The role of cognitive load in university students' comprehension of multiple documents

The study investigates the cognitive load of students working on tasks that require the comprehension of multiple documents (Multiple Document Comprehension, MDC). In a sample of 310 students, perceived task difficulty (PD) and mental effort (ME) were examined in terms of task characteristics, individual characteristics, and students' processing behavior. Moreover, it was investigated if PD and ME can still contribute to MDC while controlling for these variables. The perceived difficulty of the task was shown to be related to the number of documents, text length, study level, and sourcing. Mental effort was predicted by text length, study level, and processing time. When including these variables as covariates, cognitive load was incrementally predictive of MDC. The results are discussed in terms of how working memory resources can shape the process of comprehending multiple documents.