The concept of 'cognitive load' refers to the total amount of mental effort being used in the working memory. In educational settings, cognitive load theory suggests that instructional design should minimize extraneous load to facilitate learning. Extraneous load is generated by the manner in which information is presented to learners, which can be either helpful or hindering. For instance, when a diagram is accompanied by redundant text that merely describes the same information, it can increase extraneous load, thereby impeding the learning process. Conversely, integrating visual and verbal information in a complementary way can reduce this load, allowing learners to allocate more cognitive resources to the essential processing of the material. Research has shown that novice learners benefit greatly from such integrated formats, whereas experts might not show the same advantage due to their existing schemas.