Why Your Brain Feels Overloaded (And How to Fix It)
Have you ever walked into a room, with the intention of grabbing something only to completely forget why you’re there? Or tried learning something new, only to feel mentally drained before you even start? That’s not just forgetfulness or fatigue - it’s cognitive overload and understanding why it happens can change the way you learn, work, and retain information.
At the core of this is Cognitive Load Theory (CLT), a psychological framework that explains how our brains process and store information. First developed by John Sweller in the 1980s, CLT is based on a simple yet powerful idea: our working memory has limits to its capacity. Overload it, and learning becomes difficult or in some cases impossible. But optimising for cognitive load theory can result in you taking in complex ideas without feeling overwhelmed.
Understanding Cognitive Load Theory
To help understand Cognitive Load Theory you can think of your brain as whiteboard or chalkboard. On the whiteboard you can write down a few ideas, wipe them off when no longer needed, and replace them with fresh new ideas. However, if you try to write too much on the whiteboard, it becomes cluttered, messy, unreadable, and ultimately useless because you cannot differentiate between any ideas.
That is how your working memory operates. Your working memory is only capable of holding approximately 5-7 pieces of new information at once, and after that, things start to become very difficult.
The Three Types of Cognitive Load
Sweller identified three different types of cognitive load:
1. Intrinsic Load – This is the natural difficulty of the task at hand. Learning to tie your shoes? Low intrinsic load. Learning quantum physics? High intrinsic load. Some topics are inherently more complicated than others but breaking them into steps can aid in managing the cognitive burden that is placed on your brain.
2. Extraneous Load – This is the mental effort wasted on distractions or poor instructional design. For example, if you’re trying to learn a new piece of software and the tutorial is full of jargon, confusing steps, and unnecessary animations, your brain spends energy deciphering the mess rather than actually learning the key information. Good design and clear communication help reduce extraneous load.
3. Germane Load – This is the productive mental effort that actually leads to learning. When your brain is making sense of new ideas, connecting them to what you already know, and storing them in long-term memory, that’s germane load in action. The goal is to maximise this type of load while minimising unnecessary distractions (extraneous load).
Why Cognitive Overload Happens
Cognitive overload occurs when your intrinsic and extraneous load exceed the capacity of your working memory. This is why you may struggle to focus in a noisy or busy environment such as a coffee shop, why cramming for exams rarely works, and why slide presentations with lots of text make presentations tough to sit through. When your working memory is at capacity, new information just doesn’t get retained, it doesn’t stick.
This is also why multitasking is a myth. Despite the common perception that multitasking is possible, neuroscience research has shown us that your brain is not good at juggling multiple tasks and when we believe we are multitasking, our brain is instead actually switching rapidly between the tasks. This rapid switching between tasks significantly increases extraneous load, resulting in each task being harder to complete.
Practical Tips for Reducing Cognitive Load
Managing your cognitive load isn’t about avoiding effort it is about directing your energy to where it counts while minimising distractions. Here are some tips to help you reduce your cognitive load:
⁃ Break Information into Chunks – Instead of overwhelming your brain with an entire process at once, break it into bite-sized pieces. This is why phone numbers are grouped into sets of digits, i.e. 0123 456 789, as they are much easier to remember like this than as one long number, i.e. 0123456789.
⁃ Eliminate Unnecessary Distractions – Background noise, cluttered study spaces, and poorly designed materials all contribute to extraneous load. Reduce distractions and simplify materials where you can.
⁃ Use Visual Aids Wisely – Diagrams, graphs, and images can all enhance learning by offloading some of the work from verbal memory to visual memory. However, overloading a slide with text and images can backfire. Make sure you select which visual aids you are using very wisely.
⁃ Work With, Not Against, Your Brain – Your brain naturally looks for patterns and connections. Instead of rote memorisation, try analogies, storytelling, or linking new information to things you already know. This strengthens long-term memory formation and the linking of information to connections already within the brain helps to reduce cognitive load.
⁃ Give Your Brain Time to Rest – Have you ever noticed how stepping away from a problem suddenly makes the solution clear? That’s because cognitive load decreases when you stop actively focusing. Ensure you get adequate sleep and make sure you take breaks to allow your brain to consolidate the information. This is commonly referred to as ‘clearing your head’ - giving time to allow your brain to process information and thoughts out of your short-term working memory.
Conclusion: Applying Cognitive Load Theory in Everyday Life
Cognitive Load Theory isn’t just an academic concept, it is something that impacts all aspects of learning, decision-making, and productivity. If you’ve ever felt mentally drained before you even start a task, chances are you were experiencing cognitive overload. Fortunately, by structuring information in a way that aligns with how our brains actually work, we can learn more effectively, think more clearly, and avoid that feeling that our brains are at capacity.
Next time you’re struggling to retain new information, remember: it’s not that your brain isn’t capable, you just need to create the optimal environment for your brain to function to its full potential.
