Cognitive Psychology is the most in vogue at this time due to all the research taking place about how we learn and is the foundation for Chapters 6-8 in this text book.
What did Darren learn during:
Math -
Geography :
P.E.
Art:
Definition of Learning –
A relative permanent change in behavior due to experience
Learning is the process of establishing
neural pathways linking initially unconnected, or weakly connected, clusters of
neural activity into stable, cohesive network.
Left hemisphere is primarily responsible for:
Right hemisphere is more dominant in:
Cortex at the front of the brain is:
Still other areas of the brain manage other physiological processes of the body, in terms of our respiratory and proprioception and perception.
See table 6.1 for an example of how to
apply the above assumptions
Basic Terminology of Cognitive Psychology
Memory – Learners ability to save information previously learned
Encoding – Modifying information we receive
Exercise page 190
Short Term Memory – Temporary
Long Term Memory - Semantic Memory – facts
- Episodic Memory – personal stories
- Procedural memory – motion/action
Memories are created by:
Receiving Encoding it Storing it Retrieving it
Information
Sensory Register – the component of memory that holds the information you receive in its unencoded form –
In trying to understand the memory process it is helpful to think of the brain as a warehouse of information, with loading docks for receiving information. Dockworkers are the elements that help us move that information from the truck (Sensory Register), to the loading dock, (Short term memory) to the warehouse (Long term memory ).
To store information, dockworkers need to move the information off the Sensory register truck to the loading dock, which is the working memory or Short-term memory.
The Loading Dock can only store a little information - about 6-7 chunks temporarily.
If you try to put more than that on the loading dock, it just
falls off and is never stored in the Warehouse of your brain.
The “dockworkers” figure out where to store it by:
- Rehearsing
- Micro-pauses between information (4-5 seconds) to provide separation between chunks
- Break before learning next set of “chunks” giving dockworkers a chance to file correctly
- Take a 6-10 minute break before studying a different subject. Otherwise the dockworkers get mighty confused about where to put things
- Study only 90 minutes at a time – dockworkers only work about ½ speed after 90 minutes
Practice retrieving information about 10 minutes per day so dockworkers can get the retrieval path down.
Different dockworkers have different capacities:
Visual information movers – information only lasts for < 1 second
Auditory information movers – lasts for maybe 2 seconds
Kinesthetic information movers – dockworkers who use gestures/motion
If you encode information using all three
dockworkers, you have three dockworkers looking for information rather than just
one or two.
The dockworkers will need some sort of organizational or filing system to connect the new information to what you already know so they can retrieve it quickly as requested.
Short-term memory can consist of:
- An entirely new set of long term knowledge networks
- An entirely brand new stimuli that we have been confronted with
- Or a combination of long-term knowledge and new stimuli
Short term memory generates and extra boost of activation to the neural networks that sustain relevant long-term knowledge and new information sets. This is a temporary boost in activation, which typically lasts from 1-60 seconds (Crenshaw, 2006).
This “extra boost” of neural activation is ATTENTION. Paying attention means providing extra activation to selected neural networks (Crenshaw, 2006).
Active - being what is incoming information or being previously stored - is what you are paying attention to or processing.
Shifting attention may activate still other information from memory.
Most of the information we have stored in memory is considered Inactive when you are not consciously aware of it.
- Without attention, there is no encoding of new knowledge
- Our emotional system drives our attentional system
- Our attentional system drives learning and memory (Crenshaw, 2006).
“Whatever people pay attention to (mentally) moves into working memory.”pg 192
It has a limited capacity – cocktail party phenomenon – you can only listen to one conversation at a time.
Example: If you are distracted by the lecturers clothing or mannerisms, you will not get the content of the lecture.
Teachers can help students pay attention
by:
1. Asking questions
2. Ask students to put class materials to use
3. Have students take notes
4. Seat students who have trouble paying attention near teacher
5. Provide stimulating classroom environment
6. Show enthusiasm for topic
7. Come prepared
8. Give students mental breaks – do a physical task, take a 1 minute stretch…
What is the difference between Working
Memory (WM) and Short-Term Memory (STM)?
Working memory is the component of memory where new information stays while it is being mentally processed. It was initially called Short-term memory. Now we know that working memory consists of:
1. short term memory and
2. the ability to rearrange and manipulate the levels of activation of the contents of short term memory
a. Includes a central executive component that
i. focuses attention
ii. selects and controls complex voluntary behaviors
iii. oversees flow of information throughout memory system
iv. inhibits inappropriate thoughts and actions
Example of STM – forward digital recall
Example of WM – backward digital recall
Just as attention has a limited capacity, so does the Working memory, as well as a very short duration.
Try computing 49,383 ¸ 59 in your head.
Students are likely to remember 1/6th of the ideas from 1 minute of lecture! (see cartoon page 194)
See examples on page 194 of how students connect information to what they already know.
“We use relevant background knowledge (long Term memory) to help make sense of new information. If relevant LTM networks are not activated either prior to receiving new information, or at least shortly afterwards, then unique new information will not be comprehended and probably not remembered” (Crenshaw, 2006).
“Too often students don’t activate relevant background information prior to receiving new information and they struggle with comprehension because they are only providing attention (activation) to this new information. Sometimes they may need to be prompted to do this” (Crenshaw, 2006).
The more often we access stored information from LTM, it takes less time and effort to do so.
Chunking also shortens the amount of effort needed to activate a memory from LTM.
Now try using the acronym
H
to recall these
lakes!
O
M
E
S
Anxiety Little effort
New concepts Irrelevant information
What is the first word that comes to mind
when you hear the word Horse?
What does the third remind you of?
Beginning with the word Horse, follow your train of thought, letting each word remind you of another for a sequence of at least 8 words.
Write down the sequence of words as each word comes to mind.
Meaningful Learning requires 3 conditions:
1. The Learner has a meaningful learning set
2. The learner has previous knowledge to which the new information can be related
3. The learner is aware that the previously learned information can be related to the new information
What can you do as a counselor to help students relate what they are learning academically to the world they live in?
Sometimes we have to understand how a student is constructing the knowledge they are learning, Understanding how they are Organizing the new information, helping them learn to elaborate and visualize will give them life long study tools that aid in building the general knowledge they have stored.
- Develop interrelated ideas rather than separate facts
- Give them specific structures to work with so they can begin to structure their own information for studying
The more students elaborate on new material, the more they will use what they already know to help them understand and remember it.
Make certain they are making appropriate connections.
Visual imagery is a great way to encode
information in your long-term memory
You can help students by getting them to
visualize how the new information they are learning may “look.” Have them
draw their own illustrations or diagrams.
What do the developmental stages have to
do with the above processes?
What if the student has no prior
knowledge?
Use of Mnemonics in Absence of Relevant
Knowledge
Three types of Mnemonics
n
Verbal Mediation
n
Keyword Method
n
Superimposed Meaningful
Structures
Verbal Mediation
– A word or phrase that bridges 2 pieces of information
nThe
word principal ends in “pal” not “ple” = the principal is my pal
n
The 2nd Amendment to the US
Constitution
is the right to bear arms
= A bear has two arms
n
The humorus
= is just above the funny bone
Keyword Method
1.
Identify a concrete object to represent each piece of information
a.
May be a commonly used symbol or a sound alike object
2.
Form a mental picture of these two words together
You
used this method with Chinese words a memorized earlier
Fang
– house
Men
– door
Ke
– guest
Fan
– food
Shu
– book
See other
examples in book page 209
Das
Ferd is German for horse
Picture a horse driving a Ford
Augusta
is the capital of the
Picture a gust of wind blowing
state of Maine
through the horse’s mane
Super Imposed
Meaningful Structure
A
method of organizing and memorizing a large amount of information with familiar
terms
Please
Excuse My
Dear Aunt
Sally
Parenthesis,
Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction
FOIL
Multiply
first terms inside parenthesis,
then the two outer terms, then
the two inner terms, then the last
terms
HOMES -
Huron, Ontario,
Michigan, Eerie,
Superior
To
memorize the order of the 9 planets from the Sun:
My
Very Energetic Mother Just Sent Us Nine Pizzas –
Mercury,
Venus, Earth,
Mars, Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus,
Neptune, Pluto
Turning
a screw =
“Righty, tighty. Lefty Loosey”
Other
mnemonics?
Exercise Page
210
Long-Term Memory Retrieval
4 Factors promoting retrieval
1.
Making multiple connections with existing knowledge
2.
Learning information to mastery and beyond
a.
If you fill up your working memory with retrieval of single facts, little
room is left for understanding complex situations
b.
Automaticity of some facts frees
you to tackle more complex problems.
i.
Math facts are an example
ii.
Can only be achieved by Practice and
incorporation in daily activities or brain teasers rather than by rote
3.
Using knowledge frequently - Review
enhances knowledge
4.
Having a relevant retrieval clue – HOMES
is a retrieval cue
Exercise Page 212
5
reasons
1.
Failure to retrieve – we often fail
to use retrieval cues for names
2.
Reconstruction Error – Often
don’t fill information gaps correctly
3.
Interference – Storing various
pieces of info that interfere w/each other
4.
Decay – Gradual fading of unused
information
5.
Failure to store – Failing to
attend, process information from working memory to LTM
Ways to encourage Retrieval
1.
Make sure student is paying attention to info
2.
Help relate new material to what they already know
3.
Give opportunities to review, practice and apply material
frequently
See
Into the Classroom page 215
Allow
wait time when asking students to process information.
References
Crenshaw,
K. (2005) Learning and Memory Workshop Handouts.
Ormrod,
J.E. (2006). Educational Psychology. Pearson Education: New Jersey.