Cognitive Theories

WHAT?

I was fascinated learning about memory in class this week. It has always been something that has interested me. In my family, the joke is that my first memory is of last week. I always tell my parents that they may not be my real parents because I have no memories of either of them before I was about six. I don't remember most of my childhood beyond a few snapshot memories, and even those may be memories of an actual snapshot!

In class we defined learning as "the process of acquiring knowledge about the world". We also discussed cognitive learning and how it is difficult to measure because we can only assess learning through behavior. The basic principles of learning are:

• learning is due to experience
• meaning is constructed by the learner, not by the environment, and
• prior knowledge and beliefs play a major role in the meanings that people construct.

In class and in the text we learned about the model of human memory. In the model there are steps that are followed for things to be stored in first the short-term memory and then into the long-term memory. We discussed how these compared to the way we believe our brain physically stores information. When we are learning or making memories, we begin with our five senses. Information then travels to the reticular activating system or the attention gateway. After the RAS, information is sent to the thalamus to be sorted (short-term memory) and then sent to the different lobes of the cerebral cortex. Different information is sent to different places, for example, audio information is sent to the temporal lobe, while visual information is sent to the occipital lobe. The info is then sent to either the hippocampus to be processed, or to the amygdala, where very emotional things are sent. Then the info is shot back out to the cerebral cortex to be stored (long-term memory).

When we remember information, the whole brain works together to reconstruct that memory, and the hippocampus brings it all back together. There are a couple of reasons that we forget things that have been stored in the long term memory. There is decay which is basically use it or lose it. There is also interference which is not going down the right pathways to find the info.

We discussed the three different types of memory, Working or short-term memory, explicit memory, and implicit memory. Explicit memory is the kind of stuff that you can explain. Implicit is stuff that you just know, but you can't necessarily explain. We also learned about encoding, or ways to strengthen memory. Some things included were rehearsal, elaboration, enactment and mnemonics.

SO WHAT?

The basic message that I got out of chapter six is that memory is an intricate process. The short-term memory can only hold so much information while we are actively thinking about it. It is like an echo. The long term memory has a limitless capacity. When we make more meaningful connections about the information we are learning, we are able to understand and remember the information more easily. The more we know, the easier it is for us to learn. We must work to commit something to memory. While reading a text for another class (Instruction: a models approach), I found a quote that I think fits well. "Tell me, I forget. Show me, I remember. Involve me, I understand." We need to help our students find ways to not only study so that they can remember the information we give them, but also have them participate in the learning process.

NOW WHAT?

In getting to know my students, I need to find out how they best remember information. I need to find opportunities in my teaching to involve the students as much as possible so that they will create the right pathways to store material so that they will be able to find it when needed.