Which is why engineers who intend to use the term in their discussions shouldn’t dumb it down or loosely define it in their own words, and cite the definition from authoritative sources, say reference texts.
And whenever it is being used as an argument to reject or approve code, just saying “because cognitive load” should not be accepted as enough. Instead, there should be an accompanying explanation for what exactly in the code raises the cognitive load and what mechanisms come into play that creates the cognitive load according to cognitive science. (Note: I’m using “science” here as opposed to just “psychology”, because the ana/physio of human memory is not exclusive to the domain of psychology.)
And whenever it is being used as an argument to reject or approve code, just saying “because cognitive load” should not be accepted as enough. Instead, there should be an accompanying explanation for what exactly in the code raises the cognitive load and what mechanisms come into play that creates the cognitive load according to cognitive science. (Note: I’m using “science” here as opposed to just “psychology”, because the ana/physio of human memory is not exclusive to the domain of psychology.)