Poster

Detecting Cognitive Overload Points to Improve Information Architecture Designs

Michael Albers

Key objectives of the poster:

• Discuss how cognitive load relates to information architecture.
• Describe the effects of cognitive overload on user comprehension and performance.
• Understand how to measure cognitive load during a usability test by imposing a secondary load via tapping.

Observations of usability tests often reveal the participants dropping tasks, failing to follow through with actions, disregarding information, or not seeing information. All of these problems are symptoms of cognitive overload. If the information architect can identify the problematical areas, they can be fixed early in the design stage. Cognitive load refers to the total amount of mental activity that a person has to maintain in memory at any one time. Once the resources are exhausted, the user suffers from cognitive overload which increases errors and lowers comprehension and performance. Identifying these places within a design should improve the overall usability.