A Cognitive Learning Model

Cognitive learning is commonly described using a model similar to the one

presented in Figure 1.1. From the above figure we can see that stimuli from the
environment enter sensory memory, the part of our cognitive system that briefly
holds information until we attend to it (Mayer, 1998). For instance, when we
read, we briefly retain the words at the beginning of a sentence in sensory
memory until we have read the entire sentence. If this remembering didnt
occur, we wouldnt be able to make sense of the sentence, because the words at
the beginning would have been lost before we could make sense of it.

We then select some of the information that enters sensory memory by

attending to it, perceiving the meaning, and transferring it to working memory.
Working memory is the conscious, thinking part of our cognitive learning
system, and this is where new information is organized and encoded.

Finally, we retrieve some information from long term memory, which is our
permanent information store, and we integrate the retrieved information with the
information we have in working memory (Mayer, 1998). This process of
integrating new and old information is how learning is made meaningful.