It\u27s About Time: the Effectiveness of Time Perception as a Measurement of Cognitive Load

This study examines the effectiveness of time perception as a measurement of cognitive load. The purpose of this research is to determine whether the concept of time perception can efficiently indicate high or low cognitive load in a task, and to compare this measurement to the standard mental effort rating scale that is typically used to measure cognitive load. In this study, participants completed both simple and complicated math problems at their own pace. After they were told to stop, participants either rated their level of mental effort used in the task, or wrote down how long they believed it took them to work on the math problems. Each participant completed both the simple and complicated math, as well as both of the measurements. The results indicated that time perception is an effective predictor of the level of cognitive load required of the math problems, and that this measurement is more sensitive than the mental effort rating scale