Prior knowledge correlates negatively with delayed ICL and ECL and positively with delayed GCL, consistent with meta-analytic findings¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r2 · q3 · i2 medium
Currency · newest study 2025 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i2 Prior knowledge was negatively correlated with delayed ICL (r = −0.24) and delayed ECL (r = −0.28), and positively with delayed GCL (r = 0.31). → Krieglstein 2025

Evidence¶

Krieglstein 2025¶

Krieglstein, F., Beege, M., Wesenberg, L., Rey, G. D., & Schneider, S. (2025). The Distorting Influence of Primacy Effects on Reporting Cognitive Load in Learning Materials of Varying Complexity. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-024-09980-0

q3 · i2 · causal · r2

Correlational analysis in the main study between self-assessed prior knowledge (M = 3.03, SD = 1.12 on a 7-point scale) and delayed cognitive load measures (Table 3): "negatively correlated with ICL and ECL, but positively correlated with GCL"; printed values r = −0.24 (ICL), r = −0.28 (ECL), r = 0.31 (GCL).

"the prior knowledge measure demonstrated satisfactory criterion validity, as it was negatively correlated with ICL and ECL, but positively correlated with GCL, which is consistent with meta-analytic findings (Krieglstein et al., 2022a)."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Delayed post-learning assessments of ICL, ECL, and GCL do not differ between increasing and decreasing complexity sequences — related
• Correlations among cognitive load types partially contradict theory-based assumptions of the additivity hypothesis — related
• Correlations of cognitive load types with learning outcomes and prior knowledge support CLT assumptions, and results support the three-factor model — related
• Germane load measurement is problematic: GCL-outcome correlations and item understanding show weaknesses across instruments — related
• Passage familiarity (prior related knowledge) correlates .52 with recall, and only familiarity, not imageability, affected one-week delayed recall — related
• In the new questionnaire, ICL and ECL correlate positively while both correlate negatively with GCL — related