Busting a neuromyth: more information = better learning?

Many people, including instructors, assume that when it come to learning, the more the better. If enough information is thrown at us, we are bound to remember some, right?

No.

For information to be remembered, it has to go to our short term memory before either being forgotten or stored in our long term memory to be retrieved. Miller (1956) found that short term or working memory could only store about seven bits of information at a time before letting go of some. Sweller’s cognitive load theory (2011) builds on this knowledge and divides information depending on the cognitive effort they require to be processed. If the learner is overloaded with information, they won’t learn it. This theory urges instructors to present information in digestible chunks, without two much repetition and to break down harder concepts (with an intrinsically heavier cognitive load) and teach it bit by bit, making sure one is encoded before introducing more.

Works cited :
Miller, G. A. (1956). The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information. Psychological Review, 63(2), 81–97. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0043158
Sweller, J. (2011). Cognitive load theory. In J. P. Mestre & B. H. Ross (Eds.), The psychology of learning and motivation: Cognition in education (pp. 37–76). Elsevier Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-387691-1.00002-8