Proceedings of the International scientific and practical conference ―Synergy of Modern Science and Education‖ (February 2-4, 2026) / Publisher website: www.naukainfo.com. – New York, USA, 2026. - 324 p.

70 provided by Cognitive Load Theory principles on minimizing extraneous load through instructional design. Keywords: adaptive learning, e-learning, cognitive load, progressive disclosure, eye tracking, design system, self-regulation. Introduction . Historically, mass education was optimized for standardization: the same course structure, a single sequence of topics, shared checkpoints. This approach scales well organizationally, but it weakly accounts for two realities of contemporary learning. Prior work on user-adaptive learning interfaces shows that modeling learners‘ progress and adapting instructional content can improve how learners allocate attention and organize their work; this motivates extending adaptation toward momentary indicators of overload discussed in this paper [1]. First, learners are different: pace, prior knowledge, style of working with material, response to errors. Second, even the ―same‖ person learns differently at different moments of the day: fatigue, anxiety, overstrain or, conversely, high resources and concentration. For online learning this is especially critical: the environment competes for attention, with a high risk of frustration and session drop- off. Modern e-learning creates unique conditions for adaptation ―in the moment‖ because interaction occurs through an interface and therefore produces digital traces: time on a step, errors, returns, pauses. Additionally, progress in computer vision and remote eye tracking makes it possible to use camera-based cues (for example, fixation duration, approximate pupil dynamics) to assess states of attention and overload. Prior eye-movement research established robust links between eye movements and concurrent attention in reading, which provides a theoretical basis for eye-tracking applications in learning [2]. Theoretical framework. For correct adaptation, it is important to distinguish what exactly we are reducing. Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) describes at least three components of load: intrinsic (the complexity of the material itself), extraneous (unnecessary load caused by presentation/interface), and germane (resources devoted