The cognitive view of learning is one of the most utilized learning approaches. It is used commonly among educators because of its direct relation to neuroscience and the brain. Unlike the other learning approaches, the focus here is understanding and capitalizing on the mental processes of the learners to achieve cognition. Cognition is the sum of mental abilities for cognitive learning: attention, memory, language use and understanding, problem-solving, evaluation, and decision-making. The process of acquiring new information is called the cognitive learning process. The basis of this theory is that the person passes the information through the filters of the mind, perceives, modifies, and stores it in a complete self-made form.
One of the main concepts that the cognitive learning approach takes its foundation in is the information processing model. The information processing model involves the transmission of information, memory types, and mental processes. Scholars have generated various models regarding this subject according to their view of learning. However, fundamentally, these models use similar components to explain the human mind’s operations related to information and learning. This model takes inspiration from the operations of a computer that receives input, processes it, stores the information, and then retrieves it when needed (Moreno, 2009). These processes similarly occur in the human mind with the help of the three memory systems and their specialized interrelations. These systems are sensory memory, working memory, and long-term memory.
Sensory memory is the first stop for information flow in the mind, and its first responsibility is to receive various types of stimuli. For this task, sensory memory has different registry systems for each of the five senses, and they are liable to receive and store these various inputs in their unprocessed format (Moreno, 2009). Since there are multiple stimuli around the environment, learners need adequate storage space for the inputs to get processed later. To achieve this, sensory memory has a large capacity to hold the inputs; however, they can be stored in this place for a brief time before their transfer into working memory (Moghaddam & Araghi, 2013). Therefore, if the transfer fails, unprocessed information gets lost. Human memory utilizes two different mental processes to prevent the loss of information: attention and perception. Attention is the learner’s effort to concentrate on a particular stimulus to avoid information loss before the information gets processed. There are two types of attention: conscious and automatic attention, and these occur according to the individual’s relationship with the stimulus. Automatic attention occurs when the individual has an acquired relationship with the stimuli, while conscious attention occurs through the assistance of high-order mental skills to distinguish between multiple stimuli and achieve the desired outcome (Miller, 1987). After attending to the stimuli, perception occurs. Perception is the process that occurs after the stimulus is received in the sensory registers. Through this process, it gets interpreted according to the context and knowledge of the learner (Moreno, 2009). Then the stimulus gets transferred to working memory.
Working memory is where the perceived stimuli get processed to achieve meaning. Working memory acts as a bridge between sensory and long-term memory, and it has a smaller capacity than sensory memory. It works bi-directionally to encode and rehearse the information to be stored in long-term memory and retrieve the information from there if needed (Radstone & Schwarz, 2010). With storing the encoding, information gets altered and sent to long-term memory in an organized manner. In the other direction, with retrieval, the information gets transferred back to the working memory to remember or further utilize the information.
Long-term memory is the last stop for information processing. It has a limitless amount of storage space. The information stored in the long-term memory is the outcome of the association process through encoding. It also includes the retrieval process, in which previously stored information is retrieved into working memory, made available for use or modification, and then returned to long-term memory (Luckner, 1990). Long-term memory allows for different types of information to be stored: declarative knowledge, procedural knowledge, and conditional knowledge. Declarative knowledge is a learner’s knowledge about the environment stored in the form of facts in long-term memory (Shuell, 1986). The second type is procedural knowledge. According to Shuell (1986), it is the learner’s knowledge of how to perform a particular task automatically to achieve the intended outcome, such as utilizing our declarative knowledge to perform mathematical processes in the brain. The last type is conditional knowledge, which is concerned with determining the use of declarative and procedural knowledge according to the learning context (Moreno, 2009).
The Cognitive Approach to Learning and Information Processing Model provides so much in terms of insights about cognition and mental processes to researchers as a foundation for their research Also, its direct contact with neuroscience and the brain makes it a highly viable approach to work toward a better understanding of the human mind.
