Cognitive load represents the amount of mental effort used in the working memory, which is extremely limited in both capacity and duration.
Because information can only be stored in long-term memory after being processed by working memory, the way cognitive load is managed directly determines the success of the learning process.
The impact on learning depends on the interaction of three specific types of cognitive load:
1. Intrinsic Cognitive Load: The “Necessary” Effort
This load is the inherent level of difficulty associated with a specific topic (e.g., solving a differential equation versus simple addition).
• Impact on Learning: It is considered the “necessary” type of load.
While it cannot be altered by an instructor, it can be managed by breaking complex tasks into smaller “subschemas” to be taught in isolation.
• Risk: If the intrinsic load is too high for a learner’s current level of prior knowledge, it can lead to cognitive overload, causing the learner to misinterpret or fail to understand the content entirely.
2. Extraneous Cognitive Load: The “Harmful” Effort
This load is generated by the manner in which information is presented or the design of instructional materials.
• Impact on Learning: It is “bad” load because it consumes limited cognitive resources without contributing to learning or schema construction.
• Consequences: High extraneous load can be “fatal” to learning because it leaves insufficient working memory available to process the actual subject matter (intrinsic and germane load). Common causes include the split-attention effect (having to process multiple sources of information simultaneously) and the redundancy effect (being presented with unnecessary or repetitive information).
3. Germane Cognitive Load: The “Helpful” Effort
This refers to the working memory resources specifically dedicated to creating a permanent store of knowledge, known as a schema.
• Impact on Learning: It is the “good” type of load that directly facilitates the transfer of information into long-term memory.
• Relationship to Other Loads: Germane load is not independent; it is influenced by the other two types.
When extraneous load is reduced, a learner can redirect those freed-up resources toward germane load, thereby deepening their understanding and retention of the material.
Total Impact and Individual Differences
The total cognitive load is the sum of these three types. If this sum exceeds a learner’s working memory capacity, learning slows down, errors increase, and the ability to encode information into long-term memory is compromised.
The impact of these loads also varies significantly based on expertise:
• Novices: Lack existing schemas, meaning they experience higher cognitive load for the same task and benefit from fully guided instruction and worked examples to reduce extraneous load.
• Experts: Have complex schemas that allow them to “chunk” information, effectively bypassing working memory limits.
However, they may suffer from the expertise reversal effect, where instructional guidance that helps a novice actually becomes extraneous load for them, hindering their performance
