Conceptual Differences Between Cognitive, Behavioral, and Neuroscience Approaches To Learning

 Abstract

            Learning process involves the five human senses. Capturing each human sense for learning purposes is a challenging task hence the need to study individual learning approaches. Behavioral learning approaches are normally aligned to certain brain activities. Thus, there is a connection between the brain and underlying behavior. Attention span dictates thought processing and ability to comprehend and capture content and at this point cognitive perspectives to learning are introduced to learning. The brain and its functionalities and operations cannot be separated from learning process.

Introduction

 Assessment of separate variances plays a critical part in the cognitive neuroscience research of functioning memory and executive control. Numerous examinations evaluating functional memory's neural substrates have for a long time depended on the link between brain actions and task performance interventions or characteristic processes of cognitive capabilities. Nevertheless, there are vital conceptual procedural matters which relate the usage of separate variances interventions to clarify brain activation configurations (Yarkoni, & Braver, 2010). These issues enable the interpretation of connections. Cognitive concepts ascertain that humans can process and consolidate cognitive information. Hence, cognitive psychology focuses on mental processes influencing visible actions or human traits. Cognitive psychology attempts to comprehend ideas such as memory and decision-making process. On the other hand, behaviorism only centers its ideals on visible human behavior. Behaviorism claims that humans can obtain knowledge by connecting one event with a specified outcome and the outcome will affect human decision making. Additionally, behaviorism states that events occurring concurrently will be related together and thus have the same reaction. Both psychological fields try to comprehend the underlying workings of the human brain.

Conceptual Differences

 Cognitive

 The cognitive perspective relies on understanding observable human behavior. Hence dwells on studying internal mechanisms explaining brain functions which will then account for the observable behavior. This branch of psychology examines internal mental procedures individuals use daily such as thinking, observing, recalling, and learning. The main objective of cognitive psychology is obtaining information on attaining, handling, and keeping information within the brain (Davidson, & Kaszniak, 2015). Scientists apply cognitive psychology concepts in the improvement of memory, increment of decision making precision, and constituting educational programs to boost learning processes. More so, cognitive psychology is related to fields such as neuroscience, philosophy, language, and engineering strategies. Experts in cognitive psychology make use of science mechanisms to examine procedures hence does not depend on subjective opinions. From 1950 to 1970s, experts opted for a behavioral approach as it center on subjects such as attention, recollection, and resolving complex issues. During the 1960s, psychologists described cognitive psychology as a subject matter involving all processes through which sensory inputs are converted, condensed, enlarged, put away, improved, and used. This cognitive field is concerned with these procedures even if they occur without a pertinent stimulus. Therefore, cognitive takes part in everything human beings participate in or carry out.

 Similarly, educational strategists have been exploring different ways in which individual tactics respond to problems within the academic surrounding (Walter, 2012). The cognitive strategy considers the intellectual, emotional, and behavioral mechanisms people utilize to attain personal goals and assess the results emerging from their actions. Unlike behavioral psychology, cognitive concepts try to find definite meaning. Based on findings from previous researches, individuals absorb significant content by relating new information to long term memory details. There are three different types of cognitive learning mechanisms- accretion, schema creation, and tuning. Accretion refers to memorizing factual details. Schema generation relates concepts to examples, analogies, and other forms of interactions. Schema revolves around practicing and perfecting concepts. Cognitive structured strategies normally modify other forms of learning strategies hence preferred most of the time. More so, cognitive strategies are adoptive and take into account other factors. The main principle of cognitive learning is absorbing information while interacting with learning material. For example, cognitive apprenticeship is one of the most effective ways of learning new content.

Behavioral

This method relies on the fact that individuals react to stimuli in their surroundings. The role of the teacher, therefore, is providing applicable and beneficial stimuli so that individuals react to and absorb information and experience (Barron et al., 2015). The behavioral perspective to learning revolves around the fact that character can be acquired through persistent replication of activity with facilitator feedback. Positive feedback motivates and emphasizes accomplishment while negative response and instant rectification discourage the action. This is known as conditioning. Conditioning develops and perfects actions. The connection between stimulus-reaction can be reinforced and conditioned further. Reinforcement can either be bad or good. An optimistic reinforce builds up a preferable outcome. In teaching, the desired outcome is learning, for instance, verbalizing concepts and acknowledging good performance encourages students to perform better. Besides, the behavioral approach depends on defining the right and wrong way. The students need to separate facts from fiction. This way, the teacher has to apply external pressure in order to encourage the students to achieve better results. Consequently, the interaction between the learner and the surrounding helps the student learn through conditioning mechanisms (Hughes et al., 2011). Hence, behavior results from a reaction to surrounding stimulation. Behaviorism is centered on visible stimulus and reaction characteristics. Behaviorism highlights external factors affecting learner’s mannerisms. Thus, behaviorism concepts focus on aspects of facilitating effective learning. Regulated observation and behavior assessment prove that behaviorism ideas are operative and effective. While using behaviorism concepts, experts suggest the usage of operational definitions such as subject matter and other information related to the topic of the day. Even though behaviorists usually accept the role cognition and emotions play in learning but the rather rely on observable patterns and other external factors influencing change. As a result, internal occurrences such as thought processes are explained through observable mechanisms (Kiefer, & Pulvermüller, 2012). Furthermore, behaviorists claim that there are distinct differences between animal and human behavior. Animals acquire behavior from the surroundings while human behavior can be conditioned and learned. All kinds of behavior can be designed into a straightforward stimulus-response interrelation. The main aim of behavioral psychologists is predicting stimuli and reactions in certain situations. Predicting behavior helps in regulating activities and consequences emerging from certain outcomes. Introspection establishes the connection between behavior and actions without the inclusion of consciousness (Wiecki et al., 2015). In an attempt to develop a unitary system, behaviorist realized that if human behavior is not controlled or managed, man can turn into a beast. Human behavior with all its complexities and refinement account only for a small portion of behavioral concepts. Thus, some behaviors cannot be predicted or accounted for.

 Neuroscience

 Altering the brain to assist it to absorb more content or material. For learning to take place, the brain has to be able to respond to stimuli and generate neurons. Numerous brain regions are involved in the learning process (Krakauer et al., 2017). These regions are linked to memory functionalities, several senses, preference regulation, and higher amounts of intellectual functionalities. For more emphasis, stress and action are connected. The stimulus to study requires rational stress levels. Minimal stress levels lead to poor performance. The same can be said about extreme stress levels due to reduced brain actions within the cortical regions where learning takes place. Balanced amounts of cortisol stimulate more performance while undertaking any task. In other words, moderate levels of stress are vital for learning while extreme stress is harmful to the learning process. Moderate levels of stress can be produced in various ways- calming the environment, or introducing learning activities that need personal participation (Stanovich, 2012). Nevertheless, people react differently under different circumstances. The generation of cortisol in reaction to an occurrence fluctuates considerably between individuals. Moderate stress may be extreme for another person and vice versa. For instance, criticizing students may discourage poor performance and encourage them to perform better under any circumstances.

 Getting enough sleep, a healthy diet, and regular exercise are some of the effective habits meant to boost learning outcomes in the long run. First of all, adequate sleep, proper nutrition, and consistent exercises enhance neuroplasticity and neurogenesis. Secondly, these aspects maintain cortisol and dopamine levels at suitable levels (Davidson, & Kaszniak, 2015). For instance, skipping meals, staying up all night and sedentary lifestyles reduce brain activity hence affecting overall academic performance. On the other hand, active learning involves cognitive functions. Activities such as recalling and comprehending concepts are linked to the hippocampus part of the brain. High amounts of cognitive functions such as assessments, examination, and application involve cortical parts. The cortical brain helps humans to make informed decisions, correlating, and inspiration. Multifaceted thought processes are more helpful for acquiring information due to the involvement of numerous neural connections. Active learning makes use of neural connection and coordination to stimulate various brain sections and enhance memory retention.

When memory is transferred from short term to long term, the mechanism is known as consolidation. Reconsolidation happens whenever memory is retrieved from long term to functioning memory and then returned long term. Reconsolidated memories are restructured and are different from the initial memories. Both periods and settings differ hence initial consolidation has to be different from the reconsolidation process. Retrieving a functional memory and using it to solve a challenge may be frustrating. An additional vital feature of memory is forgetfulness (Kiefer, & Pulvermüller, 2012). The learning system depends entirely on memory hence forgetfulness aspects of the brain cannot be factored out of the equation. Hence the concept of relearning is to be incorporated in different sectors of learning institutions. Flawed evidence ought to be forgotten and straightforward explanations pushed forward to make the learning process effective and raise comprehensiveness.

Neuroscience principles rely on three concepts- retention, learning process, and comprehending information. The difference between learning and comprehending is that learning emerges from the use of long term memory and the capability to draw out information from long term memories (Yarkoni, & Braver, 2010). Comprehending is being able to apply learned information within a new situation. Memories occur because of the biological interconnection between brain cells and neurons. Each section of the brain complements other sections of the brain hence facilitating the continuity between the cells.

 In summary, cognitive perspectives state that humans can process and organize information while behaviorism centers its approach on observable behavior. Humans can acquire information by connecting specific events with outcomes. Hence, humans will align their actions to desired outcomes. The cognitive approach helps in understanding the internal processes of the brain. For instance, recollection, concentrating, and processing information. The key concept in the cognitive perspective is how people obtain, process, and store information. The behaviorist perspectives tend to rely on the interaction between the external surrounding and the response. Neuroscience exposes different brain functionalities and how they coordinate to bring about remembrance and obtaining information during the learning process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Barron, A. B., Hebets, E. A., Cleland, T. A., Fitzpatrick, C. L., Hauber, M. E., & Stevens, J. R. (2015). Embracing multiple definitions of learning. Trends in neurosciences, 38(7), 405-407.

Davidson, R. J., & Kaszniak, A. W. (2015). Conceptual and methodological issues in research on mindfulness and meditation. American Psychologist, 70(7), 581.

Hughes, S., Barnes-Holmes, D., & De Houwer, J. (2011). The dominance of associative theorizing in implicit attitude research: Propositional and behavioral alternatives. The Psychological Record, 61(3), 465-496.

Kiefer, M., & Pulvermüller, F. (2012). Conceptual representations in mind and brain: theoretical developments, current evidence and future directions. cortex, 48(7), 805-825.

Krakauer, J. W., Ghazanfar, A. A., Gomez-Marin, A., MacIver, M. A., & Poeppel, D. (2017). Neuroscience needs behavior: correcting a reductionist bias. Neuron, 93(3), 480-490.

Poldrack, R. A., Kittur, A., Kalar, D., Miller, E., Seppa, C., Gil, Y., ... & Bilder, R. M. (2011). The cognitive atlas: toward a knowledge foundation for cognitive neuroscience. Frontiers in neuroinformatics, 5, 17.

Stanovich, K. E. (2012). On the distinction between rationality and intelligence: Implications for understanding individual differences in reasoning.

Walter, H. (2012). Social cognitive neuroscience of empathy: concepts, circuits, and genes. Emotion Review, 4(1), 9-17.

Wiecki, T. V., Poland, J., & Frank, M. J. (2015). Model-based cognitive neuroscience approaches to computational psychiatry: clustering and classification. Clinical Psychological Science, 3(3), 378-399.

Yarkoni, T., & Braver, T. S. (2010). Cognitive neuroscience approaches to individual differences in working memory and executive control: conceptual and methodological issues. In Handbook of individual differences in cognition (pp. 87-107). Springer, New York, NY.