Cognitive Views of Learning

1
Cognitive Views of Learning

• Chapter 7

2
Outline of Todays Lecture

• Elements of the Cognitive Perspective
• The Information Processing Model of Memory
• Connectionism
• Becoming Knowledgeable Some Basic Principles

3
Elements of the Cognitive Perspective

• Cognitive View of Learning
• A general approach that views learning as an
  active mental process of acquiring, remembering
  and using knowledge

4
Elements of the Cognitive Perspective

• Knowledge is both an outcome of learning and a
  basis for new learning
• Baseball knowledge study
• Good vs. poor readers
• High baseball knowledge vs. low baseball
  knowledge
• Who remembered the new information about a
  baseball game?

5
Baseball Knowledge Study
6
Elements of the Cognitive Perspective

• General Knowledge Information that is useful in
  many different kinds of tasks information that
  applies to many situations
• Domain-specific Knowledge Information that is
  useful in a particular situation or that applies
  to only one specific topic

7
Elements of the Cognitive Perspective

• Declarative Knowledge Verbal information facts
• Procedural Knowledge Knowledge that is
  demonstrated when we perform a task
• Conditional Knowledge Knowing when and why to
  use declarative and procedural knowledge

8
Information Processing Model of Memory

• Information Processing
• The human minds activity of taking in, storing
  and using information

9
Information Processing System
Executive Control Processes
Learn (Save)
Perception
Sensory Memory
Working Memory
Long-Term Memory
Retrieve (Activate Memories)
Work Space Temporary Storage
Permanent Storage
10
Information Processing Model of Memory

• Perception
• Interpretation of sensory information

11
Ambiguous Figure

• Colored surface can be either the outside front
  surface or the inside back surface
• Cannot simultaneously be both
• Brain can interpret the ambiguous cues two
  different ways

12
Information Processing Model of Memory

• Perception
• Interpretation of sensory information
• Gestalt
• German for pattern or whole Gestalt theorists
  hold that people organize their perceptions into
  coherent wholes
• The whole is more than the sum of its parts

13
Gestalt Principles

• Proximity
• Seeing 3 pair of lines in A.
• Similarity
• Seeing columns of orange and red dots in B.
• Continuity
• Seeing lines that connect 1 to 2 and 3 to 4 in
  C.
• Closure
• Seeing a horse in D.

14
Types of Processing

• Bottom-up Processing
• Perceiving based on noticing separate defining
  features and assembling them into a recognizable
  pattern
• E.g., Recognizing the letter A written in
  different ways (A A A)
• Top-down Processing
• Perceiving based on the context and the patterns
  you expect to occur in that situation

15
The Role of Attention

• Attention Focus on a stimulus

16
Small Groups Exercise

• Discuss specific ways of gaining and maintaining
  attention in the classroom.

17
Information Processing System
Executive Control Processes
Learn (Save)
Perception
Sensory Memory
Working Memory
Long-Term Memory
Retrieve (Activate Memories)
Work Space Temporary Storage
Permanent Storage
18
Working Memory

• Working memory is the information that you are
  focusing on at a given moment.
• Has a limited capacity (can hold around 5-9 new
  items at a time)
• Articulatory loop A memory rehearsal system of
  about 1.5 seconds

19
Working Memory

• Maintenance Rehearsal
• Keeping information in working memory by
  repeating it to yourself
• Elaborative Rehearsal
• Keeping information in working memory by
  associating it with something else you already
  know

20
Working Memory

• Chunking
• Grouping individual bits of data into meaningful
  units
• CIA, FBI, USA, WLU
• 555-6754

21
Forgetting

• Similar items interfere with one another.
• Retroactive Interference Forgetting that occurs
  when recently learned material interferes with
  the ability to remember similar material stored
  previously.
• Proactive Interference Forgetting that occurs
  when previously stored material interferes with
  the ability to remember similar, more recently
  learned material.

22
Forgetting

• Decay Theory
• The theory that information in memory eventually
  disappears if it is not accessed

23
Information Processing System
Executive Control Processes
Learn (Save)
Perception
Sensory Memory
Working Memory
Long-Term Memory
Retrieve (Activate Memories)
Work Space Temporary Storage
Permanent Storage
24
Contents of Long-Term Memory

• Semantic Memory
• Episodic Memory
• Procedural Memory

25
Contents of Long-Term Memory

• Semantic Memory
• Memory for meaning
• Stored as propositions, images and schemas

26
Semantic Memory

• Proposition
• The smallest unit of information that can be
  judged true or false
• George jumped over the red fence
• George jumped over the fence
• The fence was red
• Propositional Network
• Set of interconnected concepts and relationships
  in which long-term knowledge is held

27
Semantic Memory

• Images
• Representations based on the physical attributes
  the appearance of information

28
Semantic Memory

• Schema
• A basic structure for organizing information
  concept
• Script Schema or expected plan for the sequence
  of steps in a common event

29
Episodic Memory

• Long-term memory for information tied to a
  particular time and place, especially memory of
  the events in a persons life.

30
Procedural Memory

• Long-term memory for how to do things
• Productions
• The contents of procedural memory rules about
  what actions to take, given certain conditions

31
Storing Information in Long-Term Memory

• Elaboration
• Adding and extending meaning by connecting new
  information to existing knowledge

32
Small Groups Exercise

• Discuss methods that teachers can use in the
  classroom to encourage elaboration of material
• Elaboration Adding and extending meaning by
  connecting new information to existing knowledge

33
Storing Information in Long-Term Memory

• Context
• The physical or emotional backdrop associated
  with an event

34
Retrieving Information in Long-Term Memory

• Retrieval
• Process of searching for and finding information
  in long-term memory
• Spread of Activation
• Retrieval of pieces of information based on their
  relatedness to one another. Remembering one bit
  of information activates recall of associated
  information

35
Retrieving Information in Long-Term Memory

• Reconstruction
• Recreating information by using memories,
  expectations, logic and existing knowledge

36
Reconstruction and Eyewitness Testimony

• Misleading questions can impact memory
• How fast were the cars going when they hit each
  other? Vs. How fast were the cars going when
  they smashed into each other
• People who heard hit thought the cars were
  going around 55km/hr people who heard smashed
  thought they were going around 66 km/hr

37
Forgetting in Long-Term Memory

• Cue-dependent forgetting
• An inability to retrieve information stored in
  memory because of insufficient cues for recall

38
Connectionism An Alternative View of Memory

• Connectionist Models
• Views of knowledge being stored in patterns of
  connections among basic processing units in the
  brain

39
Connectionism An Alternative View of Memory

• Connectionists have come up with models to
  accurately depict changes in childrens
  performance on a variety of tasks.
• E.g., childrens early vocabulary growth, their
  mastery of certain grammatical forms, and their
  problem-solving skills.

40
Becoming Knowledgeable Some Basic Principles

• Development of Declarative Knowledge
• Development of Procedural and Conditional
  Knowledge

41
Development of Declarative Knowledge

• Rote Memorization
• Remembering information by repetition without
  necessarily understanding the meaning of the
  information.
• E.g., to memorize a poem or song
• Serial-position effect can occur

42
Serial-Position Effect

• The tendency for recall of first and last items
  on a list and to surpass recall of items in the
  middle of the list.

43
Development of Declarative Knowledge

• Rote Memorization
• Part Learning Breaking a list of rote learning
  items into shorter lists
• Distributed Practice Practice that occurs in
  brief periods with rest intervals

44
Development of Declarative Knowledge

• Mnemonics
• Strategies and tricks for improving memory, such
  as the use of a verse or a formula.
• Examples include
• Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge
• Dial GET RICH

45
Instructional Events Model
46
Becoming an Expert Development of Procedural and
Conditional Knowledge

• Experts have
• Domain-specific knowledge
• Declarative knowledge
• Procedural knowledge
• Conditional knowledge

47
Becoming an Expert Development of Procedural and
Conditional Knowledge

• Automated Basic Skills
• Skills that are applied without conscious thought

48
Becoming an Expert Development of Procedural and
Conditional Knowledge

• 3 Stages
• Cognitive stage The initial learning of an
  automated skill when we rely on general
  problem-solving approaches to make sense of steps
  or procedures
• Associative stage Individual steps of a
  procedure are combined or chunked into larger
  units
• Autonomous stage Final stage in the learning of
  automated skills. The procedure is fine-tuned and
  becomes automatic

49
Becoming an Expert Development of Procedural and
Conditional Knowledge

• 2 Factors
• Prerequisite knowledge
• Practice with feedback