title: Behavioral and fMRI evidence of the differing cognitive load of domain-specific assessments.
abstract: Standards-referenced educational reform has increased the prevalence of standardized testing; however, whether these tests accurately measure students' competencies has been questioned. This may be due to domain-specific assessments placing a differing domain-general cognitive load on test-takers. To investigate this possibility, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to identify and quantify the neural correlates of performance on current, international standardized methods of spelling assessment. Out-of-scanner testing was used to further examine differences in assessment results. Results provide converging evidence that: (a) the spelling assessments differed in the cognitive load placed on test-takers; (b) performance decreased with increasing cognitive load of the assessment; and (c) brain regions associated with working memory were more highly activated during performance of assessments that were higher in cognitive load. These findings suggest that assessment design should optimize the cognitive load placed on test-takers, to ensure students' results are an accurate reflection of their true levels of competency.
authors.affiliation: School of Education, University of Wollongong, New South Wales 2522, Australia. Electronic address: stevenh@uow.edu.au.
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Howard
authors.affiliation: Centre for Advanced Imaging, University of Queensland, Queensland 4072, Australia. Electronic address: hana.burianova@cai.uq.edu.au.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Burianová
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Education, Monash University, Victoria 3800, Australia. Electronic address: john.ehrich@monash.edu.au.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ehrich
authors.affiliation: School of Education, University of Wollongong, New South Wales 2522, Australia. Electronic address: lkervin@uow.edu.au.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kervin
authors.affiliation: School of Education, University of Wollongong, New South Wales 2522, Australia. Electronic address: amc998@uowmail.edu.au.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Calleia
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Wollongong, New South Wales 2522, Australia. Electronic address: ebarkus@uow.edu.au.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Barkus
authors.affiliation: Neurology Department, Wollongong Hospital, New South Wales 2500, Australia. Electronic address: john.carmody@sesiahs.health.nsw.gov.au.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Carmody
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Education, University of Western Australia, Western Australia 6009, Australia. Electronic address: stephen.humphry@uwa.edu.au.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Humphry
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D014705:Verbal Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen
keywords: assessment; cognitive load; educational neuroscience; fMRI; spelling; standardized testing