Cognitive Science 301

Applied Cognitive Science and Education
Fall 2006

Higher-Order Cognition: "the pathway to complex thinking"

• "It enables students to grapple with intellectually sophisticated challenges, integrate multiple ideas and facts, undertake difficult problems, and find effective and creative solutions to dilemmas whose answers are not immediately obvious." (p 217)
• Levine's 7 highly interactive areas of higher-order cognition
  • Concept formation
    • involves knowing/recognizing the critical features of a concept or idea - conceptualization
    • If you know these features, then you can generalize to other situations and/or ideas.
    • Types and Examples of Concepts
      • Concrete concepts: have a direct sensory identity
      • Abstract concepts: have no direct sensory relationship
      • Verbal concepts: language related ideas
      • Nonverbal concepts: usually related to visualization (mental imagery)
      • Process concepts: procedure, mechanism, phenomenon
    • Conceptual Grasping
      • This ranges from none, to repeating the concept without understanding, to understanding the concept enough to form analogies, to ability to apply concepts to novel situations in novel ways.
    • Dysfunctions of Concept Formation - incomplete conceptualization
      • chronic tenuosity: minimal grasp of concept
      • overreliance on rote memory
      • poor conceptual comprehension monitoring: not understanding what one doesn't understand
      • problems with verbal concepts: need to be able to support their understanding through visual imagery or analogy, rather than words.
      • problems with nonverbal concepts: understanding without the benefit of explanations through language
      • trouble with process concepts: may involve problems with temporal-sequential ordering if trying to recall the appropriate steps in a process concept
      • content-specific conceptual difficulties and strengths: within one academic area
      • trouble communicating concepts: this type of communication requires resynthesis and expressive language
      • excessively concrete conceptualization: inability to understand and apply abstract concepts
    • What other neurodevelopmental constructs are associated with each of the above Dysfunctions?
  • Problem-solving skill: involves deliberative and systematic analysis and understanding
    • Critical Steps in Problem Solving (Levine's 'ideal' analysis of steps)
      • knowing a problem when you see a problem
      • stating the problem in its entirety: ability to include all of the "ramifications, potential complications, and unresolved issues" (p 222) in understanding the problem
      • recognizing patterns: this can allow application of former experiences with rules and patterns
      • using prior knowledge: knowing what previous experience and/or knowledge to use
      • previewing the outcome: preview the product and state/know clearly what the expected outcome should be to have the problem completely solved
      • assessing feasibility: can the problem be solved - at all, easily, with difficulty?
      • invoking stepwisdom: knowing that a sequence of steps must be used to solving the problem
      • researching: ability to use outside sources and determine which are relevant, usable information
      • considering alternative strategies
      • selecting the best strategy (without forgetting the others)
      • regulating the internal voices: self-coaching, focus, pacing
      • pacing
      • monitoring progress: continual review is necessary throughout the entire problem-solving experience/process
      • dealing with impasses: How does the problem solver cope with dead ends?  Utilization of alternative strategies or backtracking can help.
      • knowing when the problem is solved: knowing when to stop (to save time and energy and knowing not to resolve the problem in an unsatisfactory manner)
      • projecting future applications: immediately after the problem is solved, review for application to future situations
      • What other neurodevelopmental constructs are associated with each of the above steps?
    • Problem-Solving Breakdowns
      • May involve weaknesses in other neurodevelopmental constructs
      • Weak attention controls: mental energy, impulsivity, previewing, planning
      • Trouble with memory demands: active working memory, recognition memory, long-term memory retrieval
      • Lack of prior knowledge: this may involve superficial or "absent" knowledge
      • temporal-sequential disorganization: disorganized approaches to problems, inability to preview and pick the best problem-solving path, problems with appropriate time allocation
      • cognitive rigidity: need flexibility in approaches and the capability to change the approach to the problem
      • language difficulties: receptive language and expressive language problems; problems with self-coaching throughout problem-solving
      • modality or domain-specific problems: the breakdown may only be in one domain and the person have strengths in other areas of problem-solving
      • lack of explicit awareness of the problem-solving process: problems with intuitive awareness of the steps in problem-solving
  • Rule development and utilization
    • Use of rules
      • some rules need to be taught
      • some rules are acquired through structured experience
      • some rules are acquired through trial and error
    • Dysfunctions involving rules
      • rules needs to be understood, assimilated, applied, and irregularities dealt with
      • learning rules by rote memory does not ensure capability of application of the rules
      • knowing the best rule and the best application for that rule are important
      • can involve "slowness, vagueness, or obliviousness in appreciating and applying rules" (p 227)
      • For example: rules of grammar, spelling, mathematical rules, rules of discipline, "making good use of personal and academic experience to develop personal rules that can simplify work and lessen the burden on memory" (p 228), and efficient problem-solving skills
  • Analogical reasoning
    • involves encoding the "various terms of the analogy", inferring the relationships between the terms, deciding the best relationship, applying the relationship to complete the analogy.
    • this involves the ability to draw inferences from what is read or discussed
    • analogic thinking facilitates the grasping of concepts
    • Weaknesses of analogy formation
      • information may have been learned in fragmented bits and may not have connected information enough to form analogies
      • problems with analogy formation may be format or discipline specific