The concept of mental workload is well studied from a learner's perspective but has yet to be better understood from the perspective of an assessor. Mental workload is largely associated with cognitive load theory, which describes three different types of load. Intrinsic load deals with the complexity of the task, extraneous load describes distractors to the task at hand, and germane load focuses on the development of schemas in working memory for future recall. Studies from medical education show that all three types of load are relevant when considering rater –based assessment (e.g. Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs), or experiential training). Assessments with high intrinsic and extraneous load may interfere with assessors' attention and working memory and result in poorer quality assessment. Reducing these loads within assessment tasks should therefore be a priority for pharmacy educators. This commentary aims to provide a theoretical overview of mental workload in assessment, outline research findings from the medical education context, and propose strategies to be considered for reducing mental workload in rater-based assessments relevant to pharmacy education. Suggestions for future research are also addressed.

从学习者的角度对脑力工作量的概念进行了很好的研究，但从评估者的角度来看还有待更好地理解。心理负荷在很大程度上与认知负荷理论有关，该理论描述了三种不同类型的负荷。内在负荷处理任务的复杂性，外在负荷描述手头任务的干扰因素，密切负荷侧重于模式的发展在工作记忆中以备将来回忆。医学教育研究表明，在考虑基于评估者的评估（例如客观结构化临床考试 (OSCE) 或体验式培训）时，所有三种类型的负荷都是相关的。具有高内在和外在负荷的评估可能会干扰评估者的注意力和工作记忆，并导致评估质量较差。因此，减少评估任务中的这些负担应该是药学教育工作者的优先事项。本评论旨在提供评估中心理工作量的理论概述，概述医学教育背景下的研究结果，并提出在与药学教育相关的基于评估者的评估中考虑减少心理工作量的策略。还提出了对未来研究的建议。