Paas 9-point mental effort rating scale

Product or Programme · All products and programmes
Evidence · 4 claims (4 for) · 2 studies (1 causal, 1 associational), q2–q3 · 2 of 2 report an effect size · 4 claims rest on one study

Description

A single-item nine-point subjective rating scale developed by Paas for measuring perceived mental effort invested in completing a learning or problem-solving task.

Components

Claims

• The predictive value of cognitive load ratings for problem performance was mixed: mental effort predicted performance in Experiment 1, perceived difficulty in Experiment 2, but never both at once [+M]
• The delayed-higher-than-immediate difference for cognitive load ratings replicates regardless of whether problem complexity increases or decreases across the sequence (Experiment 2) [+M]
• A single delayed cognitive load rating after a problem sequence is significantly higher than the average of immediate ratings for both mental effort and perceived difficulty (Experiment 1) [+M]
• Invested mental effort and perceived task difficulty are strongly correlated yet relate differently to relative task difficulty, indicating the two ratings measure different aspects of overall cognitive load [+M]

Related Products and Programmes

• MEL-TS: a translingual set of mental effort and mental load self-rating items in six languages

Key Sources

• Scheiter, K., Ackerman, R., & Hoogerheide, V. (2020). Looking at Mental Effort Appraisals through a Metacognitive Lens: Are they Biased? Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-020-09555-9

Page metadata

Field	Value
type	product
id	paas-9-point-mental-effort-rating-scale
title	Paas 9-point mental effort rating scale
description	A single-item nine-point subjective rating scale developed by Paas for measuring perceived mental effort invested in completing a learning or problem-solving task.
status	review
product_kind	assessment
generated	by process:settle-candidates on 2026-10-21
trust	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content

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