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MIXORA CONCEPT

Cognitive load

The demand a task places on limited mental processing and working-memory resources.

thoughtbridgeModerate evidence
IN PLAIN LANGUAGE

Complexity from the material itself cannot always be removed, but unnecessary navigation, jargon and simultaneous choices can be reduced. Good interfaces make structure visible.

What “Moderate evidence” means

The pattern has meaningful research support, but its size or reliability depends more strongly on context, population, measurement or competing explanations.

Marker-board illustration created specifically to explain Cognitive load: The demand a task places on limited mental processing and working-memory resources.VISUAL EXPLANATION · MARKER BOARD
The demand a task places on limited mental processing and working-memory resources.
EXAMPLE

Splitting a paint workflow into target, palette, ratio and verification steps is easier than presenting every control at once.

COMMON CONFUSION

Making a task easier to navigate does not require removing its important difficulty.

ASK YOURSELF

Which mental effort serves learning, and which effort comes only from presentation?

RELATED CONCEPTS
thought × bridgeWorking memory

A limited system for temporarily holding and manipulating information needed for an ongoing task.

thought × bridgeAttention

Selective prioritization of some information for processing or action.

thoughtHeuristic

A simplifying strategy or rule of thumb used to make judgments or solve problems efficiently.

References

Last reviewed

  1. 01
    Working Memory

    Alan Baddeley · 1992 · Science

    Working memory as temporary storage and manipulation supporting comprehension, learning and reasoning.
    Academic source
What the source labels mean
Primary source
Original work, experiment, standard or historical text.
Academic source
Scholarly research or review published for an academic audience.
Reference source
An expert standard, encyclopedia or institutional explanation that summarizes a field.
General reference
A practical specialist resource useful for application, but not treated as decisive research by itself.