Cognitive Science 301

Applied Cognitive Science and Education
Fall 2006

Higher-Order Cognition: the pathway to complex thinking
(continued)

• Classification
  • requires a system of rules
  • requires acquisition of information and storage/consolidation in memory by categories - and then retrieval
    • At early ages (~5 years) children classify objects, but change categories in the middle of the classification process (see examples on p 230)
  • Examples include collecting baseball cards, dolls, stamps, etc. and knowing the details or information associated with each of the categories.
  • Deficiencies or Developmental Delays in Classification Skills
    • problems creating concepts/conceptualizations within categories
    • problems with grammar
    • problems with "superordinate categories" (p 231)
    • problems retrieving information that was not efficiently categorized/classified during exposure to the information
• Divergent/creative thinking
  • "The capacity to elaborate, to discover unusual similarities or analogies, to link ideas or objects that are not ordinarily associated with each other and, in so doing, to fuse new meaningful relationships, all constitute part of what is often referred to as creativity. . ." (p 232)
  • Associative fluency: ability to form rich associations easily (or quickly)
  • Giftedness
  • Is also dependent on intimate knowledge and familiarity with specific academic areas, etc.
  • Divergent thinking should be encouraged and nurtured to develop personal creativity.
• Metacognition
  • The ability to become an active strategist in one's own learning experiences
  • Knowledge about the ways one thinks and using the best strategies and skills effectively
    • This involves conceptualization of the learning process.
    • knowing that different strategies are needed and optimal in specific situations
  • See one assessment protocol that is used (p 233).
  • Deficiencies involve
    • inflexibilities with using different techniques
    • ineffective self-monitoring
    • inability to analyze what is expected for them
       
• Areas/functions that interact with higher-order cognitive functions
  • Concrete and formal operations
    • concrete: knowledge of conservation of volume, length, area, mass, numbers
    • formal: capacity to operate on and use symbolic statements or propositions
      • generating multiple hypotheses
      • systematically checking all possible solutions
      • operating on operations
  • Cognitive preferences
    • verbal vs. nonverbal cognition
      • e.g., "interpreting multiple levels of meaning in a poem or short story" vs. discerning the rules and processes that are needed to join wood to make a piece of furniture. (p 237)
      • ". . . it is essential to identify, acknowledge, and even preserve such stylistic differences, recognizing that certain styles may cause a child to struggle excessively during school years." (p 237)
    • Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences
      • six different kinds of intelligence: linguistic, musical, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, and personal intelligences.
    • Sternberg's theory of multiple intelligences
      • componential intelligence: "requires the capacity to think analytically and critically and to apply effective metacognition when approaching a task." (p 238)
      • experiential intelligence: "involves the capacity to be highly synthetic in one's thinking."
        • selective encoding: ability to extract significant information when reading or approaching a cognitive task
        • selective combination: capacity to combine multiple pieces of information to form an interesting idea or product.
        • selective comparison: capacity to view old ideas in a new way or vice versa.
      • contextual intelligence: "relates to an individual's ability to adapt to a particular environment." (p 238)
  • Awareness of the hidden curriculum
    • ability to figure out expectations and the appropriate approach to satisfying requirements in each situation
    • "At the same time that a teacher is evaluating a student's learning, the student should be implicitly assessing the teacher's teaching, not so much to grade the teacher as to figure out the most direct way of pleasing him or her." (p 240)
    • ability to figure out what is expected on tests from each teacher in each class
       
• Giftedness and Gifted Underachievers
  • giftedness: "talented in one or more areas of performance or capacity." (p 240)
    • traits can include: "high level of intellectual aptitude . . ., one or more well-focused zones of extraordinary academic ability, a high level of creativity, leadership skill, and talent in the visual or performing arts." (p 241)
    • "Invoking the model espoused in this book, we might state further that a gifted child is one who displays outstanding talents in one or more of the developmental functions we have discussed. . ."
    • Gallagher suggests that this involves:
      • high score on IQ test
      • creativity: fluency, flexibility, originality, elaboration
  • gifted underachievers: show disparity between ability and day-to-day performance
    • causes of underachievement in gifted children
      • attention deficits
      • uneven development (e.g., social development)
      • environmental and cultural factors ("suboptimal home environments" p 244)
      • psychological disturbances (low self-esteem and feelings of ineffectiveness)
      • peer pressure (its not fashionable to achieve academically)
      • educational understimulation (boredom)
      • temperamental factors (such as problems with risk-taking and learned helplessness)
      • pseudointellectualism and pseudounderachievement
• Assessment (see pages 246-251 for general ideas)
• Management
  • analysis of learning styles and metacognitive capabilities
  • General management principles
    • encourage exploration, elaboration, and explanation  (rather that rote)
    • develop multiple problem-solving approaches and select the best
    • develop concrete ideas and then elaborate on them to the abstract and back to the concrete (cognitive flexibility)
    • utilize concept mapping techniques
    • stress mastery of basic concepts
    • simplify tasks and reduce chunk size, if necessary (to allow mastery of concepts)
    • Teach metacognition to facilitate acquisition of skills and knowledge." (p 258)
    • Use integrated reading and higher cognitive training techniques.
    • Use analogies
    • encourage divergent and creative thinking skills

Try these different tasks to experience the qualia of a learning disability

Main Ideas for Higher-Order Cognition (Chapter 7)

1. Effective conceptualization (thoroughly knowing all aspects and critical features of an idea or concept) is necessary to manipulate concepts and apply them to new and unexpected situations.
2. Higher-order cognition and dysfunctions of higher-order cognition can involve one or more of the neurodevelopmental constructs.
   • Consider how each one of the neurodevelopmental constructs specifically influences higher-order cognition.
3. Strengths and dysfunctions occur in forming different categories of concepts:
   • concrete concepts
   • abstract concepts
   • verbal concepts
   • nonverbal concepts
   • process concepts
4. Higher-order cognition involves solving problems using different conceptualizations.
5. Levine hypothesizes that there are different areas of problem solving and creative thinking that may be specifically strong or dysfunctional.
   • rule formation and use
   • analogic reasoning
   • classification
   • divergent/creative thinking
   • metacognition
6. Gardner and also Sternberg (p 238) have theories of multiple intelligences slightly different from Levine's.  However, all theories consider the diversity of thinking patterns and their applications to everyday life.

Questions

1. Higher order cognition involves solving problems.  What are the important steps in approaching and solving problems?
2. Why do you think that Levine, Gardner and Sternberg have proposed these theories of multiple intelligences?  Explain how this helps us understand cognition?
3. Consider the following scenario.  A student studies each day for one week for a test, learns and is able to retrieve all the details that were presented in the study material provided by the teacher.  Yet when confronted with the examination, the student is not able to earn more than 50% of the points.  The rest of the class scored in the 80^th percentile.
   • What areas of neurodevelopmental constructs and cognition might be dysfunctional in this student's performance?  Explain.
4. Why is metacognition a critical aspect of higher-order cognition?