在學習的歷程中，學習者在對所感知的資訊及內容進行思考或整合時，皆須透過「工作記憶區」來處理，但是，工作記憶有容量的限制，因此，如果教材內容或學習步驟等超過學習者的工作記憶容量，便容易造成工作記憶負荷增加，有損了學習者的理解及學習的能力，影響他們順利解決問題，Sweller 將這種加諸在學習者認知系統上的負荷稱之為「認知負荷」。
在課堂中若教師能隨時了解學生認知負荷的狀況，注意學生是否處於極高的認知負荷，或已經認知超載，便能「立即」調整教學內容與速度，協助學生學習。為了注重「即時性」及價格、方便性等，「可攜式腦波儀」最具有硬體上的優勢。
由於「可攜式腦波儀」主要硬體部件已設計完成，發展相應的「演算法」來有效地預測「難度」為現階段的重要目標。本研究以20位大學學生為研究對象，並利用四個難度的數學乘法心算作為試題來進行測驗。為了考量可攜式腦波儀電極貼片的限制，黏貼位置選擇以前額葉及前額葉的左、右側共三點來觀察。另外，參考過去文獻指出額葉區的θ波與工作記憶的關係，因此，為評估受試者感受到的認知負荷，本研究初步以「θ腦波」為演算基礎來分析其與試題難度間的相關性。
研究結果如下：貼在前額葉及前額葉左、右側的數據皆呈高度相關，表示整體的預測力很高，尤其是前額葉右側的位置，相關性最高，預測力約達67%，表示某種程度上我們可以利用額葉區的θ波來預測學習者在學習歷程中感受到的負荷。

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