GUIDES
Cognitive Learning: Benefits, strategies and examples

Cognitive learning theory will stimulate the growth of your employees and maximize their potential.

When the opportunity to learn comes about, they will be able to apply the theory and enhance their learning experience.

Employees will be able to tackle new challenges with confidence that they have the frameworks to understand and apply what they learn.

As confidence grows, so will motivation, and motivated employees are also more productive.

Once employees master the process of cognitive learning they will be able to acquire knowledge at a much improved rate.

This is because cognitive learning theory attaches new information to old information and stores it into long term memory, whereas standard learning requires repetition for memorization, a process which takes more time.

Problem solving is a cognitive skill, and the cognitive learning theory encourages employees to hone those skills.

When faced with a challenging task, they will be better equipped to reach a solution.

The process of cognitive learning encourages employees to gain a deeper understanding of learning material.

This makes the learning experience more effective, as the new information can be better applied, and the need to re-learn will be less likely.

Cognitive learning allows employees to have greater levels of comprehension.

This means when they are learning how to do their job, they will be able to see any potential flaws or avenues for improvement.

This will encourage employees to be more innovative and look for ways in which to make your business more efficient.

Participants will consciously seek out new information or to develop a new skill. This requires your teams to play an active role in their learning.

This is a passive process, and happens subconsciously. This type of learning can occur at any time, and awareness of the process only comes when you put what you learn into practice.

Learning to talk is a good example of implicit learning. You may be able to pinpoint your first words, but the nature of the process makes it hard to tell when you became fluent.

Meaningful learning is when you relate new information to past experiences. This helps you apply existing skills to new problems.

An example of meaningful learning is taking an advanced course in something you’re already proficient in and linking the new information to what you already know.

Discovery learning is an active process that occurs when researching new processes, concepts or subjects.

For example, someone may use a thesaurus to give a piece of writing more variety, and through that discover new synonyms and antonyms they didn’t previously know.

Learners are given new information through a lecture, video or demonstration. This type of learning requires an engaged and attentive learner, who is focused on the new information.

It can be a pretty passive way of learning new information and doesn’t always prove effective when it comes to knowledge retention.

This happens through consistent exposure to a situation, and can be split into two categories: habituation and sensitization.

When first moving to a larger office, the increased noise levels could be distracting. However, after continuous exposure, you learn to tune it out. This is called habituation.

Sensitization is when continuous exposure brings out a reaction, rather than stifles one. For example, the first time you work in an office, the ring of a telephone may bring no immediate reaction. Over time, you will learn to react more instinctively.

Emotional intelligence is integral to relationships both in and out of the workplace. It is important to understand and control your own emotions, but also to understand others.

Employee’s need to be emotionally intelligent to have good relationships with customers, colleagues and superiors.

This is learning through life experiences.

Every interaction in life can be a lesson, and the most important component of this type of learning is how you interpret new information. It’s vital that the learner sees interactions as opportunities to learn.

This is when the learner observes those around them and imitates positive behaviors.

This is particularly effective in the workplace, as employees can observe the way others around them act.

This is when employees work and learn in teams; effective in strengthening social skills. Teams can then learn from one another’s strengths. Studies have shown that feeling less isolated in work can improve productivity by 21%².

For this to be truly effective, individual employees need to play an active role in the team, and not shy away from participating.