Cognitive Overload and Its Countermeasures from the Angle of Information Processing

The problems of cognitive overload have greatly influenced students' learning in multimedia and Web-based environment. The main technological factors of cognitive overload are analyzed as following: hypertext structure of information and multi-task, disturbance of unnecessary information, interaction of auditory and visual information. Cognitive theory of multimedia learning provides the theoretical basis of cognitive overload, and it suggests that there are three kinds of cognitive load during learners' information processing, which include cognitive load of essential processing, cognitive load of incidental processing and cognitive load of representational holding. Finally, several ways are put forward as the countermeasures to reduce the corresponding cognitive load.