Cited by 205Visual and Cognitive Learning ProcessesInnovative Teaching and Learning MethodsAging and Gerontology Research

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 48 of the 48 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; 1 of the 45 sources its claims cite were checked for support.

Cognitive load theory and aging: effects of worked examples on training efficiency

Open access
Van Gerven, P.W.M, Paas, F.G.W.C, Van Merriënboer, J.J.G, Schmidt, H.G·2002·Learning and Instruction

Overview

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

This experiment compared worked examples with conventional problem solving for younger and older adults learning a water-jug task. Older adults showed a larger efficiency advantage from worked examples, using less time and lower cognitive load while maintaining comparable performance, but the predicted stronger benefit for far transfer was not found.

Key findings

  • Older participants in the worked-examples condition reported lower subjective cognitive load (M = 3.19, SD = 1.71) than those solving conventional problems (M = 4.79, SD = 2.16), and spent less training time per problem (81.24 s vs. 206.58 s). Near-transfer performance was similar (.97 vs. .95), while far-transfer performance was numerically higher (.55 vs. .40), though training format had no significant performance effect.
  • The Age Group × Training Format interactions were significant for training efficiency, F(1, 50) = 5.45, p < .05; subjective cognitive load, F(1, 50) = 6.94, p < .05; and training time, F(1, 50) = 15.73, p < .001, indicating that older adults benefited disproportionately from worked examples.
  • Younger adults did not benefit from worked examples: their mean training efficiency was lower in the worked-examples condition (0.55) than in the conventional-problems condition (0.86), and their subjective cognitive load was higher (2.77 vs. 2.22), although both efficiencies were positive.
  • Hypothesis 2 was not supported: the Age Group × Training Format × Transfer Distance interaction for training efficiency was not significant, F(1, 49) = 0.10, p > .05, although separate Age Group × Training Format interactions were significant for near transfer, F(1, 50) = 6.91, p < .05, and far transfer, F(1, 49) = 8.20, p < .01.

Methods

  • The design was a 2 × 2 between-groups experiment with Age Group (young vs. old) and Training Format (conventional problems vs. worked examples), plus a within-groups factor of Transfer Distance (near vs. far). N = 54: 30 psychology students aged 18–30 (median 19.50) and 24 older adults aged 61–76 (median 66.00) recruited from the Maastricht Aging Study pool; participants were randomly assigned to conditions.
  • Participants completed a computerized water-jug task on a touch screen. Training consisted of four problems either solved conventionally or studied as worked examples; the transfer test had 23 problems, with 11 classified as near transfer and 12 as far transfer. Measures included a shortened Groningen intelligence test, a computation-span test, a 9-point subjective cognitive-load scale, training time, and proportion of solved problems.
  • Training efficiency was calculated using Paas and Van Merriënboer’s z-score procedure combining mental effort and performance. ANOVAs were run on control variables, training time, cognitive load, performance, and efficiency, with transfer distance included for efficiency.

Limitations

  • The paper states that worked examples did not significantly improve performance in either age group, contrary to earlier research. It suggests the contrast between conditions may have been too weak, older adults’ far-transfer scores had greater variability, the near-transfer problems may already have been too complex for older participants, and the young may have reached a ceiling on the task.
  • The paper also states that Hypothesis 2 was not supported because the older adults’ worked-example advantage did not differ between near and far transfer.
  • Evident from the text: the sample was small, especially the older group (n = 24), and one older participant did not reach the far-transfer section, producing unequal degrees of freedom. The study used a single task domain and a single subjective load measure, and the young participants’ task may have been too easy to reveal training-format effects.

Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/s0959-4752(01)00017-2

Cites

48 of 48 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Verification

Claims the paper makes

23 Own result · 20 No full text of the sources · 19 Own interpretation · 2 Sources not found · 2 Not checked yet · 1 Partly supported · 1 Own method · 1 No basis given · accuracy not yet measured

  • Probably not a substantial claim. 13
  • It may state two separate claims as one. 30
38 of 38
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    To optimize the acquisition of complex material in elderly people, information should be presented in a highly efficient manner.

    “this brings us to the assumption that to optimize the acquisition of complex material in elderly people information should be presented in a highly efficient manner.”
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    CLT-based training accommodates the cognitive abilities of elderly persons particularly well.

    “Since these limits are especially evident in elderly persons, it is assumed that CLT-based training accommodates the cognitive abilities of this group particularly well.”
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    The cognitive capacity of elderly people is smaller than the cognitive capacity of young people.

    “The framework assumes that the cognitive capacity of elderly people is smaller than the cognitive capacity of young people, so that any gain in cognitive capacity caused by a lowering of extraneous load is proportionally larger for the elderly than for the young.”
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    Any gain in cognitive capacity caused by a lowering of extraneous load is proportionally larger for the elderly than for the young.

    “The framework assumes that the cognitive capacity of elderly people is smaller than the cognitive capacity of young people, so that any gain in cognitive capacity caused by a lowering of extraneous load is proportionally larger for the elderly than for the young.”
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    Any increase of germane cognitive load is proportionally larger for the elderly than for the young.

    “The same holds for any increase of germane cognitive load.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Compared to young people, the elderly have a much richer and more integrated body of general and specific knowledge at their disposal.

    “It is true that, compared to young people, the elderly have a much richer and more integrated body of general and, depending on their professional background, specific knowledge at their disposal.”
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    The near-transfer problems were expected to be rather simple.

    “the near-transfer problems, which were supposed to be rather simple, were in fact experienced as rather complex by the elderly”
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Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Statistics recomputed

Every reported test result, recomputed from its test statistic and degrees of freedom. A result shows as not adding up only once an independent check has confirmed it.

  • ConsistentF(1, 50) = 13.43reported p = .001 · recomputed p < .001

    “F(1, 50)=13.43,p = .001”

1 of 1

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

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Citations

Cites

Show all 48 references

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Jolles, J., Houx, P. J., Van Boxtel, M. P. J., & Ponds, R. W. H. M. (Eds.). (1995). The Maastricht aging study: determinants of cognitive aging. Maastricht, The Netherlands: Neuropsych Publishers.

Cited by

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Metadata

Authors
Van Gerven, P. W. M., Paas, F. G. W. C., Van Merriënboer, J. J. G., & Schmidt, H. G.
Affiliations
  • Open University of the Netherlands (NL)
  • Erasmus University Rotterdam (NL)
Venue
Learning and Instruction
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2002-02
Volume
12
Issue
1
Pages
87-105
ISSN
0959-4752 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2121561709
Cited by
205
References
48
Citations by year
2026: 10 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 10
FWCI
11.91
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Learning and Instruction (publishedVersion)
  • Research Publications (Maastricht University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Visual and Cognitive Learning Processes
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Innovative Teaching and Learning Methods
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
Keywords
cognitive load theory, worked examples, cognitive aging, older adults, working memory, training efficiency, skill acquisition, practice questions, training duration, cognitive resources

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