Annotated Bibliographies Module 3

Clayton S. Cook

Baddeley, Alan. Working Memory. Science, Vol. 255, No. 5044. Jan, 1992. Pp. 556-559.
This article discusses working memory and the function of working memory as related to
learning and performing various skills. It has been found that working memory indeed does
show a link to performance on a variety of tasks, including comprehension and reasoning. From
various tests and procedures, it was found that there is an actual limit to the amount information
a person is able to recall. This limit varies depending on the individual and information, but was
found to occur in all subjects.
This article delves into the idea of working memory and discusses the various factors that make
up the idea of working memory. It was found that all subjects have a limit to the amount of
information they can accurately remember and that this limit hinges heavily on the type of
information being presented. Also, the cognitive ability of the subjects greatly impacted the
performance of the working memory.
The language of this article is difficult and, at times, confusing. The author does not do a good
job of breaking down into lay mans terms what he is referring to. It is mostly assumed that the
reader will have a general understanding of the topic before reading the article. I found this
article to be difficult and unremarkable, even with the aid of diagrams and definitions.

Annotated Bibliographies Module 3

Clayton S. Cook

Kalyuga, Slava. Schema Acquisition and Sources of Cognitive Load. New York: Cambridge.
This article discusses the various principles of schema acquisition. Schemas are units of
knowledge that allow us to take pieces of information and process them in chunks, thus relieving
the dependence on our working memory. By organizing information into chunks, we are able to
classify and process the information at a higher-level. It was found that some forms of
instructional materials and techniques may prove to be ineffective because they produce a heavy
cognitive load, thereby surpassing the limitations of the cognitive system.
This article does a good job of breaking down the sources of cognitive load, as well as principles
for minimizing extraneous cognitive load. These principles focus on building a knowledge base
in the long-term memory instead of simply using working memory to process information. By
building a knowledge base, cognitive load is diminished and learning more readily takes place.
The sheer length of this article, coupled with the scientific jargon, mask what is an interesting
and informative topic. This article provides tips and methods for reducing cognitive load an
increasing learning but it is weighted down by the volume of information. The principles are
outlined nicely, however, and the author discusses how each can be used to minimize cognitive
load and increase learning.

Annotated Bibliographies Module 3

Clayton S. Cook

Miller, George. The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for
processing information. Psychological Review: Vol. 101, No. 2, 343-352.
This article discusses several areas of cognition, including information measurement, absolute
judgments, immediate memory span, and recoding. In short, this article centers on the way in
which information in broken down into pieces and segments and how they are used to create
knowledge. The author discusses how we process and use the chunks of information to stretch
our information bottleneck and increase our ability to receive, process, and remember
information.
The author does a good job breaking down the ways in which we chunk or segment information.
The information is thorough, albeit difficult at times. There are times where the laid-back
language of the author distract from the information being presented. The importance of the
number seven is never revealed.
This article was, for most part, easy to read but the information was presented in a confusing
way. The language of the article make it difficult to follow. The use of first-person in the article
adds to the difficulty of following the information. It seemed to be more of a first-person
account than an actual scientific article.