Cognitive Load Theory for the Design of Medical Simulations
Abstract
STATEMENT: Simulation-based education (SBE) has emerged as an effective and important tool for medical educators, but research about how to optimize training with simulators is in its infancy. It is often difficult to generalize results from experiments on instructional design issues in simulation because of the heterogeneity of learner groups, teaching methods, and rapidly changing technologies. We have found that cognitive load theory is highly relevant to teaching in the simulation laboratory and a useful conceptual framework to reference when designing or researching simulation-based education. Herein, we briefly describe cognitive load theory, its grounding in our current understanding of cognitive architecture, and the evidence supporting it. We focus our discussion on a few well-established cognitive load effects with examples from simulation training and recommend some instructional applications with theoretical potential to improve learning outcomes.
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The effects of different teaching methods on students' cognitive load have been described in other settings.
“The effects of different teaching methods on students’ cognitive load have been described in other settings [5, 20–24].”
From Teaching a single manual therapy technique at a time reduces cognitive load in physiotherapy students: a randomized controlled educational study (2025) · cites this paper as [21]
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- Authors
- Fraser, K. L., Ayres, P., & Sweller, J.
- Affiliations
- University of Calgary (CA)
- Venue
- Simulation in Healthcare: The Journal of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare
- Published
- 2015-10
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 295-307
- ISSN
- 1559-2332 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2470746831
- Cited by
- 306
- References
- 24
- Citations by year
- 2026: 41 · 2025: 42 · 2024: 30 · 2023: 38 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 38 · 2020: 28 · 2019: 41 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 7
- FWCI
- 6.64
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Simulation in Healthcare The Journal of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Simulation-Based Education in Healthcare
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Visual and Cognitive Learning Processes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Surgical Simulation and Training
- Keywords
- cognitive load theory, simulation-based education, simulation-based medical education, instructional design, cognitive architecture, simulation-based training, learning outcomes, medical education
- MeSH terms
- Simulation Training, Education, Medical, Humans, Learning, Memory, Teaching, Models, Educational
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