DESCRIBE WHAT INSIGHTS YOU HAVE GAINED FROM THE THEORIES THAT YOU CAN USE TO IMPROVE YOUR LEARNING PROCESS THE NEXT TIME YOU ARE FACED WITH THE CHALLENGE OF LEARNING SOMETHING NEW.,DESCRIBE WHAT INSIGHTS YOU HAVE GAINED FROM THE THEORIES THAT YOU CAN USE TO IMPROVE YOUR LEARNING PROCESS THE NEXT TIME YOU ARE FACED WITH THE CHALLENGE OF LEARNING SOMETHING NEW.

Write 5–6 pages in which you examine your own ways of learning something new, based on your research of at least three different types of theories of learning.

In this assessment, you will be able to develop strategies based on learning theory to improve learning in a particular situation.

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By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:

• Competency 1: Use information technology and tools to identify information in the domain of learning and cognition.Summarize theories associated with learning and cognition.
• Competency 2: Assess the important theories, paradigms, research findings, and conclusions in human learning and cognition. 
Apply theories to a particular learning experience.
• Competency 4: Employ critical and creative thinking to problems, conflicts, and unresolved issues in the study of human learning and cognition. 
Develop strategies based on learning theory to improve learning in a particular situation.
• Competency 5: Apply knowledge of theory and research in learning and cognition to inform personal behavior, professional goals, and values, in order to understand social policy. 
Apply knowledge of theory and research in learning and cognition to inform personal and professional behavior.
• Competency 6: Communicate effectively in a variety of formats.
Write coherently to support a central idea in appropriate APA format with correct grammar, usage, and 
mechanics as expected of a psychology professional.
• 
Context
• Verbal Learning 
According to Hockenbury and Hockenbury (2003): 
Forgetting is the inability to recall information that was previously available. Forgetting is so common that our lives are filled with automatic reminders to safeguard against forgetting important information. Cars are equipped with buzzers so you don’t forget to put on your seatbelt or turn off your lights. News announcements remind you to reset your clocks as daylight saving time begins or ends. Dentists thoughtfully send brightly colored postcards so that your appointment doesn’t slip your mind. 
Sometimes, of course, we want to forget. From the standpoint of a person’s psychological well-being, it’s probably just as well that we tend to forget the details of unpleasant memories, such as past failures, social embarrassments, and unhappy relationships. Even more generally, our minds would be cluttered with mountains of useless information if we remembered every television program, magazine article, billboard, or conversation we’d ever experienced. (p.260)
• In the later part of the 19th century, Hermann Ebbinghaus, a German psychologist, conducted the first scientific experiments on learning and forgetting.
• Spatial, Motor-Skill, and Implicit Learning
• Is it possible to learn something without any awareness of doing so? It is an intriguing question. Max Sutherland and Alice Sylvester have studied the notion of implicit or incidental learning and applied their findings to advertising practices and their effects on consumer behavior. In their book Advertising and the Mind of the Consumer , Sutherland and Sylvester (2000) have this to say on the topic:
• Some psychologists have labeled this type of indirect learning “learning without involvement.” Others have called it “implicit memory” and still others have called it “incidental learning” or “learning without awareness.” Strictly speaking, this last term is inaccurate. It is not that people are unaware but rather that the “focus of processing” is on something else in the communication. Our attention is focused on something other than the message per se.
• In the TV series Sesame Street , messages were embedded in entertainment. Messages such as “cooperation” and “sharing” were communicated by drama or song. Learning the alphabet or learning to count is not a chore for Sesame Street viewers, but an experience. These skills are effectively conveyed in an entertaining kaleidoscope of sounds and visuals.
• We have thus discovered yet another reason why people find it hard to analyze introspectively the effects advertising has on them. Sometimes advertisements do not obviously impart information on us. (While this can be true of any type of commercial, it is more especially true of ads based on image, emotion, or drama.) The important point here is that there is a lessened sense of someone transmitting information—indeed, if there is any sense at all (pp. 58–59).
• References
• Hockenbury, D. H., & Hockenbury, S. E. (2003). Psychology (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Worth.
• James, W. (1890). The principles of psychology . New York, NY: Henry Holt.
• Sutherland, M., & Sylvester, A. K. (2000). Advertising and the mind of the consumer . Crows Nest NSW, Australia: Allen and Unwin.
• Questions To Consider
• To deepen your understanding, you are encouraged to consider the questions below and discuss them with a fellow learner, a work associate, an interested friend, or a member of the business community.
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• What is the Ebbinghaus legacy?
• How do psychologists study serial and paired-associate learning?
• What is the difference between available and accessible memories?
• What are mnemonics, and how are they related to learning?
• What is spatial learning, and how is it studied?
• How does practice affect motor-skill learning?
• What is implicit learning, and how is it studied?
• How does expertise develop?
• What are some real-world applications of spatial, motor-skill, and implicit learning?
• Resources Suggested Resources
• The following optional resources are provided to support you in completing the assessment or to provide a helpful context. For additional resources, refer to the Research Resources and Supplemental Resources in the left navigation menu of your courseroom.