---
id: "prereq-cognitive-load-theory"
type: "prereq"
source_timestamps: ["¶3", "¶5"]
tags: ["psychology", "learning-theory"]
related: ["concept-mental-bandwidth"]
reason: "Explains the underlying psychological mechanism of why 'found time' is required to process opaque technologies."
sources: ["commercial"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-commercial"
originDay: 5
articleStem: "hbr-foci-66-customers-willing-try-new-tech"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2025/11/research-when-are-customers-willing-to-try-a-new-technology"
sourceTitle: "Research: When Are Customers Willing to Try a New Technology?"
---
# Cognitive Load Theory

**Prerequisite:** The article implicitly rests on **Cognitive Load Theory** — the idea that human working memory has *limited capacity*.

**Why it matters:** Complex subjects like [[entity-blockchain|blockchain]] impose high cognitive load, which is why [[concept-mental-bandwidth|mental bandwidth]] is a scarce resource that must be *freed up* (via [[concept-found-time|found time]], and only when stress is low) before learning can occur (see [[claim-stress-blocks-curiosity]]). It is the mechanism beneath the entire found-time construct.

**Enrichment link:** the theory frames learning as workable only when intrinsic, extraneous, and germane load stay within working-memory capacity, with motivation moderating willingness to invest effort — which maps directly onto the three elements of [[framework-curiosity-window-alignment|the Curiosity Window Alignment Model]].