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 psychology, cognitive load theory suggests that learning is most effective when instructional materials are designed to minimize extraneous cognitive load, which is the load imposed by the way information is presented rather than by the complexity of the content itself. For instance, a poorly designed diagram that requires the learner to search for relevant labels can increase extraneous load, thereby hindering schema acquisition. Conversely, intrinsic cognitive load, which is inherent to the material's difficulty, cannot be altered by instructional design. Therefore, educators must carefully distinguish between these types of load to optimize learning outcomes. Recent studies have shown that reducing extraneous load through techniques such as the worked-example effect can significantly improve problem-solving performance, especially for novice learners.