cognitive load

Intermediatezipf 3.98

Pronunciation

/ˈkɒɡnɪtɪv loʊd/(KOG-nih-tiv LOHD)

Part of speech

nounpsychology / education

Chinese

认知负荷

Definition

The total amount of mental effort being used in working memory at any given time — when cognitive load is too high, learning and performance suffer.

Word family

  • (compound term)

Collocations

  • reduce cognitive load
  • high cognitive load
  • cognitive load theory
  • intrinsic cognitive load
  • extraneous cognitive load
  • manage cognitive load

Examples

  1. 1.Poorly designed user interfaces increase cognitive load — when users must remember too many steps or decode unclear labels, they make errors and abandon tasks. (UX design principle)
  2. 2.Cognitive load theory explains why multimedia learning works: distributing information across visual and auditory channels reduces the load on any single channel. (educational application)

Synonyms

  • mental workload (the demand on mental resources)
  • information overload (too much information to process — related)

Etymology

"cognitive" from Latin "cognoscere" (to know) + "load" from Old English "lad" (way, course, carrying) — the carrying capacity of the mind