What is Cognitive Load and How to Manage it?

Cognitive load is the effort your brain puts into everything you do—solving a problem, learning something new, or handling a busy day. It’s how hard your mind works to keep up, and when it feels stretched, you might notice it’s more challenging to focus, remember, or get things done. Fortunately, it’s possible to effectively manage cognitive load so you can think clearly and improve your performance. 

In this article, we’ll explain what cognitive load is, what it looks like in various settings, and share some powerful ways to manage it so you can thrive.

What Is Cognitive Load? 

Cognitive load is the brain effort required to process information—and when it gets too high, your brain slows down, mistakes increase, and decision-making suffers. Cognitive load theory explains how to manage this load. Let’s take a look at how it works.

What’s Happening in Your Brain?

Think of your brain as a desk—you can only fit so much on it before it gets cluttered. If there are just a few well-organized items, you can work efficiently. But if papers are stacked everywhere and distractions keep piling up, it’s hard to focus and get things done.

Your working memory—the mental space where you process information—has a limit. Studies show it can only hold about 5-9 pieces of information at once. If too much is thrown at it, your brain slows down, struggles to retain information, and starts making errors.

The Neuroscience of Cognitive Load

Your brain runs this effort through the prefrontal cortex—think of it as the command center that handles focus, decisions, and problem-solving. When your cognitive load is light, this area keeps everything steady, like a calm captain steering a ship. But when it’s heavy, it starts to strain, making it harder to concentrate or decide. 

Another part, the hippocampus, helps save what you learn for later—like turning a new recipe into a habit—but if the load is too much, stress hormones like cortisol can throw it off, fogging your memory and thinking. Your brain is built to juggle, but it needs balance to stay sharp.

What Is Cognitive Load Theory? The Science of Mental Balance

Cognitive load theory (CLT) is a psychological framework that explains how the brain processes and retains information. It builds on the understanding that working memory has a limited capacity, and learning is most effective when unnecessary distractions (extraneous load) are minimized, task difficulty (intrinsic load) is managed, and mental effort is directed toward meaningful understanding (germane load).

What Are the 3 Types of Cognitive Load?

Your brain effort comes in three cognitive load types—understanding them gives you the upper hand.

Intrinsic Cognitive Load: The Task’s Built-In Challenge

Intrinsic load is how hard a task naturally is, based on its complexity and your experience. Learning to cook a new dish feels tough if you’re new—ingredients, steps, and timing fill your table. If you’ve cooked before, it’s easier. Tasks with many parts—like planning a big holiday dinner—raise this load because your brain works to piece them together.

Extraneous Load: Extra Effort That Slows You Down

Extraneous load is any unnecessary effort—all the hurdles you don’t need and get in your way of achieving a goal. For example, following a recipe with tiny print wastes energy, and trying to study with loud noises pulls your focus away. These distractions tire your brain out, leaving less room for what matters.

Germane Load: The Effort That Strengthens You

Germane load is the effort that pays off. For instance, practicing guitar until a chord sticks or planning a day so it flows—both help you build up skills. It allows your hippocampus to connect this practice to what you already know, storing it in long-term memory. To make the best of this load, you must ensure the other types don’t overwhelm it.

Examples of Cognitive Load 

Cognitive load impacts focus, learning, and performance across all areas of life. 

Here are some real-world examples of high cognitive load in everyday life:

• A driver navigating unfamiliar roads while listening to GPS instructions and watching traffic signs might struggle to react quickly.
• A parent trying to multitask between cooking, answering emails, and helping with homework might feel mentally drained.
• A person learning a new language while following complex grammar rules and vocabulary could find it difficult to retain information.

Cognitive load also affects our thinking, learning, and performance under pressure. 

Here are some examples of how cognitive load impacts your career and learning:

• Athletes—Reacting Under Pressure: Athletes must process multiple inputs at once—reading an opponent’s movement, tracking teammates, anticipating plays, and making split-second decisions. If the cognitive load is too high, it can lead to slower reactions, poor decision-making, and mental fatigue during competition.
• Students—Overcoming Information Overload: Learning new material requires working memory to process and store information. When too much is presented at once, the brain struggles to retain and recall key details. 
• Professionals—Handling Workplace Overload: Business professionals often juggle multiple deadlines, meetings, and emails at once. A high cognitive load can cause mental fatigue, slower thinking, and decreased productivity. 

• First Responders—Making Split-Second Decisions in High-Stress Situations: For first responders, cognitive overload can be life-threatening. Firefighters, paramedics, and law enforcement officers must process multiple pieces of information in real time while staying calm and decisive.

A high cognitive load isn’t necessarily a distractor. The main factor here is whether you operate in a germane load or if the complexity and distractions push you into overload. When you shift into overload, the situation could become too challenging to handle.

High Cognitive Load vs. Cognitive Overload

A high cognitive load means your brain is working hard, but it’s still managing to keep up. 

Here are factors that can cause high cognitive load:

• Conducting complex tasks with no prior knowledge. For example, a student who is trying to speak a different language without a basic understanding of its grammar. 
• Multitasking or information overload, as might happen when a business executive tries to handle multiple deadlines at once.
• High-pressure environments, such as when a basketball player takes a game-winning shot under intense stress.

A high cognitive load is challenging, but it can still lead to learning and growth. Cognitive overload, on the other hand, means the brain can’t process all the information at once. It can lead to:

• Slower decision-making and increased mistakes.
• Mental fatigue, stress, and forgetfulness.
• Reduced ability to recall and apply information.

Examples of Cognitive Overload

• An athlete freezes during a game because they are trying to remember too many coaching instructions at once.
• A student forgets test answers after cramming too much information the night before.
• A firefighter hesitates during an emergency due to overwhelming, conflicting information from multiple sources.

When cognitive overload happens, performance suffers. Fortunately, learning to manage cognitive load can help prevent these issues, ensuring you remain within your capacity for high load where you thrive without going into overload.

How to Manage Cognitive Load

Managing cognitive load involves training your brain to process information efficiently while minimizing unnecessary strain. When you organize tasks properly, reduce distractions, and build mental endurance, you can think more clearly, learn faster, and perform better under pressure.

Here’s how to optimize cognitive load and improve brain performance:

• Break tasks into smaller steps: Trying to process too much at once can overwhelm your brain. Breaking highly complex tasks into smaller, more manageable steps makes it easier to absorb information and retain focus.
• Limit distractions: Your brain works best when it’s focused on one task at a time. Reduce background noise, silence notifications, and create a structured environment to minimize mental clutter and improve concentration.
• Space out learning over time: Instead of cramming information into your brain, use spaced repetition to reinforce information gradually. It helps strengthen your memory and improves recall under pressure.
• Take short breaks: Mental fatigue builds up when your brain is constantly working. Short, intentional breaks allow your working memory to reset, enhancing focus and long-term retention.
• Present information clearly: Dense text, unclear instructions, or cluttered presentations increase cognitive load. Using bullet points, visuals, and well-organized content makes information easier to process and recall.
• Train daily and consistently: Join a cognitive training program like Mastermind Cognitive Training to target and improve executive function skills such as memory, focus, and decision-making. It’ll help optimize your cognitive load and strengthen working memory, attention control, and processing speed.
• Practice until it becomes instinctive: Repeating key skills in structured drills or real-world simulations helps your brain automate responses, reducing the effort required to perform under pressure.

Training your brain to handle cognitive load more efficiently can help you stay sharp, learn faster, and perform at your best without feeling overwhelmed.

Conclusion

Cognitive load drives how you learn, work, and shine. Master it, and you unlock quicker reactions, deeper recall, and smoother days. So, next time your brain’s table groans, try our strategies to manage cognitive load—because you’re wired for much more than you know. 

Want to assess your cognitive load and manage it effectively? Mastermind’s cognitive training program turns this know-how into results, personalized for specific needs. It helps many people worldwide, including athletes, seniors, professionals, students, and emergency responders, optimize their load in an engaging and science-backed way.

Ready to boost your cognitive skills? Sign up for a free 7-day trial or schedule a demo.