The Basic cognitive processes Are those strategies that determine our performance in mental or cognitive activities. They allow thought, perception, storage of information, interpretation of the external world, etc. to happen.
These types of strategies are essential for learning. For example, we would not acquire knowledge if our senses did not work well (perception), if we could not focus on what we are going to learn (attention), or if we were not able to save the information (memory).
Not only do we learn in school or in formal contexts, but learning is an activity we do every day. We are programmed to learn because acquiring certain knowledge is a powerful survival mechanism.
For example, we can remember where are the dangerous places, where water is obtained, or simply that if we touch the fire we burn.
These knowledge and other more complex, can be acquired in many different ways. Some are more effective or faster than others, what is clear is that what helps us learn are our cognitive processes.
How are cognitive processes related to the senses?
Cognitive processes are linked to our way of processing the information we receive from our senses.
Thus, we select the important, order it, retain it, and then integrate it with other knowledge that we already have to memorize it and use it in the future.
These processes are complex, difficult to break down into small steps, and are closely related to memory . Since learning requires remembering.
If our cognitive processes are directed and trained through structured planning, such as the one we receive at school, they are conceptualized as learning strategies.
In this way, if we learn how to guide our cognitive processes and develop appropriate learning strategies, we will be able to build the appropriate skills to achieve knowledge effectively. In that case we learn to think, to control our own learning, and to create new and increasingly perfected strategies.
Each person can have different learning strategies since we are all different and we have to adapt them to our rhythm and peculiarities.
For example, there are people who study better by writing the text they have to learn, others simply read information about the subject, and others learn best using pictures and colors. Some may read a text twice and learn it, while others will need to re-read it more often and spend more time.
It is essential to know that the cognitive processes of learning must always be taken into account, because if the results obtained are ignored and only the results obtained are satisfied (for example, to the grade of the exam), school failure is facilitated. This is because schoolchildren are required to pass exams, recite information, or execute what they have learned; But they are not told how.
Therein lies the problem: many students are frustrated and get poor academic results because they do not know how to handle their cognitive processes to learn better.
It is advisable to teach them to use the tools to build their own knowledge, empowering each student those who serve them the most. It is essential that educators take into account cognitive processes not as results, but as the opportunity to develop competencies for learning.
What are the types of basic cognitive processes?
Perception Processes
Perception is much more complex than we think. It is not only hearing, seeing, touching, smelling or tasting, there are many factors involved. For example, we are more likely to catch something if we are paying attention to it.
In addition, we influence our previous knowledge and expectations. This can be observed in the moments in which our senses play us"bad times". For example, when we are waiting for a friend and we believe we see him; Or when we are surprised by optical illusions and impossible images, since our experience has taught us that it is impossible for them to exist.
In short, to learn we need our senses to be in operation and focused on the right stimuli.
Processes of care
They are very related to perception, in fact, we perceive more consciously what we pay attention to. So when we are talking to someone, we listen and listen to what they tell us.
We will know what we are talking about, but if you close your eyes and try to tell what color the pants are wearing, you would not know how to respond. It does not mean you have not seen the color, but you have not paid enough attention to remember.
As you may have guessed, attention is a mechanism that works as a filter that saves our resources and energy. If we had to take care of everything we got, we would be exhausted right away. Attention is then a process that can focus on some stimuli and restrict others.
Attention is the one that will allow certain elements to pass to our stores of memory in the short and long term.
Learning to focus on the right stimuli ignoring those that distract us, knowing how to maintain it for a long time, or being able to change it from one place to another when necessary; Is something that contributes greatly to the overall cognitive development. And, therefore, to the learning and acquisition of new knowledge.
Coding processes
Coding is the process where information is prepared so that it can be saved. It can be coded as experiences, images, sounds, ideas or events.
In order for meaningful learning to occur that facilitates retention and memorization, information needs to be organized, interpreted, and understood; That is, to be codified (Etchepareborda and Abad-Mas, 2005).
Are processes of the call work memory Or operational memory, which is what makes it possible for new knowledge to relate to the information already stored in the long-term memory.
This type of memory is limited and temporary, being the minimum necessary to carry out any activity. This mechanism also allows comparing data, contrasting them or relating them to each other.
For example, working memory allows us to remember the previous sentence of one text as we read the next, even keep the flow of our own thinking or understand what others say.
Retention and recall process
Encoding facilitates retention of information, while learning depends on recall. That is, the information we can retrieve (remember) is proof that we have learned.
This corresponds to the long-term memory, which is the one that allows new data to be stored and that data is retrieved to be used when convenient. That way, we can evoke past experiences and knowledge, even re-modify them and save them with the new changes in our warehouse.
The main strategies to memorize correctly in order to achieve learning are:
- Make summaries and diagrams
- Paraphrase, that is, repeat the information we just received or ask another person to ask us about what we are memorizing to repeat it with our words.
Requirements for a good memorization:
- Understand what we are holding in our memory and if there are doubts, try to solve them. If you do not understand what is stored, it may last a short time in our memory as it will not be very useful for us.
- It is better to rethink the data and not repeat the same sentences in our head. That is to say, we memorize better the elements that we have worked, reflected with them, commented, translated to our words, handled directly or extracted some opinion. Just as if instead of having received them from a teacher, we searched for it ourselves and investigated.
This is a good way to"appropriate"our knowledge.
Define
The information that we are going to learn must be well delimited, differentiated and clear. It begins by learning the fundamental and main aspects of a concept, and little by little elements and details are added to define the definition.
Tips for building correct definitions:
- To have a correct length, that is to say, not be too wide (too many details that make it complex) or too short (missing important data).
- Avoid being circular. By this I mean that in the definition should not appear concepts that are not understood and are linked to each other. You will understand better with an example of circular definition:"neurons are cells that have axons"and then define axons as"elements that are part of neurons". Therefore, for someone who does not know the Concept of neuron Nor axon, the definition would be useless.
- Avoid negative: better understand those statements that are written in positive. It is more appropriate to define something by its characteristics than by its deficiencies. For example, it is better to define"clear"as something"luminous, which receives or has light"than to define it as"the opposite to dark".
- Try not to fall into ambiguity, or use figurative language or not adapted to the age and knowledge of the person.
Analysis and synthesis
It involves separating an idea into smaller parts to look closely at its elements.
That is, to understand something we use as a technique to divide it into its different components. They serve to...
- Label a complex situation by identifying its elements. It is similar to making a diagnosis.
- Detect the causes that have produced a phenomenon and use this knowledge to apply it in the future.
- Make objective judgments of a fact.
- Learn to plan according to our needs and verify if the plan has worked.
Analysis and synthesis facilitate our understanding of the information and, therefore, its subsequent storage.
Comparison
It is our ability to build relationships of differences or similarities between situations, elements, concepts or events.
In order to make a comparison we need two requirements: the elements to be compared and on what criteria we will base. For example, if we compare several situations by their level of danger, or some objects by their weight.
Classification
It consists of establishing classes, subtypes or subgroups from a set of elements. For this we need to establish a criterion or more that the group will have in common: color, shape, number, age, academic level, gender, etc. Thus, the similar is united and the different is separated.
These last two elements, the comparison and the classification, are useful tools to organize the data. If the data are well structured and organized, they are better assimilated.
Experimentation
Finding out for oneself what works and what not through the establishment of hypotheses and their empirical verification is a good way to learn. It all starts with an idea that we want to test (hypothesis) and then we execute a plan to see what happens.
For example, try to give a new ingredient to a recipe to see if its taste has changed as expected.
The cognitive schemas that underlie this experimentation have been active since we were babies, and we continually learn by hypothesizing and verifying or rejecting them.
Generalization processes
It is the capacity we have to be able to use the information learned and apply it to very different events. This determines that learning has been significant.
An example may be to remember the orthographic norms learned in the school to know where to place the tildes when we are writing a letter to a friend. In this way, you not only memorized the rules of spelling, but also know how to apply them in any context you need.
Inference, interpretation and deduction processes
Through these processes we can get to new conclusions, only making derivations of information that we already have.
It resembles the work of a detective: at first he sees that the clues he finds seem to have no connection, but from reflections and interpretations he reaches the conclusion and solves the problem.
We continually make these interpretations and inferences, although we must be very careful because we are at risk of making mistakes and arriving at conclusions that do not coincide with reality.
Metacognitive processes
They are very broad and complex processes, and are associated with the control of our own performance. It consists of monitoring if we are doing things right, evaluating them, and correcting our behavior if necessary. It can also be defined as"think about how we think".
References
- How do we learn? Basic cognitive processes. (S.f.). Retrieved on September 26, 2016, from Universidad de Talca, Chile.
- B., N. (November 9, 2010). The Twelve Cognitive Processes that Underlie Learning. Obtained from Libraries and Transliteracy.
- Circular Definition. (S.f.). Retrieved on September 26, 2016, from Wikipedia.
- Cognitive Processes and Learning. (S.f.). Retrieved on September 26, 2016, from Cognitive Processeses.
- Etchepareborda, M.C. & Abad-Mas, L. (2005). Memory of work in the basic processes of learning. REV. NEUROL., 40 (Suppl 1): S79-S83.
- Rodríguez González, R. and Fernández Orviz, M. (1997). Cognitive development and early learning: the written language in early childhood education. Publications Service University of Oviedo.