The concept of 'cognitive load' refers to the total amount of mental effort being used in the working memory. In educational psychology, it is often divided into three types: intrinsic, extraneous, and germane load. Intrinsic load is associated with the inherent difficulty of the material itself, while extraneous load is generated by the way information is presented to the learner. Germane load, on the other hand, is the effort devoted to processing and constructing schemas, which facilitates learning. Research suggests that instructional design should aim to reduce extraneous load while optimizing germane load, as excessive extraneous load can hinder the learning process, especially for novices who lack prior knowledge to compensate for poorly designed materials.