Phillip Bonton, IIIProfessor L. MargulieuxJan. 30th, 2018LT 8100 Sweller ReflectionPaper             Theallocation of working memory resources to deal with intrinsic cognitive load,concerned with the intrinsic complexity of information; extraneous cognitive load,concerned with the manner in which instruction is designed; and germanecognitive load, concerned with the acquisition of knowledge has been animportant facet of cognitive load theory for some time. The mechanismsunderlying extraneous and germane cognitive load have been specified in adifferential manner for each task to which they are applied but tend not to bespecified in unified theoretical terms and that omission is beginning to resultin some serious misunderstandings and contradictions concerning the relationsbetween the categories of cognitive load.

The following formulation is intendedto address such issues by providing a uniform foundation for the division ofcognitive load into categories.             Althoughlearning to solve simple algebra equations associated with the above problem islikely to be easier than learning the chemical symbols of the periodic tablebecause there are far fewer elements that need to be dealt with, the equationis much higher in element interactivity and so will impose a much higherintrinsic cognitive load. The intrinsic cognitive load, in turn, hasinstructional implications that differ from the implications that flow fromtask difficulty associated with the total number of elements, rather thanelement interactivity.             Nonoptimalinstructional procedures are referred to as imposing an extraneous cognitiveload. Cognitive load theory is primarily concerned with techniques designed toreduce extraneous cognitive load.

Many such techniques have been devised andcontinue to be devised. Although intrinsic cognitive load has used elementinteractivity as a common determiner of cognitive load irrespective of thenature of the information being dealt with, there has been little attempt toidentify a similar underlying cause of extraneous cognitive load. As aconsequence, although there is a reasonably clear pattern to the generation ofat least some of the identified cognitive load effects, each effect has tendedto be discussed in isolation from the other effects that have been identified. Eacheffect has been generated by and explained using cognitive load theory, butlittle attempt has been made to suggest that the various effects caused by anextraneous cognitive load might have a common underlying cause.             GermaneCognitive Load and Element Interactivity Germane cognitive load also can bespecified in terms of element interactivity, but the status of germanecognitive load differs from intrinsic and extraneous cognitive load.

Intrinsicand extraneous cognitive load are determined by a combination of material andlearner characteristics, but the emphasis is heavily on the characteristics ofthe material, in that working memory load will be determined entirely by levelsof element interactivity. In contrast to the emphasis by intrinsic andextraneous cognitive load on the characteristics of the material, germanecognitive load is concerned only with learner characteristics. Except throughits relation to the material via the interacting elements of intrinsiccognitive load, germane cognitive load is independent of the informationpresented.             Workingmemory resources that deal with intrinsic cognitive load are germane to thetask at hand and so are referred to as germane cognitive load.

Working memoryresources that deal with extraneous cognitive load are extraneous to the taskat hand but must be dealt with if the instructional procedures demand thoseresources. We know from countless experiments that we can detect changes intotal cognitive load when intrinsic, extraneous, or germane cognitive loadchange. If germane load can compensate for extraneous load, why does total loadchange? It should remain constant but does not.

Overall cognitive load isdetermined solely by an addition of intrinsic and extraneous cognitive load. Ifeither changes but the other remains constant, total cognitive load changes.             We can havecomplementarity between germane and extraneous cognitive load while totalcognitive load varies. Determining Cognitive Load The three categories ofcognitive load were introduced initially to explain otherwise inexplicableexperimental results.

             Theextraneous cognitive load effects discussed below are obtainable usinginformation that has a high intrinsic cognitive load but are reduced oreliminated when dealing with information that is low in intrinsic cognitiveload. This result is explained by assuming that if intrinsic cognitive load islow, sufficient working memory resources are available to deal with a higherextraneous cognitive load and so no extraneous cognitive load effects can bedemonstrated.             Withoutknowing the subject area or instructional design principles, the learner is notin a position to distinguish between those interacting elements due toextraneous or intrinsic cognitive load. Accordingly, attempts to independentlydistinguish between intrinsic and extraneous cognitive load using psychometricmeasures are likely to fail. The effects of these two categories of cognitiveload can be independently predicted by analyzing element interactivity for bothcategories prior to running an instructional experiment in which one of eitherintrinsic or extraneous cognitive load is kept constant while the other isvaried.             Working memory resources are used todeal with certain types of loads and the type of information that is processed.In this reflection, it is clear to see that cognitive theory only applies whenthe conditions are here and the effects is done by interacting withcommunicating with as he calls it “high intrinsic cognized load.”