This guide will provide you with an overview of how cognitive training can positively impact your life when you work in the workplace.
As one matures as a person, they become active participant in different ways that allow one to acquire new knowledge and abilities. The cognitive learning training for employees in companies expands and enhances their capabilities to handle more complicated tasks.
Employers must expose their employees to cognitive learning training . An company with employees who have high cognitive capabilities is likely to succeed.
Highly trained and engaged employees can learn quickly and are highly productive and be able to handle multiple complicated tasks without needing the supervision of a supervisor.
What is the concept of cognitive learning?
The brain’s processes of mental processing to process and store information from experiences, sensory input and thoughts is known as cognition.
There is a new branch of psychology called cognitive psychology. It’s an investigation of mental brain processes that make up man. These are the processes that happen inside your brain, such as thinking about, studying, paying attention and problem solving, perception and more.
Cognitive learning is a process that involves many components.
Traditional education focuses on memorization , not trying to master the topic.
The basic aspects of cognitive development are described in the following sections:
1. Understanding
In order for cognitive learning to be efficient and beneficial for you, it is important to know why you’re studying a specific subject in the first instance.
2. memory
Cognitive learning prevents the cramming of information which is a waste of time for education. A thorough understanding of a topic can help you connect new information to your previous experiences or knowledge.
3. Application
Strategies for cognitive learning help you apply the latest information or abilities to real-world situations. They help you improve your problem-solving abilities.
Cognitive learning theories
Cognitive learning theory
Cognitive learning theory describes the way that external and internal influences influence an individual’s cognitive processes that enhance learning.
The delays and problems in learning result when cognitive processes are not working properly. These comprise of observation, attention and long-term memory recall and categorization.
Many researchers have made important contribution to the theory. Jerome Bruner focused on how the brain functions are linked to teaching.
Another researcher , Jean Piaget recognized that the environment is a major factor and was also interested in changes within the cognitive structure of the brain. You can learn more about the theory of Piaget’s cognition in our earlier piece on collaboration in learning.
Nowadays, the concept of cognitive learning is the dominant concept in the field of psychology. It is split into two types.
Social cognitive theory
This theory can help us understand how people are affected and the impact they have in the world.
One of the key aspects of social-cognitive theory are the process of learning through observation. It’s the process of acquiring the good and bad behaviors of other people through observation.
It’s a simple method of obtaining information when trading on your own. Anyone who exhibits behaviour for another is known as”model.
They could be real individuals, like peers, teachers, bosses. They can also be symbolic models, sometimes referred to as fictional characters, who influence the behaviour of an observer.
The process of observational learning can teach people positive and negative behavior. For instance, a supervisor in a business might instruct employees to behave in a moral and responsible manner when they interact with in a manner that is rude with customers. Furthermore, the supervisor could also educate their employees on various ways they can be used when faced with fire or other hazard with a low probability situations.
Cognitive Behavior Theory
This theory is mostly based on our thinking processes, like our thoughts and perceptions of events in our lives.
It explains how thoughts actions, emotions, and thoughts interact with one another. Thinking triggers certain emotions that result in specific behavior responses.
If we alter our thinking and beliefs, we are able to alter our feelings and actions. The reverse also happens by changing our behavior, which can result in changes in our moods and, ultimately, our thoughts too.
Let’s look at the scenario of a developer who comes across some issue within a specific area and immediately believes that the job will be difficult for him from the beginning. The worker is likely to develop a negative view toward the particular job and their performance is likely be subpar.
The advantages of cognitive learning
Here are the principal positive outcomes of learning through cognitive processes:
1. Improves learning
The concept of cognitive learning is a way to encourage lifelong learning. People can build upon existing ideas and apply new ideas to the existing knowledge.
2. Increases confidence in oneself
Employees are more confident when it comes to completing their tasks. They acquire a better knowledge of the new subjects and develop new techniques.
3. Improves understanding
Cognitive learning can improve learners ability to comprehend new knowledge. You will gain a better understanding of the new learning material.
4. Improves problem solving skills
Cognitive learning provides employees with the necessary skills to effectively learn. This allows them to build abilities to think critically and apply to difficult tasks.
5. It helps you learn faster new things.
By gaining experience through learning through the learning experience, the student can reuse and implement the same techniques of learning that worked in the past. This will help to learn new skills more quickly because they are already familiar with what is effective best for their needs when it comes to getting new knowledge.
6. Instructions to design concepts (thinking abstractly)
Cognitive learning could also help your employees to grasp diverse concepts, like understanding and comprehending information. This could foster the creativity of employees and spur innovations in the workplace.
Learning strategies that involve cognitive processes
Many psychologists have coined the term “cognitive learning” through their research. They have come up with theories and strategies for learning that can be used in the corporate learning environment.
A learner-centric approach
Jean Piaget described learning as the process of linking information to the existing knowledge. Every learner begins with their own information and experiences.
In his view, education starts by accumulating basic information and grows with the course of time.
Piaget proposed three fundamental aspects of learning:
- Compatibility – taking into account the latest information and changing what we know.
- Assimilation is the process of arranging new information in our minds with what we already are familiar with.
- Balancing is the process of balancing what we know already with new knowledge we’re trying to obtain.
Every business should design their training programs using an individual approach in order to make learning more appealing to employees and achieve more effective outcomes.
To accomplish these goals, L&D professionals should focus on these points:
- Create and implement your plans using the existing knowledge.
- More analogies are provided to link new knowledge with known knowledge.
- Sort learning materials into different stages, and keep an orderly flow of lessons being taught.
- Give examples or exercises that demonstrate how the latest ideas or concepts can be incorporated into or added to existing information.
- Encourage comments and questions from students.
Strategies for meaningful experiences
David Ausubel made a clear distinction between real learning and rote learning.
According to him, any material that was closely linked to the knowledge of the student seemed to make sense and was always to be effective.
People with relevant background information have a greater chance of incorporating new details.
In the course of training learners within an organisation:
- The main focus should be the significance of each session to accomplish the purpose in hand.
- Background information on the new material is vital.
- Information that is new should be provided to students in a way that builds upon what is already well-understood.
Strategies for learning through discovery
Jerome Bruner is a psychologist who developed his theory based on the theories of Piaget’s of cognitive development. It was based on discovery-based learning.
His theory identified three phases of cognitive representation. They are enactive, iconic and symbolic. Enaktiv is the term used to describe the representation of information through actions, with iconic being the visual representation of images, while symbolic refers to the use of symbols and words to convey events.
Through his research into the cognitive development of children, he suggested they should be given the opportunity to find out information for themselves. He believed that students should revisit the material they’ve already studied, and even gain new knowledge.
