Intrinsic cognitive load is determined by task complexity and is modulated by the nature of the task rather than the design. This means the amount of mental effort required comes from the inherent structure of what has to be processed—the number of elements and how they interact—not from how you present or teach the material. You can help learners cope with this load by providing scaffolding or opportunities to build schemas, which makes complex tasks feel easier over time, but the fundamental load stays tied to the task itself. Extraneous load, by contrast, comes from poor or unnecessary design elements in the presentation, so it can be reduced with clearer instructions and streamlined formats. Germane load refers to the beneficial cognitive effort aimed at constructing and automating schemas, which is more about productive learning processes than the task’s inherent difficulty. The term global load isn’t a standard category in this framework.