理论的可加性假设。记录了三种反应（即平均瞳孔直径，瞳孔反应曲线下的面积以及注视持续时间的总和），而94名参与者完成了基于计算机的测试。参与者被随机分配为低（n  = 46）或高（n = 48）无关的认知负荷条件。因为给定的测试（包括低和高的任务复杂性问题）对于所有参与者都是相同的，所以将内在认知负荷的差异作为受试者内部因素进行了比较。计算每个心理生理指标，并在不同的内在和外在认知负荷条件下进行比较。结果表明，心理生理反应显着区分了内在和外在认知负荷的差异。另外，不同类型的认知负荷之和对应于总认知负荷。根据结果​​，建议进行进一步的研究，以将心理生理反应作为对不同认知负荷水平的判断标准。