The concept of 'cognitive load' refers to the total amount of mental effort being used in the working memory. In educational psychology, cognitive load theory suggests that learning is most effective when instructional materials are designed to minimize extraneous cognitive load, allowing learners to focus on intrinsic and germane loads. Intrinsic load is inherent to the complexity of the material, while germane load relates to the processes of schema construction and automation. Extraneous load, however, is imposed by poor instructional design, such as redundant information or confusing layouts. Research has shown that reducing extraneous load can significantly improve learning outcomes, particularly for novices who lack prior knowledge to compensate for inefficient materials. Conversely, experts may benefit from some degree of desirable difficulty. Therefore, instructional designers must tailor the presentation of information to the learner's level of expertise.