Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning

A theory developed by Richard E. Mayer proposing that people learn more effectively from words and pictures together than from words alone, because the brain processes visual and auditory information through separate working-memory channels. CTML underpins design principles such as the multimedia principle, modality principle, redundancy principle, and coherence principle, and argues that learning is constrained by limited working-memory capacity. For accessibility, CTML informs how instructional videos should balance narration, on-screen text, captions, and visual demonstrations to minimise extraneous cognitive load and support learners with working-memory constraints, including those with cognitive disabilities.