The Element Interactivity Effect

Abstract

As discussed in Chapter 5, total cognitive load, consisting of intrinsic and extraneous cognitive load, must not exceed working memory resources in order for learning to be effective. From this perspective, applying learning strategies aimed at reducing extraneous cognitive load is more important when intrinsic cognitive load is high. If intrinsic cognitive load is low, a high extraneous cognitive load may not inhibit learning because the total cognitive load may be well within the available working memory capacity. Thus, for instructional conditions with a low intrinsic cognitive load, optimising instructional design may not be as important as for situations with a high intrinsic cognitive load.