Understanding and articulating cognitive load
High-quality user experience (UX) has become a critical competitive factor for product development in today’s digital space, with a broader goal of human attention and retention.
The most pleasant user experience is the one that the user doesn’t notice or have to think about too much.
Interfaces should be designed in a manner that information flows easily into the users focus without inundating them.
There are thousands of ideas, concepts, and decisions made to provide that effortless user flow, and cognitive load is one such factor to keep in mind. If users get stuck on the question “What’s next?”, then it’s probably not the best user flow.
What is Cognitive Load?
Cognitive Load is defined as “The amount of mental resource required to operate a system.” It is responsible for how easy-to-navigate and discoverable the content is for the users.
When there is a cognitive overload, i.e. having to process information more than our ability, the decision-making process becomes slower, which is significantly unfavourable to product and business.
Studies on Cognitive Load
The Cognitive Load Theory was introduced first when John Sweller, an educational psychologist, published a research paper “Cognitive Load Theory, Learning Difficulty, and Instructional Design” in 1988. His work focuses on best methods and conditions for students to retain the information. What designers could potentially find valuable are his insights on the limitations of a person’s working memory.
Additionally, here is a research paper titled “UX Heatmaps: Mapping User Experience on Visual Interfaces” that presents a UX evaluation tool that contextualizes users’ physiological and behavioural signals while interacting with a system.
The researchers use UX heatmaps to show where users were looking on the interface when they experienced different cognitive load levels and emotional states. It provides researchers and practitioners with a useful tool to contextualize users’ reactions and what are the upper and lower bounds of human attention.
A good way out
Here are a few of the many methods that could be incorporated to reduce cognitive overload:
1. Progressive Disclosure:
Progressive disclosure is an interaction design pattern in which the content is sequenced over several screens to prevent information overload for the user.
2. Meaningful UX Writing:
UX writing is essentially writing and crafting microcopy for products, with a primary goal to help and guide the user to navigate through.
3. Chunking and Categorization:
Chunking is basically breaking down information into smaller units of information, which makes it easier to process and remember information.
Amazon makes use of different techniques to reduce overload, offering a great user experience. It actively involves chunking, concise and clear microcopy, easy navigation, categorization, thus giving a sense of guidance to its users.
Remember, the minimum cognitive load means maximum usability!
The Canvs Editorial team comprises of: Editorial Writer and Researcher- Paridhi Agrawal, the Editor’s Desk- Aalhad Joshi and Debprotim Roy, and Content Operations- Abin Rajan
Follow Canvs on Instagram and LinkedIn. Don’t forget to follow us here on Medium as well for more design-related content.
