Cognitive Scaffold

Preparing your thinking workspace

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MENTAL MODEL · M6719

NASA Task Load Index / NASA-TLX

NASA Task Load Index / NASA-TLX
Learn & MetacognitionHigh supportCognitive Science
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Updated 2026-08-09

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INTRODUCTION

English translation pending.

CORE DEFINITION

The NASA Task Load Index is a subjective workload assessment instrument. It rates a task on six dimensions: mental demand, the amount of thinking and decision making required; physical demand, the bodily effort involved; temporal demand, the time pressure felt; performance, the respondent's rating of their own success; effort, how hard they had to work; and frustration, the level of stress and annoyance experienced. Each dimension is rated on a scale, and a weighting procedure based on pairwise comparisons of which dimension contributed most produces a combined score. It measures perceived rather than physiological load.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

- Use dimension rating: score each of the six dimensions separately instead of giving one overall difficulty rating. - Use weighting: run the pairwise comparisons so the dimensions that mattered most carry more weight. - Use dimension targeting: redesign the task around whichever dimension scored highest.

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

Perceived workload is a composite that cannot be captured by a single rating, because two tasks can feel equally hard for entirely different reasons. Separating the six dimensions makes the sources of load distinguishable, so a task that drains through time pressure calls for a different fix than one that drains through mental demand. The weighting step stops the combined score from treating all sources as equivalent. Repeated measurement across tasks or designs then shows where the difference lies.

MINIMUM ACTION

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Source support: Explicit

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    en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA-TLXZH · Explicit
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