P540 - Learning and Cognition

Unit 3: Cognitive information processing

Readings
Instructor notes
Learning activities
Web resources

Readings
Driscoll, Chapter 3, Chapter 9
Optional: Gredler, Chapter 7
Coker, Donald R. and White, Jane. (1993) Selecting and applying learning theory to classroom teaching strategies. Education, Fall93, Vol. 114 Issue 1. (Available online through Academic Search Fulltext Elite. This brief article encourages teachers to adopt cognitivist, rather than behaviorist instructional strategies. Note that the authors' use of the term cognitivist is somewhat broader than the way we define it in this unit.)
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Instructor notes

Introduction to CIP
Unlike the other theories we have examined so far in this course, cognitive information processing (CIP) is not associated with the work of a single theorist; rather, it builds on the work of a number of researchers who share a common paradigm. Like the behaviorists, CIP theorists are concerned about observable behaviors; but, unlike behaviorists, they use those behaviors to make inferences about underlying mental processes that cannot be directly observed. (Note that in the diagram on page 77 of the text, there is a box labeled "Responses". That box represents the observable behaviors that CIP theorists use to make inferences about mental processes.)
CIP, at least in the way we will look at it in this course, is concerned with basic mental operations, mainly how we perceive and remember events and information. We will cover higher-level skills such as problem-solving and critical thinking in later units.

Three fundamental components of memory are proposed: the sensory register, short-term or working memory, and long-term memory.

The sensory register

In order for something to get into long-term memory, it must first "register" with us. The meaning we assign to sensory impressions depends on both our background knowledge and the context in which we experience something. As we've all experienced, our attention can be very selective. We can be reading a newspaper with the television on in the background. All of a sudden we realize that the news story is updating the story we read in the paper. We stop to listen. We were sensitized to the information because we had just read it, so we attend to it.

The role of context is obvious in language perception. For example, the word "tape" can have several meanings. But if I say, "I have to wrap a birthday present--do you know where the tape is?", most people would have no trouble perceiving that I'm looking for the roll of sticky stuff, not a video- or audiocassette. Also, you've probably had the experience of encountering someone who you recognize from one realm of your life (e.g., they work in your building) in another realm (e.g., at your daughter's soccer game). You may realize you know that person, but not be able to figure out why you know them. This is a context issue.

One of the problems that CIP researchers have wrestled with is, how do we recognize things? You should be familiar with the different theories of pattern recognition discussed in the text.

Short-term memory

After a sensory impression has registered, it then passes into short-term memory, or working memory. The capacity of short-term memory appears to be rather limited. We can hold only about 7 "chunks" of information in short-term memory at a time. Of course, the size of a chunk is relative, not absolute. We might have trouble managing 7 single words in a language that was not known to us, but might easily be able to manage 7 sentences in our own language. The difference is that the unknown words are meaningless to us, whereas the sentences in our own language are meaningful, and therefore don't require as much working capacity.

What happens to information while it is in working memory determines whether--and how--it will get stored in long-term memory. We can hold things in working memory for a while by "rehearsing" them. An example of this is when we repeat a phone number or person's name to ourselves just long enough to dial a number or make an introduction. After we've used the information, it will probably be lost to us.

To get information stored in long-term memory requires that it be "encoded" in some way. Encoding can be accomplished in several ways. "Mnemonics" are memory tricks we can use to remember lists of names, numbers, etc. Many CIP researchers have been fascinated with what mnemonics can tell us about how memory works; however, these strategies are not in great demand in instructional settings today, since we usually don't consider memorization to be a very important learning outcome. In the longer term, the kinds of encoding strategies that work best are those that emphasize meaningfulness. One way to do this, with text for example, is to make the organizational structure of the material apparent. That's why we use outlines, headings, and other kinds of textual "cues" to indicate major and minor ideas, show relationships among concepts, etc.

Long-term memory

Some important concepts in long-term memory:

Declarative vs. procedural knowledge. Knowing "that" Bill Clinton was elected President of the U.S. is quite different from knowing "how" to conduct a successful presidential campaign. Similarly, memorizing the seven steps in the negotiating process is very different from being able to use those steps to negotiate successfully.

Declarative knowledge can be broken down in to episodic and semantic memory, or memory for events versus memory for verbal information. We have an episodic memory for the automobile accident we were in 13 years ago, but we have only a semantic memory of the "fact" that Columbus landed in the New World in 1492 (unless we were there). Although, of course, we sometimes have an episodic memory of sitting in classes where we learned certain facts.

Verbal and imaginal representation in memory. Words that have concrete referents (and therefore can easily be "pictured") are more likely to be remembered than abstract words. So, if I read a list of 30 words and ask you immediately afterwards to write down as many as you can remember, you will probably be more successful with words such as "skyscraper", "baboon", and "rake", than with words such as "strategy", "reference", and "nominal".

Retrieval. The difference between a "recall" task and a "recognition" task is an important one in education. As a student, I always liked multiple choice tests. Why? Because they usually require only recognition of some term or definition, which is much easier cognitively than an essay-type exam, which typically involves free "recall" tasks. However, life rarely presents us with multiple-choice options, so if we want school tasks to resemble life tasks... Well, you get the point.

Encoding specificity. The best retrieval cues are the same as the cues used for encoding. For example, remember the diagram of the theory-building process on page 7 of your text? Suppose I told you to memorize that for an exam. According to the concept of encoding specificity, it would probably be easier for you to reproduce the steps in that chart if I gave you a blank version exactly like the original chart than if I simply told you to list the seven steps. That's because the form of the chart (circular, with arrows) serves as a retrieval cue for the information.

Forgetting. Some theorists contend that we never truly "lose" anything once it is stored in long-term memory (unless the brain is damaged in some way). If that is so, then when we forget something, it must either be the case that it was never actually encoded in the first place, or that the information is still there, but we can no longer retrieve it. So the phone number that we repeated just long enough to dial is forgotten because it never really got into long-term memory. The phone number that my family had when I was a child is probably still stored in my brain, but I can no longer retrieve it. Likely, this number has suffered from retroactive interference, because of all the phone numbers I have had to learn and remember since then. It could also be that we've lost the location of the information--sort of like losing a card out of the old card catalog library organizing system. The book is still on the library shelf, you just won't be able to find it anymore.

Some implications of CIP for instruction

(adapted from Driscoll and Cognitive Psychology and Instruction, 3rd edition, 1999, by Bruning, Schraw, and Ronning.)

Provide organized instruction. Make the structure and relations of the material evident to learners, such as through concept maps or other graphic representations.

Link new material with what is currently known. This provides a sort of mental "scaffolding" for the new material.

Recognize the limits of attention (sensory register). Help learners focus their attention through techniques such as identifying the most important points to be learned in advance of studying new material.

Recognize the limitations of short-term memory. Use the concept of chunking: don't present 49 separate items, make them 7 groups of 7. Use elaboration and multiple contexts.

Match encoding strategies with the material to be learned. For example, don't encourage the use of mnemonic techniques unless it's really essential to memorize the material. If you want it to be processed more "deeply", then find encoding strategies that are more inherently meaningful.

Provide opportunities for both verbal and imaginal encoding. Even though it's not clear whether these are really two different systems, it does appear that imaging can help us remember.

Arrange for a variety of practice opportunities. The goal is to help the learner generalize the concept, principle, or skill to be learned so that it can be applied outside of the original context in which it was taught.

Help learners become "self-regulated." Assist them in selecting and using appropriate learning strategies such as summarizing and questioning.

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Learning activities

3.1 Discussion on CIP (in Oncourse)

Facilitator (name of student here) to post by Tuesday, June 18
Initial posts by Sunday, June 16, responses by Thursday, June 20
Wrapping (name of student here) to be completed by Friday, June 21
Ms. Llewellyn is a first-year social studies teacher at Madison High School; she recently completed her degree in United States History and knows her subject matter well. Her history classes begin in September with a study of early explorers of the Western Hemisphere. By early October, students are reading about the colonial settlements of the 1600s. By December, they have covered the French and Indian War, the Revolutionary War, and the Declaration of Independence. The winter months are spent studying the nineteenth century (e.g. the Industrial Revolution, the Civil War), and the spring is spent studying the twentieth century (including both world wars, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Persian Gulf crisis.)
Ms. Llewellyn has high expectations for her students. In her daily class lectures, she describes historical events in detail, hoping to give students a sense of how complex many of these events really were. In addition to having students read the usual high school textbook, she also assigns articles in the historical journals that she herself reads.

Occasionally, Ms. Llewellyn stops a lecture a few minutes before the bell rings to ask questions that check her students' recall of the day's topics. Although her students can usually remember the main gist of her lecture, they have difficulty with the details, either mixing them up or forgetting them altogether. A few students remember so little that she can hardly believe they were in class that day. Her students perform even more poorly on monthly essay exams; it's obvious from their written responses that they can remember little of what Ms. Llewellyn has taught them.

"I explained things so clearly to them," she tells herself. "Perhaps these kids just don't want to learn."

What are some possible reasons why Ms. Llewellyn's students are having difficulty learning and remembering the things that she teaches them? Can you think of possible reasons related to the class curriculum? to her style of teaching? to her reading assignments?

From the perspective of cognitive psychology, what would you do differently than Ms. Llewellyn?

Our whole class discussion task is to create a unified response to Ms. Llewellyn's experience. The wrapper(s) will be responsible for creating drafts, getting feedback and posting the class synthesis by Friday, June 21.

3.2 Thought activity: The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ)
To be completed by Sunday, June 30

The cognitive information processing model of learning seeks to describe how humans transform information into knowledge. Toward the end of chapter 3 the authors outline some implications of CIP theory for instruction. One of these is "enhancing learners' self-control of information processing." The idea here is that if learners understand how they learn the best (how they process information) they can use this metacognitive awareness to create strategies for their learning.

One tool to help raise metacognitive awareness is the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). Your task for this week's thought activity is to read through the MSLQ.

Download .pdf file version of MSLQ
Download MS Word version of MSLQ

Then on your own or with your group, analyze 1) how the MSLQ addresses elements of the CIP theory of learning (in other words, how might the study strategies indicated tie to the basic processing model of CIP); 2) how the MSLQ may be useful for instruction; 3) include a short reflection on one strategy you (or the group) think might be useful for this course.

Some things to consider in the analysis:

1. Does the MSLQ ask questions related to pattern recognition and perception? Rehearsal or chunking? Semantic networks?
2. How do the study strategies relate to short term memory, long term memory, etc.?
3. Do you think this information could potentially be useful for learners? Any age restrictions? What do you think an instructor should do with this information? Is it useful to them? How?
4. Were you ever taught study strategies? How? If not, did you find yourself inventing them? Are they similar or different to the ones on the MSLQ?

How this thought activity will be assessed:

1. Please limit your analysis to 3-4 pages
2. Support your analysis with evidence from the readings
3. Make sure you consider the groups of items, you don't necessarily have to address each and every item on the MSLQ. But, how do the groups of items relate to the learning theory?
4. Include your group or self-reflection on strategies suggested above. Have you tied this analysis to your readings?
5. Both processes and outcomes will be considered in the assessment.

3.3 Reflection

To be completed by Sunday, June 30

The purpose of the reflection is for you to think about what you have learned through this experience.

If you completed this activity individually, please submit the answer to these questions to your instructor along with your unit product:

1. Why did you choose to work individually on this activity?
2. If you worked in a group in Unit 2, how did this individual experience compare with the group experience?
3. How did your understanding of the learning theory change through this activity?

If you completed this activity as a group, please answer the following questions individually and submit to the instructor. Please be honest. No group experience is without challenges and frustrations. Reflecting on the challenges of the group experience is just as important as celebrating the positive achievements. Being honest will help us as instructors give better guidance to teams collaborating online in the future.

1. Evaluate the contribution of EACH of your project team members, including yourself, on a scale from 1 to 5. Refer to the descriptions below as you make your ratings.

0 = team member made no visible contributions to the project OR made significant and sustained negative contributions to the project
1 = team member made minimal contributions to the overall project
2 = team member made uneven contributions to the project - some positive, some negative
3 = team member made reasonable contributions to the project
4 = team member made significant and sustained positive contributions to the project
5 = team member made significant and sustained positive contributions to the project AND supported every member of the group by actively bringing out the best in others.

2. Briefly describe your group's approach to completing this thought activity.

3. Briefly describe your individual contribution and each team member's contributions to the activity.

4. How did your understanding of the learning theory change through this activity?

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Web resources
The Web Resources page has one site each for CIP and Ausubel.
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Comments: joalexan@indiana.edu