Cognitive Perspectives in Psychology

This is a revision of the chapter on the same topic that appeared in the first edition of the Handbook, published in 1996. In the intervening years, a great many changes have occurred in cognitive theory, and its perceived relevance to education has been challenged. As a participant in, and indeed as a promulgator of, some of those changes and challenges, my own ideas and opinions have changed significantly since writing the earlier chapter. They continue to change—the topics are rapidly moving targets. This has presented me with a dilemma: whether simply to update the earlier chapter by adding selectively from the last half dozen years’ research in cognitive psychology and risk appearing to promote ideas that some now see as irrelevant to the study and practice of educational technology; or to throw out everything from the original chapter and start from scratch. I decided to compromise. This chapter consists of the same content, updated and slightly abbreviated, that was in the first edition of the Handbook, focusing on research in cognitive theory up until the mid-1990s. I have added sections that present and discuss the reasons for current dissatisfaction, among some educators, with these traditional views of cognition. And I have added sections that describe recent views, particularly of mental representation and cognitive processing, which are different from the more traditional views. There are three reasons for my decision. First, the reader of a handbook like this needs to consider the historical context within which current theory has developed, even when that theory has emerged from the rejection, not the extension, of some earlier ideas. Second, recent collaborations with colleagues in cognitive psychology, computer science, and cognitive neuroscience have confirmed for me that these disciplines, which I remain convinced are centrally relevant to research in educational technology, still operate largely within the more traditional view of cognition. Third, a great deal of the research and practice of educational technology continues to operate within the traditional framework, and continues to benefit from it. I also note that other chapters in the Handbook deal more thoroughly, and more ably, with the newer views. So, if readers find this chapter somewhat old fashioned in places, I am nonetheless confident that within the view of our discipline offered by the Handbook in its entirety, this chapter still has an important place.