Cognitive load

The idea comes from cognitive load theory, which aims to build instructional design guidelines on a model of human cognitive architecture [2]. That model assumes a limited working memory and an unlimited long-term memory that holds knowledge as schemas [2].

The theory separates three types of load [1]. Intrinsic load comes from the essential parts of a task and depends on how complex the task is and how expert the learner is [1][2]. Extraneous load comes from non-essential parts that do not directly help learning [1][2]. Germane load comes from the deliberate use of strategies that help learning [1].

Teaching methods built on the theory aim to cut extraneous load, for example with worked examples, and to manage intrinsic load, for example by ordering tasks from simple to complex [1][2]. The best method depends on the learner. Techniques that help beginners may not help, and may even interfere with learning, in more advanced learners, which is called the expertise-reversal effect [1]. The theory has been applied to medical education, where many tasks require integrating several kinds of knowledge, skills and behaviors at once [1].

Cognitive load is not a graded outcome on NootropicsWork, and the sources above come from teaching research, not supplement trials. When a supplement trial uses the phrase, check what it means there.

That matters when you read a result. If a trial ran easier and harder versions of a task and found a difference on only one, that is a narrower finding than a general change in thinking, and it should be read with the number of task versions tested in mind.

Two trials that both say they measured working memory may have used tasks of very different difficulty, so check the task before comparing their results.

Working memory, mental fatigue and executive function.