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 instructional design should minimize extraneous load to facilitate learning. Extraneous load is generated by the way information is presented, not by the inherent complexity of the material itself. For instance, a poorly designed diagram that requires students to search for corresponding labels can increase extraneous load, thereby hindering schema acquisition. Conversely, intrinsic load is tied to the difficulty of the subject matter and cannot be altered by instructional methods. Effective teaching strategies aim to manage intrinsic load while reducing extraneous load, often by integrating visual and verbal information or providing worked examples. This theory has profound implications for multimedia learning environments, where the split-attention effect can overwhelm learners if not carefully addressed.