The first time I heard the phrase “cognitive overburden” was in 2011 or so, when Dr. Marilyn Freeman, then-DASA(R&T), introduced the 21 top Army S&T challenges. Because I was focused (perhaps hyper-focused) on my training system at the time, though I had never heard the phrase before, I instantly just “knew” that the answer to cognitive overburden was to train.

On and off for a few years, I would throw the phrase into my pitches, but it never really went anywhere. And I continued to know it was the answer without knowing (or, really, caring) why.

And then, one day, a well-meaning low level bureaucrat, upon listening to my pitch, looked at me and told me, with complete sincerity, that “the Army isn’t really interested in reducing cognitive load. We want to increase capacity. Do you have a way to make soldiers smarter?” I was a bit dumbfounded, but started researching and reading that day.

There really isn’t a lot written about cognitive load, certainly not using those terms. Mostly because it’s not something many people concern themselves with. Cognitive Load Theory is an educational design theory based on balancing intrinsic load (how difficult the material is) with extrinsic load (how the material is presented/designed) and germane load (effort expended by the student to understand). As a theory, it is boring and dry to read about, and complicated to implement.

There’s a lot of focus these days on UI (user interface) and UX (user experience) design, but these are both about maximizing enjoyment and increasing customer loyalty. Neither, even when used by educational companies, considers best education methods and balancing load.

Now, obviously, the Army does a lot of training, so cognitive load theory applies there. But does it apply anywhere else?

My contention is that it absolutely does. At the core of cognitive load theory is the understanding that learning is compromised when the sum of intrinsic, extraneous, and germane loads exceeds available working memory capacity. But it isn’t just learning that is compromised when working memory capacity (which I will address in detail at a later date) is exceeded; it’s all cognitive function. Everything a good soldier – a thinking soldier – does relies on cognitive function.

Given the amount of materiel all soldiers rely on to do their jobs, they are all, essentially, all systems-of-systems. And all of them can be overloaded, physically and mentally. Until all materiel solutions are designed with Cognitive Load Theory in mind, and an understanding that reducing extrinsic load of each one individually and of them all as a whole, soldiers will be in danger of shutting down mentally on the battlefield.