Sally and Billy discuss Cognitive Load Theory

Assignment for 126.091 Multimedia Cartography and Geocommunication
**Transcript of "Sally and Billy discuss Cognitive Load Theory" below**
The capabilities of media technology keep increasing.
But human perception has physiological limits.
Animated maps can cause informational overload.
To understand this, we need to look at how human memory works.
There are two types of memory: 'working memory' and 'long term memory'. Incoming information must be processed by the working memory before it can be stored by the long term memory.
But working memory is limited in capacity and duration. If presented with too much information simultaneously, portions of that information will not make it into long term memory. This is called Cognitive Load Theory.
The inherent nature of animated maps, with elements interacting simultaneously, make it easy to overload working memory and cause the learner to retain less instead of more. This is counterproductive to learning.
Why is this the case?
Animation is transitory, remaining in the working memory only for seconds unless it is repeated. Also, the information in animations is sequential. It must be understood before proceeding, otherwise subsequent information is useless.
How can you compensate for this?
Repeating the play back is the most common way to compensate. Another way is to add interactive user controls, such as being able to change the tempo or to navigate around the map. But there is a problem with this method. Any time the user has to look at something else in order to control or understand the map, they miss some of the information on the map.
Visually, it is better if explanatory elements can be integrated into the map instead of in a separate legend.
And narration can give spatial or temporal orientation information without diverting the users attention.
Why does this work?
Humans have an innate ability to process information through multiple channels.
Presenting information via multiple channels, like combining animation and narration, reduces the amount of information to be processed by any one channel. Also, making connections between information from separate channels stimulates cognition.
But all of this is only advantageous if each channel has unique information. Narration repeating the text is redundant.
Now let's look at three examples of animated maps and discuss how they address these issues.
The first example uses pauses, information bubbles, panning and zooming, and a repeat at the end. These all help the user to process the information.
These are good techniques, but the map would benefit from a narration giving the dates, so the user doesn't have to look at the timeline.
The next example has many interactive features, but presents too much information at once to be easily understood. There is no audio or visual guidance for the user. Also, temporal information presented non-sequentially may not make sense.
Our final example does a lot of things right. Narration gives the chronology, visual cues are used in the animation to focus the user's attention, and the scope of the map is limited to a manageable topic and timeframe. More maps are available to continue with the subject.
In conclusion, anyone creating animated maps should keep a few basic principles in mind:
Use audio as well as visual information.
Provide pauses in the content.
Add interactive controls.
Give visual cues.
And above all, keep it simple!
Using these principles will give your map the best chance of being used, understood, and appreciated.
Good bye!