view of learning. I acknowledge that each process is complex and have entire books written about them. However, I will
attempt to provide a working definition and description based on current knowledge that is most relevant to cognitivist
learning theories.
Perception
The process of receiving information begins with some sort of sensory input: the sound of a bell, the smell of a rose, the
touch of a feather, the taste of honey, or the sight of a friend. Each of the five sensory systems in our bodies has its own
complex pathway for registering and assigning meaning to, or perceiving, that input. It is generally based on context and
patterns of what is already known. The body receives large amounts of sensory data constantly since we touch, see,
hear, taste, and smell all the time, even though we are not conscious to all of it at once. Sensory information stays only
a very short time in the sensory register, though time estimates vary between less than a second to up to three seconds.
Then the information is transferred to short-term or working memory (Schunk, 2012 p. 165; Woolfolk, 2015, p. 294).
Executive processes
Executive, or control, processes “regulate the flow of information throughout the information processing system”
(Schunk, 2012, p. 166). These include the conscious processes and effort a person exerts in managing new information
as it is presented including directing attention, planning next steps, and retrieving information from long-term memory
for current use (Woolfolk, 2015, p. 298). It is often linked to working memory but has influence in all parts of the two-
store model. Executive processes are also used to monitor understanding, select learning strategies, and regulate
motivation. I will focus mainly on attention here, as it fits chronologically in the two-store model, but will keep in mind
that cognitivists believe that learners play a conscious, active role in the learning process, so the executive control
functions affect each stage of the process.
Attention is selective, which allows us, with effort, to ignore or acknowledge pertinent sensory input. We would be
overwhelmed if we tried to pay attention to every bit of competing sensory information at once. For example, in a
classroom, one could see the notes on the board, the teacher’s new hairstyle, and the current heart-throb sitting 2 seats
over, all while feeling an itchy shirt tag, and smelling the students returning from gym. Cutting through all of the sensory
input, one needs to decide where to focus attention. There are individual differences in one’s ability to initiate and
maintain attention, based on age, motivation, self-control, learning disabilities, and familiarity with the subject matter.
The more familiar someone is with a skill or context, the less conscious attention they need to exert in processing and
the more capacity they have to take in new information (Schunk, 2012).
Short-term or working memory
While short-term and working memory are not considered synonymous by all researchers, they are often used
interchangeably. Schunk (2012) says that short-term memory is “a working memory and corresponds roughly to
awareness, or what one is conscious of at a given moment” (p.179). Woolfolk (2015) distinguishes the two in that
working memory “includes both temporary storage and active processing,” while short-term memory is usually referred
to only as temporary storage of information (p. 297). It is generally agreed upon that short-term and working memory
are limited in both capacity and duration, and information will be lost if it is not constantly rehearsed or transferred to
long-term memory. Chunking, or segmenting, information into smaller pieces or groups may help reduce the load on
working memory. For example, instead of one long string of numbers, telephone numbers are segmented into three
sections.
Based on current understanding, there are four elements in working memory that process different types of sensory
input: the central executive, which controls attention and mental resources; the phonological loop, which processes
verbal and auditory information; the visuospatial sketchpad, which works on visual and spatial information; and the
episodic buffer, which integrates information from the previous processors with information from long-term memory to
make sense of it all (Woolfolk, 2015, p. 298). The processors can be used strategically, for instance to memorize a
phone number given verbally. I would exert my executive control by constantly repeating the number out loud, using the
phonological loop to rehearse until I could write it down, creating a visual image. I could then continue to rehearse the
