Cognitive Psychology & Learning

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By Irina Paley, eHow Contributing Writer
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Cognitive psychology is a discipline focused on studying how people perceive, remember,

think, problem solve and learn. While cognitive psychologists often adopt different
theoretical approaches and study a wide range of phenomena, most will agree that the focus
of the subject is the main internal psychological processes involved in studying the
environment and making appropriate decisions. Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, and more
recently, Seymour Papert, have been the most significant researchers on topics of cognition
and learning. Their influential work lays the foundation for modern thinking about cognitive
psychology and learning.

Approaches
1. Cognitive psychology can be broken down into four major approaches. Experimental
cognitive psychology involves carrying out laboratory experiments on normal
individuals. Cognitive neuroscience involves using techniques such as brain scans
(fMRI and EEG) to study brain function in order to identify the neurophysiological
structure used in cognition. Similarly, cognitive neuropsychology attempts to
determine physiological brain structures involved in cognition by studying patterns of
cognitive impairment present in brain-damaged individuals. Finally, cognitive science
involves developing computational models to understand human cognition.

Jean Piaget and Adaptation

2. Jean Piaget had a tremendous impact on cognitive psychology and its application to
child development and learning. He hypothesized that people are pre-programmed to
be logical thinkers, and that development of learning capacity follows an innate
sequence of stages over the child's life. According to his theory, in order for children
to learn and adapt to their world, two processes are key. Accommodation occurs when
an individual's cognitive organization is altered by an environmental event, and the
individual must adjust to the outside world. Assimilation occurs when an individual
 deals with new situations on the basis of an existing cognitive organization, and his or
her interpretation of the outside world adjusts to fit the individual.

Stages of Cognitive Development

3. According to Piaget, children learn through a series of four cognitive developmental
stages, which occur distinctly and sequentially. The sensorimotor stage lasts from
birth until the age of two, and is the stage of action during which the infant learns
about physically navigating the world. The pre-operational stage follows, and lasts
until about seven years of age. During this stage, thinking is dominated by perception,
and children in this stage often pay attention to only one part of a given situation (a
concept called centration). The concrete operational stage lasts between the ages of
seven and eleven. At this point, thinking becomes less dependent on perception; the
development of logical-mathematical thinking advances greatly. The final stage of
cognitive development is the formal operational stage, which lasts from age twelve
into adulthood. This stage is marked by the development of logical and abstract
thinking.

Lev Vygotsky
4. To address the issues of learning and internalization, Lev Vygotsky offered the
concept of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), which contrasted with Piaget's
theories about a lag of learning behind development. In his book, Mind in Society,
Vygotsky defines the zone of proximal development as "the distance between the
actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the
level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult
guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers." He suggests that an
individual's learning capacity is enhanced when receiving guidance from another
person, particularly a peer. The biggest implication of his work is that individuals can
promote their cognitive development by interacting with others who can help them
reach higher levels of functioning within their zone of proximal development.

Constructivism and Constructionism

5. Piaget's research lead to the development of the constructivism theory of learning,
which is based on the notions that children learn by formulating knowledge based on
their experiences. Seymour Papert, a professor at the Masschusetts Institute of
Technology, developed a theory of learning based upon Piaget's constructivism.
Papert claims that constructionism "shares contructivism's view of learning as
building knowledge structures through progressive internalization of actions. It then
adds the idea that this happens especially felicitously in a context where the learner is
consciously engaged in constructing a public entity, whether it's a sand castle on the
beach or a theory of the universe" (Papert, 1980). Because Papert focuses greatly on
learning through making, the emphasis shifts from universals to individual learners,
and helps in understanding how ideas get formed and transformed when expressed
through different contexts and mediums.
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