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Evidence-Based Practices of Cognitive Load Management to Enhance Learning

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Abstract

Pedagogy of Quranic memorization in India’s Quranic schools incorporates the cognitive processes of working memory and long-term memory into its systemic instructional practices and accommodates individual differences in cognitive capabilities by reducing extraneous cognitive load, distributing intrinsic cognitive load and enhancing germane cognitive load. These evidence-based best practices in teaching and learning deal with different types of cognitive load from the twin perspectives of the students and the educational institution and include retrieval cycles that continuously test all the memorized verses, data-based assessment and real-time feedback of the students’ recitals, self-paced learning of students and multi-modal learning methods. Memorization of Quran has domain-specific proficiency parameters to measure the attainment of its educational objectives which include on-demand recall of any verse from over 600 pages and a zero-error recitation.

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  • Cognitive Science of Religion
  • Islamic Theology
  • Islam
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Data Availability

The datasets generated and analyzed for the current study are not publicly available as they were generated for the doctoral thesis of the author but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

ECL:
Extraneous cognitive load
ICL:
Intrinsic cognitive load
GCL:
Germane cognitive load
PM:
Primary memorization
SRC:
Short retrieval cycle
IRC:
Intermediate retrieval cycle
LRC:
Long retrieval cycle
LT-WM:
Long-term working memory

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Acknowledgements

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  1. Department of Psychology, Osmania University, Hyderabad, T.S, India

    Nikhat Parveen

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Parveen, N. Evidence-Based Practices of Cognitive Load Management to Enhance Learning. Psychol Stud (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12646-025-00841-6

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  • DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s12646-025-00841-6

Keywords

  • Germane cognitive load
  • Extraneous cognitive load
  • Intrinsic cogni

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