Abstract: After Cognitive Load Theory（CLT）was proposed by John Sweller in 1980s’, researchers began to invent new methods for measuring cognitive load. At present, the measurements can be divided into three categories: subjective measures; task performance measures; physiological measures. Because of its simplicity, practicability and convenience, subjective measures was the most popular in recent influential researches on cognitive load. According to some statistics, the Paas Cognitive Load Scale（the PAAS）designed by Paas in 1993 was used most in the previous researches. However, some researchers leveled criticism at it, which was focused that sensitivity and validity of PAAS were to call a question, because its items were few and it was easy to cause social desirability effects. Therefore, the objective to the research was to identify the most sensitive and effective subjective measurement tool by comparing three subjective rating scales, and test the sensitivity of response time of secondary-task which was used as reference object to subjective measures. In the dual-task experiment paradigm, the primary task was face recognition, which was to choose the only right answer from four faces according to the criterion ordered by the researcher, and the secondary task was mental calculation, which was to judge one two digits whether to be divided with no remainder by three or not. We used a 3×4 mixed design with between-subjects factor being category of subjective rating scale and within-subjects factor being task difficulty. The subjective rating scale included three categories, which were the PAAS, the Workload Profile Index Ratings（the WP） and the NASA Task Load Index （the TLX）. The task difficulty included four categories, which were matched by the difficulty level of primary task （easy or difficult） and secondary task （easy or difficult）. A sample of 60 college students volunteered to participate in the study. Ages ranged from 18 to 22 years and all were right-handed. The subjects were randomly assigned to three groups of the same size: 20 subjects filled out the PAAS, another 20 answered the WP, and the remaining 20 filled in the TLX. The experiment was carried out on the computer, which program was designed by E-prime psychology software so as to control the presentation time of experiment materials and measure the response time and accuracy of the secondary task. The hypotheses were testified on the whole. The results showed that, in the present task condition, the sensitivity and intrusiveness of response time of secondary-task were both better and it could be used as reference object to subjective measures. Meanwhile, the sensitivity and validity of the WP and the PAAS were both better, and were higher than those of the TLX. At the same time, the sensitivity and diagnosticity of the WP were higher than that of the PAAS. In conclusion, taking all evaluating indexes into consideration, the WP was the most effective and perfective subjective rating scales of the three, especially for the task of medium or lower difficulty.

Key words: Cognitive load, Subjective rating scales, the PASS, the WP, the TLX

摘要： 运用双任务实验范式，比较了三种认知负荷主观评价量表的灵敏度与效度。结果发现：在本研究任务条件下，次任务反应时的稳定性、抗干扰性较好，可以作为认知负荷主观评价的标尺；WP量表与PAAS量表的敏感性均较好，其中WP量表的敏感性、诊断性高于后者，TLX量表的敏感性较弱；WP量表与PAAS量表的效度较好，且好于TLX量表。综合各项指标，在中低难度任务下，WP量表是目前认知负荷较为理想的测量工具。

关键词: 认知负荷, 主观评价量表, PAAS量表, WP量表, TLX量表