A Guide to Using Cognition for Effective Learning

As someone who is constantly seeking to enhance their learning journey, I’m always on the lookout for new methods and techniques to better comprehend and apply concepts. Understanding the fundamentals of cognition has been a significant step forward in this pursuit. In this article, we’ll explore how insights from cognitive psychology can serve as a guide to making your learning process more efficient and effective.

For most of us, education has traditionally followed a behaviouristic approach, one that takes the learner’s subjective experience out of the equation. According to this philosophy, learning occurs through observation and replication of information. (For ex: rote learning the history of the Renaissance just to reproduce it during an examination.)

Although this methodology indicates a change in behaviour and the acquisition of information, it fails to account for the application of the learned material. This is where cognitivism plays a role. It exemplifies how a learner does not acquire knowledge by imitating, but rather by analysing and processing the information. It breaks the confines of the prior model of education and looks towards how individual differences in cognition can play a role in learning.

At the heart of the connection between epistemology and cognition is the understanding of knowledge through the lens of internal processes. Looking beyond observable behaviour, cognitivism considers learning as a continuous interaction between internal factors (attention, memory, perception etc.) and external factors (environment, instructions etc.). A significant contributor to the field was Jean Piaget, who most famously was able to perceive how children created schemas that shaped their perceptions, cognitions, and judgments of the world.

Read More: Psychological Insights into Metacognition and Learning

In a society where distractions are abundant, attention is the ultimate form of rebellion. By- Linsey Mills

We are constantly exposed to a wealth of information from our world. Our senses regularly receive input from different modalities, with us paying attention to only a small percentage of the same. Attention is how we actively select and process a limited amount of information from the vast expanse of information captured by our senses, our stored memories, and our other cognitive processes (De Weerd, Rao 2003).

It allows us to focus on stimuli that we consider important and block out irrelevant matter, allowing us to make rapid and judicious judgments. The need for attention to learn may seem obvious, but understanding how it can be a decisive factor in whether we retain information exemplifies its role.

Focal maintenance, the ability to sustain attention over a period of time, varies from one learner to another. It enables us to filter out irrelevant information in our environment and focus on what is essential. Improving our focal maintenance can prove to be an invaluable tool for learning, and we can use the following methods to do so:

• Self-Monitoring: Estimate the amount of time you’ll need to complete a task. After finishing the task, assess whether your estimate was accurate. If not, identify the weaknesses in your process.
• Remove Distractions: Allocate specific time slots for different tasks in your schedule, and eliminate all potential distractions, especially your mobile phone. Research has shown that the mere presence of a mobile phone, even when not in use, can impair cognitive capacity.
• Active Involvement: Engage with the content you are learning. Find reference videos and images that help you interact with, and connect to create meaningful experiences from the concepts learnt.
• Prioritize Salient Information: When important points are reiterated by a teacher in the classroom, channel your focus onto the topic being discussed and take notes of the material.

Read More: The Psychology of Learning

Research has shown that multi-tasking is in actuality, a myth. When we think we are focusing on two different tasks simultaneously, we are actually partaking in constant task switching. The limited nature of working memory means that we are constrained by the amount of information that it is able to retain and process, with excessive strain causing a dip in productivity. Meyer has said that even brief mental blocks created by shifting between tasks can cost as much as 40 per cent of someone’s productive time. Even though rapid task switching is required for certain activities, concentrating on one particular task at a time along with taking a break after a mentally taxing activity would prove to be the most beneficial to learning.

I think it is all a matter of love; the more you love a memory the stronger and stranger it becomes. By- Vladimir Nabokov

Defined in psychology as the faculty of encoding, storing, and retrieving information, memory is the cornerstone of learning. Equally significant are the processes behind forgetting. The Levels of Processing Framework given by Craik and Lockhart defines memory as a continuous dimension, where how well something is remembered is dependent on the depth to which that information is understood. According to this model, elaborative processes facilitate learning. We can apply this principle to our learning process by connecting new concepts to ones we have already mastered. This helps us create deeper and more meaningful connections between ideas.

Tulving and Thomson theorized another principle of memory that focuses on the encoding process. They state that memory retrieval is most dependent on the context present during the encoding process. In other words, retrieval of information will be efficient when cues from the learning environment are present or similar to when the information is needed. Hence, our contextual surroundings and emotional state during the learning process play a significant role in whether we remember what we’ve learnt.

Without forgetting it is quite impossible to live at all. By- Friedrich Nietzsche

As essential as memory is to the human experience, the ability to forget is equally vital for the survival of humankind. Yet, this same capacity to forget often becomes a source of great frustration for students.

Read More: Tailored Learning: How Special Education Transforms Lives

One of the early pioneers in the study of forgetting was Herman Ebbinghaus (1913). He conducted experiments in which he memorized lists of “nonsense syllables,” such as GEX and WOL, to eliminate any verbal associations that might aid retention. After memorizing these lists, he waited for a specific amount of time before attempting to recall them. The results were plotted on a graph, which gave rise to the familiar “curve of forgetting.” This curve illustrates that forgetting occurs rapidly within the first hour after learning the lists, followed by a gradual decline in forgetting.

This curve of forgetting is not unique to nonsense syllables; it can also be observed with other types of information. While meaningful material is forgotten more slowly and less completely, the pattern of forgetting is similar. Using mathematical measures, researchers have found that the Ebbinghaus curve provides a valuable and “pure” measure of memory performance (Murre & Chessa, 2023).

The application of the forgetting curve to learning in an educational environment is evident. Typically, after attending a lecture or reading a chapter in a book, most of the information is forgotten within the first hour, and about 75% is forgotten within two to three days. However, this decline in memory retention can be counteracted through the use of review methods and spaced learning strategies.

An example of negating the curve is exhibited in an experiment conducted on four cohorts of first-year students who were asked to complete weekly online reflective self-assessments via learning management systems, after having completed specific sections of the syllabus. It was observed that regular self-assessments saw an increase in the final pass rates of these students averaging 79%, which is approximately 18% higher than in previous years where this approach was not used (Swart, Venter 2018).
The principles of memory outlined in this article can be applied to our learning in the following ways:

• Ask yourself meaningful questions about the content you are studying. Align the way you are encoding the information to the way you are expected to recall it. (For ex: If you are learning about a model of health behaviour, learn how it can be applied in a patient case study to asses disease).
• By employing review methods and spaced learning strategies, the initial decay of memory post-learning can be mitigated. This is particularly valuable in academia, as periodic review of studied content ensures retention and deepens understanding. I have personally found this strategy to be extremely effective in my academic pursuits.
• Engage in interactive discussions with others about the content. Having a diverse set of opinions and thoughts entering your purview provides a complete and more well-rounded outlook on the topic.
• Utilize memory tools such as mnemonics and situation cues to commit pedantic information to memory.
• Create context clues that can help you connect the information that you’re learning to your experiences or surroundings.

Read More: VARK Model: Exploring The Learning Styles

By understanding how we learn, we can embrace a unique and catered approach to knowledge. Although individual differences in cognitive processes do play a role, applying our understanding of memory processes, cognitive psychology, and the curve of forgetting, we can use a holistic approach to developing effective strategies to optimize memory retention and enhance learning outcomes.