Cognitive load
Cognitive Load
Cognitive load describes demands placed on limited working-memory resources while a person learns or performs a task.
Psychology, behavioral science, perception, human computer interaction, and usability principles explained for working designers.
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Cognitive load
Cognitive load describes demands placed on limited working-memory resources while a person learns or performs a task.
Gestalt
Elements placed nearer one another tend to be perceived as related, especially when the spacing pattern is consistent and other cues do not override it.
Attention
An item that differs from otherwise similar surrounding items is often more likely to be noticed or remembered.
Interaction
Rapid, meaningful system feedback helps sustain an interactive rhythm; the often-cited 400 ms value is historical guidance, not a universal boundary.
Interaction
Every meaningful action should produce timely, perceivable feedback that accurately communicates the resulting system state.
Gestalt
Elements enclosed by the same visible boundary tend to be perceived as a group, even when other grouping cues compete.
Gestalt
Elements joined by a visible continuous connection tend to be perceived as one unit or as more strongly related than unconnected elements.
Usability
Outcomes are often unevenly distributed, so a minority of causes, tasks, or defects may account for a large share of observed impact.
Attention
Attention prioritizes some available information for deeper processing while other visible or audible information receives less processing.
Memory
Working memory is a limited system for temporarily maintaining and manipulating information needed by the current task.
Attention
A salient or abrupt event can draw attention away from the current goal, with capture shaped by stimulus properties and the observer’s attentional set.
Attention
Substantial changes can go unnoticed when they occur during a visual interruption, across views, or outside focused attention.
Interaction
Direct manipulation lets people act on visible objects through incremental, rapid, and reversible operations with immediate feedback.
Cognitive load
Extraneous cognitive load is mental work caused by how information or a task is presented rather than by the relationships that must be learned.
Attention
People focused on a demanding task can fail to notice an unexpected, fully visible event outside their current attentional goal.
Cognitive load
Intrinsic cognitive load is the working-memory demand created by interacting elements that are inherent to what must be understood or performed.