Abstract
This special issue consists of six theoretical papers and an introduction. Each paper describes a current advance to the applications and focus of cognitive load theory (CLT). Four of the papers use an interdisciplinary approach outside of educational psychology by combining CLT with elements of evolutionary biology, mirror neuron research, cognitive brain science, and the philosophy of science. The remaining two papers use an intradisciplinary approach within educational psychology by applying CLT to self-regulation and heuristic learning. This paper introduces CLT, overviews each contribution, and summarizes the main themes.