Mayer & Moreno Reading

Cognitive overload. It's an interesting concept and I had never really thought of it prior to this reading. Or maybe I had, but didn't have good name or phrase to call it. I know that I've definitely experienced it more than a few times in an NYU classroom between the time I've started my program and now. It's something I like to call "checking out." It's when my brain has had enough and I literally "check out" of the class for a few minutes or more. Maybe it's due to cognitive overload? I don't know. Most of the time I just think it's stress. Well, according to M & M, it has more to do with over stimulus/ stimuli. If there are too many things happening at once, (ie. text and image going on at the same time when looking at a computer program) then it is more difficult for a person to focus on one thing. If this happens, M &M suggests weeding or signaling to reduce the sensory overload. These are important factors to consider when creating a computer program and for our classes' sake our websites. I guess what M & M is trying to say is find the simplest, but most efficient way possible to get your message across to your audience. Don't make their brains go nuts with audio narrative and text at the bottom of the screen while an image is spinning around on your webpage. Make it simple.