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 reduce extraneous cognitive load, allowing learners to focus on essential information. Extraneous load is often caused by poorly designed presentations, such as redundant text and diagrams, which can overwhelm the learner's limited working memory capacity. Conversely, intrinsic load is inherent to the complexity of the subject matter itself and cannot be altered by instructional design. Germane load, however, is the effort devoted to processing and understanding the material, which contributes to learning. Effective instructional strategies, such as using worked examples and eliminating split-attention effects, aim to optimize the balance among these types of load, thereby enhancing knowledge acquisition and problem-solving skills.