In gene ral te rm s cognitive learning refers to un

In gene ral te rm s,
cognitive learning
refers to · un de r stand i ng, kn ow i ng, anticipating
or o th er wise ma king u se of information -r i ch higher men ta l pr ocesses' (Coo n, 2005)
to fac ilit ate l ea rn i ng . This impli es t ha t for l ea rn ing to occ ur, the re lationship bet ween
st imuli or between beh av iours (r esponses) and conseque n ces has to be assessed. Th is
m ea ns that cog ni ti ve l earn in g is th e r esu lt of thinking and o th er cog ni ti ve processes.
1 Cognitive maps
One examp le of cogn i tive l earn ing is our u se of cog niti ve maps to rep r esent the
e nv iron me n ts in whi ch we liv e. A cogn rti ve map is a menta l r epresen tation of the
spatia l f eat ur es of an ar ea, a build in g, or even the contents of a book. Cognrt i ve
maps genera lly refer to geog r ap hi ca l ar eas, suc h as a mental map of th e route to

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A STUDENT'S A- Z OF P SYC HOLOGY
yo ur home or t he env ironment in which yo u li ve . Howeve r, th ere are different ki nds
of cog niti ve m aps .
Whe n stu dy in g, many st uden ts find it u se ful to dr aw di ag ra ms showing h ow
co n cep ts fit to g ethe r and t his is one fo rm of a cog ni tive ma p.
2
Perceptual-motor skills
One fo rm of cog nrtiv e l earn ing is see n in the acquisi tio n of perc ep tual- motor or
sensory-mo tor skills (Jord aa n and Jordaa n, 1 998). Per cep t ua l-motor sk ills are based
on motor m oveme n ts that are gui de d by perc ep tion. Fo r exa mpl e, prof ess io na l tennis
pl aye rs h ave highly deve l oped pe rceptual -mot or skills. T he ir act ions on the tennis
co urt depend on ac cur ate per ceptio n of what other p la yers are doi ng, the dir ect ion
and way the ba ll is mo vin g and the m ov em ent of their own body (induding ba lan ce,
co -ordinati on and speed) in r espo n se . There is co ntinual feedback from the externa l
and inte rn al envir on ment that influ ences their r esponses .
Whe n yo u learn a per cept ual- motor skill, th e fi rs t ph ase i nvo l ves cog ni tive
pr oc esses . You ma y h ave a ve r ba l p lan to g ui de you . For exa m ple, when yo u l earn
to driv e, you r effo rt s are often guided by be ing to ld what to do, su ch as ' fi rs t ch ec k
the mirr ors, t he n turn t he k ey to start the motor, th en put on the indicator' and so
o n. Th e ve r ba l p lan al so hel ps you to br ea k down a co mpl ex task into sm alle r and
more ma nage able co m pone n ts so that you ca n con ce n tra te on one thing at a time.
At fi rs t yo u h ave to think co n sc iously about eac h st ep in the pr ocess . H oweve r, yo u
soo n l earn to associate so me of the skill s, su ch as wo rking the cl ut ch and ac ce lerator
toge th er to c ha n ge gea rs. If yo u practi se often enough, t hese seq uen ces of skil ls
bec ome more fluent and fewer mi .s tak e.s are ma de . You do n ot have to co ncentrate
hard on ea ch sepa rate action. W rth ti me and pr actis e, the sk ill s beco me co mbin ed
in a pattern and yo u no longer have