Growing up, we've probably heard idioms like "an elephant never forgets" to describe someone who remembers easily and for a long time, and "goldfish memory" to describe the exact opposite. It turns out there's actually a psychological explanation behind this.
Australian psychologist John Sweller offers a clear framework known as Cognitive Load Theory (CLT), which explores the limitations and potential of our working and long-term memory. Simply put, when your working memory becomes overloaded, it becomes harder to remember and retain what you’ve learned. Let's review this article to explore CLT further.
✏️ Cognitive Load Theory Key Takeaways
- There are 3 types of cognitive load: intrinsic, extraneous, and germane
- Some factors affecting our working memory include massive information, distractions, and no prior information.
- Some strategies to reduce cognitive load include reducing distractions and doing retrieval exercises.
- Students can have the best learning experience by adapting several CLT solutions while they're studying.
🔍 The Three Types of Cognitive Load
Cognitive load 1 basically refers to how much mental load your brain is using to process new information, especially in the context of working memory. Identifying different types of cognitive load helps us to know how to prioritise and strategise our teaching and studying methods.
Load
The natural difficulty level of something you want to learn
✔️Manage it
The extra effort to learn something which are not helpful
✔️Minimise it
The type of effort that contributes to learning
✔️Maximise it
Let's look at some direct examples of these three types of cognitive loads in our everyday lives as students.
🧱 Intrinsic Load
During the learning process, what educators or students will do is identify the intrinsic load of different topics and adjust the difficulty level according to their learning goals and pace.
Example: Learning about the complete colours of a rainbow poses a low intrinsic load for most elementary school students, but learning about the order of the eight planets of the solar system poses a higher intrinsic load for them. This is where different memorisation strategies, like mnemonic devices or spaced repetition, come in to simplify and memorise them effectively.
⚠️ Extraneous Load
This is when students have to spend extra mental effort to learn something due to poorly structured lessons, disorganised learning materials, and when the main focus of the lesson is overshadowed by other minor distractions.
Example: If your tutorial slides have irrelevant graphics or information, or notes that are not organised under the same category, your brain will spend more time processing and organising everything unnecessarily. That's why it's crucial to have learning notes that are concise with actual visual aids that are relevant.
✨ Germane Load
Germaine load, on the other hand, refers to good brain effort to make learning effective. It is when ideas are lined up and well connected to help your brain make sense of what you are learning, and eventually it makes your learning process more active, deeper and memorable.
Example: Students could come out with a table to review the similarities between personality tests, like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) or Big Five, where they practice self-explanation and connecting the dots through mind maps to gauge their level of comprehension.
🧠Working Memory Limits and Learning
Two core concepts that you'll learn in cognitive load theory are working memory and long-term memory. In the world of psychology, these two concepts help us to break down how our brain stores new information and how long it can store the information.
🧠Working memory
- Small information stored
- Store for a very short duration (seconds to minutes)
- Store information as chunks
- Easily overloaded by complex, messy information
- Example: Memorising a friend's wedding date by you were just invited
- Requires active information processing
🧠Long-term memory
- Large information stored
- Store for a longer/semi-permanent duration
- Store information as schemas
- Helps to store well-organised information
- Example: Remembering your parents' wedding anniversary from memory
- Facilitates memory retrieval naturally
As you look at the key characteristics of both memory systems, you'll realise the limitations of working memory. With working memory, you can remember new things for a short period of time.
Active and effective learning can only take place when new information that is processed in your working memory is eventually stored in your long-term memory.
For example, if you are aiming to master a new psychology concept like metacognition, you'll want to remember its significance and its connection in an organised manner for a very long time.
You must be able to define what the concept is, and explain it with simple real-life examples at any time (long-term memory) to prove that you really have learnt it, instead of just saying it out like a full flat sentence one time. Here are some factors that could cause overload to our working memory:
- Assessing something absolutely new or something of a higher learning level
- Assessing too much information at one go
- Distractions (physical cluttering of space or messy information)
When your working memory is constantly overloaded with extraneous load, there is a high chance that you might not fully understand the new knowledge that is taught, as it cannot be processed and encoded properly before it's being stored in long-term memory.
This will eventually slow down the learning process. That's because you'll have to repeat it until you understand it.
Not only that, the working memory cannot take in new information due to its limited capacity, so you'll have to keep your cognitive load manageable.
đź’ˇ Strategies to Reduce Cognitive Load While Studying
Let's look at some of the common study situations that students face when there is a problem of different cognitive loads, and the solutions that you can apply to them.
| Examples of study situations | Cognitive load/ memory system issue | Why It Happens |
|---|---|---|
| Studying with background noise or talking to friends | Extraneous load | Your working memory is competing for attention and reduces your ability focus |
| Studying a complex psychology theory | High intrinsic load | The new theory has many sub-branches and concepts that are different from your current comprehension |
| Studying a very long, densed lecturing slide | Extraneous load | The learning material has too many words, steps or unnnecessary visual aids |
| Cramming all 10 psychology topics before your final exams | Overloaded working memorry | Your working memory is flooded with new information repeatedly |
| Memorising theory definitions but cannot apply and expand them in past year papers | Low germane load | The new information is not stored in your long term memiory, lack of scheme integration |
Depending on different situations, you can apply several targeted strategies using the principles of cognitive load theory. To reduce intrinsic load while studying, you can simplify your learning materials by:
Next, it is also important to reduce extraneous load while you're studying to maximise your germanous load for efficient learning and memory retention.
To optimise learning, it is essential to increase germane load. This can be best achieved by strengthening and linking ideas, as well as engaging in active recall and retrieval practice. For example, if you are studying Newton's Laws of Motion for Physics, you can connect the ideas between the three laws to understand the relationships between the concepts of inertia, force, as well as action and reaction.
Here's a summary insight of how to make the best out of your understanding of cognitive load theory, regardless of your learning levels and learning subjects:
- When studying feels hard, SIMPLIFY → Manage intrinsic load
- When studying feels messy, CLARIFY → Minimise extraneous load
- When studying feels shallow, APPLY → Maximise germane load
🚀 Practical Tips and Systematic Revision for Students
Now that you have explored the concepts and working mechanism of cognitive load theory, it's time to look at practical ways to apply it in your day-to-day setting as a student 2.
These tips don't have to be extensive; you can go through these recommendations and pick the ones that are aligned with your current season. For instance, studying for a GCSE paper would be different from studying for a postgraduate degree in cognitive science and learning. Let's review these three core steps to have an effective and enjoyable revision session:
Step 1
Plan your revision around weightage and difficulty level
Step 2
Manage your brain health for optimum memory with good habits like exercising and sleeping well
Step 3
Apply the interleaving method to strengthen learning during studying sessions
First and foremost, planning your revision involves a series of actions, such as time management, simplification of learning materials, and aligning them with the weightage and difficulty level of the tasks. Distribute your revision time allocation based on these:
Personal difficulty
- If intrinsic load is high, reduce extraneous load
- Focus more on germaneous load
Learning priority
- Spend more time on important topics (which have a high mark allocation, for instance)
Secondly, you'll need good lifestyle habits to ensure that your working memory and long-term memory are at their best capacity. This includes eating nutritious food (well-balanced meals) and also having adequate sleep hours. School-age kids need at least 9 to 12 hours, while college students need at least 7 to 9 hours of sleep every day.
Finally, let's talk about interleaving. Interleaving is a studying technique where students mix different but related topics during revision, instead of focusing on one specific topic at a time (blocking). How does it help students in the context of cognitive load theory? 3
When you study related topics together, it boosts germane load by connecting the similarities between the topics, which helps you to actively recall what you have learnt. You wouldn't feel too overwhelmed even though you are studying two or multiple topics together, because you can remember and retain this information better and longer. This, in turn, could lower the intrinsic load of the topic that you are studying, making the whole process more flexible and enjoyable.
🎓 Master Psychology Concepts with Superprof
There you have it. An overview of Sweller's Cognitive Load Theory and its significance for learning, as well as how to apply it as a student. If you wish to learn more about this theory and other psychology concepts, you can always find an experienced psychology tutor on Superprof.
Whether you are looking for private psychology tuition for AQA A-Level, undergraduate research projects or even postgraduate guidance, Superprof has the right tutors for you. On each tutor's profile, you can learn about their background, teaching methodology, hourly rate, response rate, and the number of students before deciding. Once you have reviewed the information, you can book your first lesson via the messaging feature. All the best in your learning journey!
Without an understanding of human cognitive architecture, instruction is blind.
John Sweller
References
- Howley-Rouse, A. (2024, August 23). An introduction to cognitive load theory. THE EDUCATION HUB. https://theeducationhub.org.nz/an-introduction-to-cognitive-load-theory/
- Shibli, D., & West, R. (2024, November 7). Cognitive Load Theory and its application in the classroom : My College. My College. https://my.chartered.college/early-career-hub/cognitive-load-theory-and-its-application-in-the-classroom/
- Perry, T., Lea, R., Jørgensen, C. R., University of Birmingham, Cordingley, P., Shapiro, K., Youdell, D., CUREE, Education Endowment Foundation, Kay, J., Madgwick, H., Bevan, R., Coe, R., Dumontheil, I., Fancourt, A., Fernández-Espejo, D., Harrington, J., Kaiser, N., Stow, M., . . . Francis, B. (2021). Cognitive science approaches in the classroom: a review of the evidence.
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