Cognitive Load & Chunking
Working memory holds a handful of items; beyond that, people default, skip and err. Chunking helps comprehension; overloading — dense terms, many steps, jargon — suppresses it, and both can be designed.
An everyday example
A 40-page agreement presented at signing, versus a one-page summary of the ten terms that matter.
What it can cost you
Accepting what you could not hold in mind; being simplified into missing what mattered.
Warning signs
- I skimmed because it was too much.
- The summary left out the part that mattered.
One thing to do
Insist on a plain summary of the material terms and check it against the full text; never decide on a document you have not chunked.
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