📄 21 — Cognitive Load Theory
Definition
Human working memory has limited capacity; overload reduces performance and clarity.
When to Use
• UI/UX design • Learning and teaching • Documentation • Workflow design • Decision‑making under pressure
How It Improves Reasoning
It forces you to simplify, structure, and sequence information so the brain can process it efficiently.
Steps
- Identify sources of cognitive load.
- Reduce extraneous load (noise, clutter, irrelevant details).
- Optimize intrinsic load (complexity of the task).
- Add scaffolding to support learning or decision‑making.
Example
A dashboard with 40 KPIs overwhelms users; grouping them into 5 categories reduces load.
Prompts
• “Reduce cognitive load in this workflow.” • “Simplify this explanation without losing meaning.”