002 TFCC: Beep, Beep, Traffic Jam
Welcome to week 2 of The Functional Cognition Chronicles! If you missed last week's issue, we explored how simple alarms can make a big difference for people with functional cognitive impairments. If you didn’t receive it and would like to read it see here.
Before diving into more tips and tricks, I want to introduce a key concept: cognitive load.
If a client has a cognitive barrier, their cognitive load will likely be affected—but it’s something that can impact anyone.
What is cognitive load?
Cognitive load refers to the amount of information our brain can handle at any given moment. It’s influenced by intellectual information, interoceptive signals, sensory input, fatigue, hormones, and more. When we talk about cognitive load, we’re considering how much information is entering the brain and how efficiently it’s processed.
Too much cognitive load = cognitive overwhelm = reduced cognitive function.
I’ve created a Traffic Jam analogy video to explain how additional cognitive load can interrupt our cognitive function.
In Summary: Picture a well-functioning brain like a smooth-flowing highway, where cars (messages) travel up and down, telling us how our body feels and what actions to take. But when there’s an injury—such as a brain injury—think of it as roadworks on the highway. Add too many cars (messages), and you’ve got a traffic jam.
Think back to a time when you were stuck in a traffic jam. (I’m looking at you, community OTs!) Did you find:
Your frustration level spiked?
Suddenly, the radio or kids in the back were too loud?
It took longer to reach your destination, and you questioned whether to keep going?
You just wanted to call it a day?
People experiencing cognitive overload often encounter similar challenges:
They become frustrated quickly.
They reach their sensory threshold faster.
Tasks take longer than expected.
They may become unmotivated or fatigued easily.
So, what can we do as allied health professionals? To reduce the ‘traffic jam’ for those with cognitive difficulties, we can either:
Reduce the number of cars (information) on the road.
Create detours or strategies to navigate around the roadblocks.
I’ve found this analogy helpful, especially when explaining how the brain might function after an injury. While it applies to brain injuries, it can also be used to explain any scenario where someone feels like they have too many cars on their highway.
Here are some ways to reduce cognitive load:
Limit the number of appointments per day (especially heavier appointments like Occupational Therapy and Psychology on the same day).
Reduce sensory overload in the environment.
Use clear record-keeping systems, like a Health Journal or calendar reminders, to track important information.
Keep the environment organized—clothes, pantry, workspace—to reduce the number of daily decisions.
Simplify or eliminate daily decisions to reduce cognitive load (think of Steve Jobs wearing the same black shirt every day to avoid decision fatigue!).
Use external compensatory strategies, like whiteboards, to manage and offload information.
In the coming weeks, I'll dive deeper into how you can implement these strategies to reduce cognitive load in daily life. Stay tuned!
