雅思阅读

📖 Reading Passage

The concept of 'cognitive load' refers to the total amount of mental effort being used in the working memory. In educational settings, reducing extraneous cognitive load is crucial for effective learning. Extraneous load is caused by the way information is presented to learners, rather than by the inherent complexity of the material itself. For instance, a poorly designed diagram that requires excessive searching for labels can impose unnecessary load. Conversely, intrinsic load is linked to the difficulty of the subject matter and cannot be altered by instructional design. Therefore, educators often aim to manage cognitive load by simplifying presentations and using worked examples, which allow learners to focus on the essential processes. Research suggests that when extraneous load is minimized, learners have more mental capacity to engage in deeper processing, leading to better retention and transfer of knowledge.