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Working Memory Resource Depletion Effect in Academic Learning: Steps to an Integrated Approach

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Human Mental Workload: Models and Applications (H-WORKLOAD 2020)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 1318))

Abstract

Learning at school requires cognitive effort. Optimizing these efforts is one of the keys to academic learning achievement. Many controlled experiments, for example within the cognitive load theory framework, have identified the factors that impact this optimization. The temporal dimension of this optimization was evoked in 2018: certain academic learning tasks could exhaust students, resulting on learning impairing. The hypothesis of Sweller and other authors from cognitive load theory is that working memory resources would be depleted during a demanding learning task. The authors point out that this depletion of working memory resources could explain a famous effect in learning literature: the massed/spaced effect. But these authors do not say: What mechanisms govern this exhaustion? How can this depletion be measured? The working memory resource depletion effect project proposes to answer these questions. Our aim is to present this project, its objectives, method and the first results.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The ego depletion effect has been much studied, often replicated [6], but the replication of the Sripada, Kessler and Jonides’ experiment [7] by 23 labs (N = 2141) failed to obtain the ego depletion effect [8]. Another replication study by 12 labs (N = 1775) obtained a small but significant ego depletion effect [9]. A meta-analysis [10] shows that the ego-depletion is obtained under certain conditions (emotion videos) and not obtained under others conditions (attention videos). More recent meta-analyses also show a negative effect of ego depletion on subsequent physical endurance performance [11] [12].

  2. 2.

    It is well known that simultaneous translation tasks are very demanding and exhausting [37], but we decided to begin our set of experiments with a second language transcription task because it is easier to objectively evaluate the performance. We previously developed methods and measure to evaluate performance and cognitive load in second language speech comprehension tasks [38].

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Acknowledgment

The WM-RDE project is funded by ANR, the French national agency for research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University Paul Valéry Montpellier, route de Mende, 34090, Montpellier, France

    André Tricot, Elisabeth Fonteneau & Pom Charras

  2. Cergy Paris University, 2 rue de la Liberté, 93526, Saint-Denis, France

    Sébastien Puma

  3. SCOTE, INU Champollion, Place de Verdun, 81012, Albi, France

    Rémi Capa

  4. CeRCA, CNRS, Université Poitiers, 5, rue T. Lefebvre, 86073, Poitiers, France

    Michel Audiffren & Nathalie André

  5. Université Nîmes, rued du Docteur Georges Salan, 30021, Nîmes, France

    Florence Lespiau

  6. Université Bordeaux, 3 ter place de la Victoire, 33076, Bordeaux, France

    Stéphanie Roussel

  7. CLLE, CNRS University, Toulouse 2, 5 allées Antonio Machado, 31058, Toulouse, France

    Camille Jeunet & Emilie Massa

  8. Lycée Nelson Mandela, 63 rue de la Bugellerie, 86022, Poitiers, France

    Dominique Bellec

Authors
  1. André Tricot
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  2. Sébastien Puma
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  4. Michel Audiffren
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  8. Camille Jeunet
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  11. Elisabeth Fonteneau
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  12. Pom Charras
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to André Tricot .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Technological University Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Luca Longo

  2. Technological University Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Maria Chiara Leva

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Tricot, A. et al. (2020). Working Memory Resource Depletion Effect in Academic Learning: Steps to an Integrated Approach. In: Longo, L., Leva, M.C. (eds) Human Mental Workload: Models and Applications. H-WORKLOAD 2020. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1318. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62302-9_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62302-9_2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-62301-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-62302-9

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