Learning Things - Learn to Play: Designing Tutorials for Video Games - page 40

amount of load, as in processor load, on the human mind at any given
moment. Under this theory, the brain has a finite number of resources
that it can dedicate to extraneous, endogenous, and germane * load.
Extraneous load refers to distractions, interruptions, and atmospheric
concerns not related to the learning task, like bees swarming around
your head while you try to write a poem. Endogenous is relative to the
task because some things simply require more processing power than
others do. Doing integral calculus, for example, takes a significantly
larger amount of cognitive load than using the toilet due to its element
interactivity, which we previously discussed. Finally, germane load is
a “behind the scenes” type of brain activity that occurs as short-term
memory is being stored in long-term † memory. If the additive total of
these three types of load ever exceeds the player's maximum, he or she
will enter into a state called cognitive overload, ‡ which we describe
as being filled with blood-curdling rage and hurling the controller at
the nearest wall, pet, or loved one. If you think about it, it is theo-
retically similar to doing calculus in a library (high endogenous + low
extraneous), as it is to doing simple addition in a chainsaw factory
(low endogenous + high extraneous). We only have so many cognitive
resources available for allocation and if we use them all, we get frus-
trated and stop what we are doing unless our motivation § to continue
is extremely high. It is safe to say that if a person is a novice gamer, he
or she is not going to tolerate much frustration before quitting. After
all, games are supposed to be fun. ¶
Cognitive load, though, only refers to one part of what is currently
understood to comprise human memory. Specifically, cognitive load
theory tells us how the brain deals with our working memory, a com-
ponent of our fluid intelligence that deals with processing things.
There is another part of the memory, of course—our crystalline intel-
ligence, or long-term memory. Long-term memory is the holy grail of
* Sweller, J. et al. (1998). Cognitive architecture and instructional design. Educational
Psychology Review , 10(3).
† Baddeley, A. (1992). Working memory. Science , 31(255).
‡ Mayer, R. E. & Moreno, R. (2003). Nine ways to reduce cognitive load in multime-
dia learning. Educational Psychologist , 38(1).
§ Csikszentmihayli, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience . New York:
Harper & Row.
¶ Duh!