What Is Cognitive Load? A Simple Guide for Parents and Learners

If you've ever felt like your brain is too full to take in one more thing—whether during a maths lesson, listening to a warp-speed answer to your question in a foreign language, or while revising for a test—then you've experienced cognitive load.

Put simply, cognitive load is the amount of mental effort being used in the moment. Understanding this concept helps us support children (and ourselves) to learn more effectively.

Why Does It Matter?

When someone is learning something new, their brain is working hard to process and store information. But there’s a limit to how much our working memory—the mental space we use for short-term thinking—can hold at once. If that space becomes overloaded, learning becomes harder, and mistakes are more likely.

This is especially important in subjects like writing, maths, languages, and science, where learners have to juggle multiple skills at the same time.

Where Did the Idea Come From?

The term Cognitive Load Theory was introduced by Professor John Sweller in the 1980s. His research showed that when we overload working memory, learning slows down. Teachers and tutors now use this theory to design lessons that are clearer, better structured, and easier to follow.

Three Types of Cognitive Load – Made Simple

1. Task Difficulty

(Educational term: Intrinsic Load) 

This refers to how naturally challenging a task is. Some topics simply require more brainpower. For example, writing a full story is more demanding than copying a sentence.

Think of it as: "How hard is the thing itself?"

2. Distractions and Confusion

(Educational term: Extraneous Load) 

This is the unnecessary effort caused by confusing instructions, noisy environments, or poorly designed resources. It’s not the task itself that’s difficult—it's everything getting in the way.

Think of it as: "What’s making this harder than it needs to be?"

3. Productive Effort

(Educational term: Germane Load) 

This is the useful brainwork that helps learning stick—like connecting new ideas, practising a skill, or reflecting on what you’ve just done. It’s the kind of effort we want to encourage.

Think of it as: "What’s helping the learning happen?"

What Helps Reduce Cognitive Overload?

• Clear instructions

• Breaking work into steps

• Removing distractions

• Practising small skills before combining them

• Encouraging regular review and reflection

These techniques help free up mental space so learners can concentrate on what really matters.

In Everyday Terms

Think of it like cooking a complicated recipe. If you’re trying to remember all the steps, read tiny text, and find missing ingredients at the same time, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. But if someone lays out everything clearly and supports you step by step, it becomes manageable—and even enjoyable.

Learning works in the same way.

Final Thought

Understanding cognitive load helps us become more patient, realistic, and effective—whether we’re learning ourselves or helping someone else. With the right support, the brain has more space to focus, absorb, and grow.

Written by a specialist language tutor with over 20 years of experience supporting learners in the UK, Hong Kong, and beyond. Helping learners of all ages become confident communicators—one step at a time.

You can read our most recent post about the benefits of tutoring here.

Cate is a qualified teacher with more than 20 years of experience teaching in schools and she has most recently dedicated her time to tutoring both online and face to face. Current and past students come from the New Forest, across the UK, Spain, Switzerland, France, Spain, Hong Kong and Australia. Cate has a waiting list for all hours outside of the UK school day but can often find space for those in other time zones (such as Hong Kong and Singapore, UAE, Malaysia) or adults who are able to have a lesson during the day.)