UALR

Cognition
Conceptualization of Cognitive Theories
Mario D. Wallace

Contents
Cognition: A Theory of Cognitive-Developmental Perspective.....................................................3
Figure 1:............................................................................................................... 4
Reference................................................................................................................... 7
Knowledge Transfer......................................................................................................... 8
Figure 1:............................................................................................................... 8
Reference................................................................................................................. 12

Cognition: A Theory of Cognitive-Developmental Perspective

The concept of how humans develop cognitive reasoning has been a topic of discussion
and research by psychologist for centuries. In the Islamic culture, there are three stages of
cognitive development: the innocent, the rebellious, and the reasoning person. These stages
consist of both behavior (stimulus) and cognitive activities. In the innocent stage, the child is
between the age of birth and five years old. In this stage, he innocently interacts with the world
using sensorimotors skills as he attempts to understand its wonders. The child's parents accept
certain negative behaviors while constructively guiding the child. Reprimands in this stage is
infrequent but guidance is frequent; the rebellious stage is between the age of six and twelve. The
child reacts rebelliously when his parents attempts to guide him in the right direction. For
example, if a child with wet hands attempts to plug an electrical cord into an outlet, he will get
reprimanded because he has been repeatedly warmed about this negative behavior. While being
reprimanded, the child rebels and plots for the opportune moment to attempt the act again; in the
reasoning stage, the child is well aware of right and wrong and reasons with choices regarding
his interacting. He accepts admonishments and use them as guidance throughout his life.
Nonetheless, although the culture of Islamic provides a framework of human cognitive
developments, Jean Piaget's theory of Cognitive-Developmental Perspective provides a
theoretical approach to understanding this phenomenon. Piaget researched the topic for at least
six decades and argued a case for cognitive development . As he researched the development of
cognition, he identified where knowledge comes from and the forms that it takes as it develops
(Ormrod, 2012). As a result, he developed the theory that identifies with the stages of cognitive
development (See Figure 1).
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Figure 1: Piaget's stages of cognitive development.

Piaget determined that there are four stages of cognitive development, he grouped the stages
according to ages and terms.
The child's actions during the sensorimotor stage is liken to an experimental in which the
child attempts to learn through trial and error. According to Piaget, the behaviors of infants
between birth and two years old are a little more than biological reflexes to ensure survival, but
are voluntary, sensorimotor actions that are learned and repeated (Ormrod, 2012). Months after
the birth of Jakara, my grandaughter, she used to cover her eyes when the lights were switched
on in a dark room. She quickly learned this behavior after being subjected to bright lights while
residing in dark rooms. Jakara's behavior aligns with Piaget's theory of schemes and cognitive
abilities to control motor skills. According to Piaget, ". . . the things that children learn and can
do are organized as schemes . . ." (Ormrod, 2012). Jakara learned to cognitively organize the
action of covering her eyes in the event of bright lights. Before she was even consciously aware
of her action and could give a response for why she performed the action, she repeatedly
preformed it when she was in a similar situation.
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The Preoperational Stage of cognitive development is between the age of two and seven
when the child begins to express clearly defined words for communicating cognitive responses.
According to Piaget, "The words in children's rapidly increasing vocabularies provide labels the
preoperational stage" (Ormrod, 2012). Unlike most children between two and three, Jakara did
not develop language skills till she was three. She struggled with word pronunciations and how
to organize them to communicate a comprehensive thought. She would become frustrated when
she attempted to speak because she wanted to stimulate a legible response from others. But she
could not cognitively process her dilemma. When she turned three, her vocabulary began to
increase, and she began to effectively communicate. Jakara's lack of speaking ability stemmed
from her inability to socialize with others her age. Although preoperational stage of Piaget's
theory does not address how the inability to socialize affects a child, it still provides enough
conclusive evidence to justify the existence of the preoperational stage.
Piaget's theory of the formal operational stage explains why learning occur in stages.
According to Piaget, "They become able to understand abstract concepts in mathematics,
science, and social studies" (Ormrod, 2012). The words "become able" are very significant in the
quote. Liken to the water and the wooden beads test in the text book, I struggled with abstract
concepts during my middle school years. One specific abstract concept that created difficulty
was math. Math applications were complex and difficult, and I could not wrap my head around
them. Problem-solving word problems were by far the worse because they pushed my cognition
to the limit. During my high school years, however, I began to comprehend abstract concepts.
My struggles with math became a thing of the past, and if we fast forward to my adult years,
math became the instrument that guided my career. Today, I am a Sigma Six practitioner at the
University of Arkansas for Medical Science (UAMS), and my duties consist of using non5

statistical and statistical analysis to determine waste and variation in processes. As I stated in the
second sentence of this paragraph, the words "become able" are very significant in Piaget's
concept of the formal operational stage. Complex information that is repeatedly studied and
cognitively process becomes comprehensive overtime.
Piaget's Cognitive-Developmental theory provides a framework for understanding the
stages of cognition throughout the life cycle of humans. His theoretical concept of the cognitive
stage development provides a clear path for discriminating each stage, conceptualizing the
stages, and applying them to scaffold learning. Piaget's theory provides the foundation for
psychologist who study cognitive development and for educators who seek to develop course
material for learning.

Reference
Ormrod, J. (2012). Behaviorism and Classical Conditioning . Human Learning. Upper Saddle
River: Pearson Education, Inc. (Original work published 1995)

Knowledge Transfer
The idea of knowledge transfer has been a topic of discussion amongst the brightest
minds in psychology and education for centuries. Psychologist and educators have devoted years
of research to find out how humans retain and transfer information, and the results of their
research have guided the fields of education and psychology. For instance, Instructional
Designers (ID) depend on evidenced-based research and proven principles to guide their course
designs, developments, and deliverables. In fact, one of their popular theories of knowledge
transfer for multimedia course development is the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning
(See Figure 1). According to the Mayer and Clark, . . . all people have separate channels for
processing verbal and pictorial material and each channel is limited in the amount of processing
that can take place at one time (Mayer & Clark, 2008 p, 138).

Figure 1: The diagram is Cognitive Theory of Multimedia

The image shows how human learning occurs according to the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia
Learning. Cognitive is initiated with words or pictures and processed through the senses,
working memory, and at times integrated into the long-term memory. This work discusses
knowledge transfer according to evidence-based guidance.

Understanding the theory and principles of knowledge transfer is relative and meaningful
in this era of organized instructional delivery. IDs are hired to develop course material that
enhances learner's competencies through knowledge retention and transfer; their goal in every
course development is to connect the current knowledge of the learners to the learning objectives
of the course material to produce the desired outcome. As a results, IDs spend a lot of time in the
design phase of the ADDIE model to ensure that course material is designed with the intent to
aid in knowledge transfer. IDs use words and images in their designs to trigger senses so that
information transfers to the long-term memory. They place words parallel to images instead of
below the images to reduce the chance of unnecessary cognitive processing; they use repeatable
scenarios or information in lessons to focus the attention of the learner to increase knowledge
transfer. Developing course material according to the principle of multimedia learning is more
than valuable it's essential to knowledge retention and transfer of learners.
Although understanding the theoretical application of knowledge transfer can provide a
framework to ensure that learning occurs, positive and negative learning is a natural
phenomenon. According to Ormrod, positive transfer occurs "When learning in one situation
facilitates learning or performance in another situation" (Ormrod, 2012). As a Process
Improvement Analysis, I took statistic courses to effectively learn how to use Lean tools for
identifying waste and variation in processes. When waste and variation exist in processes, they
create defects that produce negative outcomes. For example, if the windshield machine on an
assembly line has a weekly 5% variation in production of the windshield, the windshield will
incrementally grow beyond the measurements of the desired windshield frame of the vehicle,
which will cost the business money. Thus, being able to identify variation in processes is an
awesome skill to have. Nonetheless, as I began to investigate waste and variation in processes,
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my verbal reasoning and critical thinking skills drastically sharpened; I begin using heighten
verbal reasoning skills to map out the contributing factors in processes to solve complex
problems without really using large sums of cognition; I developed such a talent for problemsolving for waste and variation that I received a career changing promotion, and I got a chance to
be a part of the University of Arkansas for Medical Science (UAMS) 2014 State of Address
where I presented cost saving results of $80,000. On the other hand, I have experienced negative
transfer as well. According to Ormrod, negative transfer occurs "When something in one
situation hinders a person's ability to learn in a second situation" (Ormrod, 2012). As a Spanish
student at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR), I soared faster than the majority of
my counterparts. I began speaking perfect Spanish like a native speaker in less than one year of
formal education and this bewildered my professors. Nonetheless, my rapid advancement was
directly related to my upbringing in Houston, Texas where as a teenager I had been indirectly
immersed into the language and culture of Spanish given that all of my friends were Mexicans.
This informal educational experience prepared me for formal coursework at the college level.
The downside of learning informal Spanish is that the slang and nuisances of the language carry
over into one's communication in which it conflicts with formal Spanish and at times creates an
embarrassing experience or a poorly communicated or written expression in a formal setting.
Although there is a natural phenomenon to positive and negative transfer of information, a
theoretical conceptualization of vertical and lateral transfer could be advantageous.
Vertical and lateral transfer are natural learning process for the recipient of knowledge
transfer whether or not he understands the process of information transfer. According to Ormrod,
vertical transfer occurs when "a learner acquires new knowledge or skills by building on more
basic information and procedures" (Ormrod, 2012). In elementary school, I was taught alphabets
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through a songs that I still rely on today. Although educators developed the song to foster
knowledge transfer, I learned it because it included fun lyrics and rhythm that excited me and
awarded me praises for my ease of repeating it; when I reached the second grade, my knowledge
of the alphabet really came in hand because I entered alphabet placement contest where a judge
would called out a letter of the alphabet, and I had less than 5 seconds to tell him which letter
came either before it or after it. I became a champion in alphabet placement contests. Conversely,
throughout high school, I was fond of process writing. I used to write prose for the fun of it. In
school, I used to receive A letter grades in all of my literature and English classes, and I was
considered one of the brightest writers in my school. However, when it can to math, I sucked. I
could not solve simple algebraic equations if my life depended on it. According to Ormrod,
lateral transfer occurs "When knowledge of the first topic is helpful but not essential to learning
the second one" (Ormrod, 2012). My knowledge of English did not lend to my struggles with
math. Regardless of how effectively I processed writing, and how I could cognitively determine
a sentence fragment in verbal communication, I still could not conceptualize math. My
heightened understanding of process writing was not essential to aid in my conceptualization of
math.
Although the idea of knowledge transfer has been a topic amongst the brightest minds for
centuries, the process of how information is transferred is still a phenomenon too many
especially those who do not know how to take advantage of it. I have personally experienced
knowledge transfer, and I understand through theory and principles of how to foster information
transfer in a course development and in a learning environment. As a result, I plan to continue to
use evidence-based theory and principle to increase in personal knowledge and to aid in course
design and development.
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Reference
Mayer, R.E., & Clark, R. (2011). E-learning and the science of instructions. (3rd ed.). San
Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.
Ormrod, J. (2012). Behaviorism and Classical Conditioning. Human Learning. Upper Saddle
River: Pearson Education, Inc. (Original work published 1995)

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