LEARNING, THINKING AND MEMORY

Drs Joan Harvey and George ErdosNewcastle University

TYPES OF LEARNING

Trial and error- e.g. you can learn a computer package by trying out different functions to see what happens. Also trying new products, which can be facilitated by giving away trial samples.

Classical conditioning. Examples include the use of incentives at work, credits cards as conditioned stimuli and the use of theme tunes in advertising.

Operant conditioning. Examples: share payouts and bonus payments; use of reward vouchers or points; brand loyalty issues.

TYPES OF LEARNING [CONT]

Association. Examples include: associating certain managers with different levels or types of supervisory style, so knowing that you can behave in one way with one manager, a different way with another.

Imitation. Imitation of good or bad management practices, such as absenteeism & presenteeism cultures.

Insight. Has least relevance but workers may suddenly realise why a difficult job is done as it is

EXAMPLES OF REINFORCEMENT

Tokens e.g. Money, shares, profit-sharing

Desired activities e.g. Extended breaks, getting more responsible job

Social e.g. Friendly greetings, compliments

Consumables e.g. Free lunch, company picnic

Objects/ Sensory e.g. Company car, Office with a window; new office equipment

REINFORCEMENTPositive [rewards of some sort] or negative

e.g. being told when done things wrong]. Reinforcement schedules: intermittent

preferable to continuous: praise, recognition at work

Stimulus generalisation. E.g. need to learn that same response may be needed to similar but different stimuli, for example in diagnosing computer errors

Stimulus discrimination. E.g. telling things apart in order to respond appropriately: again an example is diagnosing computer errors … so be careful!

WHO IS THE LEARNER? Many factors are relevant to understanding

the learner at work:age,sex, motivation, incentives, expectations, learning style, prior knowledge, physical characteristics, preferred memory type, SES.

WHAT IS TO BE LEARNED?

Length, difficulty, meaningfulness all relevant.

Verbal vs. visual information: E.g. how to present information in training

manuals e.g. circuit diagrams, screen shots in programmes

METHOD OF LEARNING

Active vs. passive learning. E.g. interactive training such as programmed learning

Transfer of learning: of affect based on evaluative learning and of cognition to provide ‘facts’

Negative transfer

LEARNING STYLES

Many theories of these, and some are influencing UK Government education policy

Pask- serialist vs. holist Kolb and Honey/Mumford- four styles- active,

reflective, theoretical, abstract Hermann- brain dominance model

INFORMATION PROCESSING AND MEMORY

The characteristics of an Information Processing

System (IPS)

INFORMATION PROCESSING AND MEMORY

Memory theories all include: Input Sensory registers Short term or working memory Long term memory Response and output

INFORMATION PROCESSING AND MEMORY (CONT.)

There is too much information coming in to process, so we remove it selectively by filtering. We remove up to 90% of what we process

Filters are influenced by set and expectations, motivation, perceptual defence, beliefs, personality etc.

LTM AND STM

STM coding errors largely acoustic rather than visual

LTM early verbal coding may be literal, but later involves meanings

We store propositions based on what we have read, heard or seen but we also make inferred propositions

INFORMATION PROCESSING AND RETRIEVAL

How we encode information affects our recall. E.g. elaboration during encoding can help later recall

Mnemonics eg Richard Of York Gained Battle In Vain Peg words [e.g. remembering lists of tasks] Narrative stories [e.g. about other workers]

ORGANIZATION OF LTM

Episodic memory is autobiographical Semantic memory is conceptual

information Procedural memory e.g. skills acquisition

theories

Explicit and implicit memory. Explicit is more conscious whereas implicit is vicarious.

MEMORY THEORY AS APPLIED TO TRAINING

Elaboration likelihood modelPaying attention involves central processing rather

than peripheral routeSo tasks that are interesting are processed

centrally But there problems with boring tasks that require

concentration - they may be processed peripherally

Heuristic-systematic modelUse mental ‘short cuts’ or cognitive heuristics

versus…systematically scanning all the arguments or approaches

RETRIEVAL AND REMEMBERING

Depends on encoding:Situational issuesMeaningful to the learnerPresent and use cues:

Verbal such as colour, typefaces, logos

Auditory such as word cues or music

Olfactory such as smells of cleaning fluids etc

RETRIEVAL (CONT.)

Recognition vs recallRecognition of cues and promptsRecognition superior as a memory device,

but is less reliableShould a trainer aim to trigger recognition

or recall?E.g. Recall for tasks performed remotelyE.g. Recognition for lawyers

OTHER ENCODING ISSUES

Gender differences in encodingWomen encode more using

relationship and social cues Learning styles

How we choose to learnE.g. reflective, abstract, experimenting, experiential [Kolb, 1980]

Dozens of theories of learning style

MAKING LEARNING MEANINGFUL

Repetition30 seconds long enough to get

information into LTMToo much repetition will yield

diminishing returns and may be counterproductive

MAKING LEARNING MEANINGFUL (CONT.)

Increased transfer by increasing realismE.g. use of simulators where increased

realism linked to increased cost but decreased errors, such as training pilots [30m Euros each]

Mnemonics and chunking E.g. colour codes for electrical cables

SchemasE.g. patterns of learning and remembering

ModellingE.g. use of celebrities to aid training- not

always a successful tactic

LEARNING AND TRAINING

Training an essential part of managerial responsibility

Training failures can be costly or even fatal Training in different types of skills

Social- e.g. interviewing, Management- e.g. delegating, prioritising,

organising Procedural- e.g. assembly jobsPhysical or sensori- motor

SYSTEMATIC APPROACH TO TRAINING 1 Initial decision to train

Strategic decision: to train, ‘poach’ trained staff or a mix of the two

Establish job description Job analysis, task analysis

Establish personnel specification Using 7 point plan or some other structure:

Relevant physical attributes, attainments, intellect, aptitudes, personality, interests, special circumstances

Then define ‘trainee entry behaviour’

SYSTEMATIC APPROACH TO TRAINING 2 Combine to define the criteria for successful performance Establish training needs

Knowledge, skills and attitudes Define training objectives

In terms of specific outcomes and standards for the training course

Decide on methods of training E.g. experiential, programmed texts, exercises, case studies,

simulators, lectures, role play, etc etc Train

Who will be the trainers? Train on-site or off-site?

Validate Testing the training programme against its own objectives

Evaluate Does it change the performance of the person when at

work?

TRAINING NEEDS EXERCISE

You are working for a large hospitality company and the task is to conduct a TNA for pub managers. In groups, you are to Decide the criteria that differentiate successful

performance from unsuccessful performance Decide on the qualities of the trainees List the training needs Specify the objectives of the training Decide how the training should be Describe what you will do to measure the effectiveness of

the training

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING

Drs Joan Harvey and George Erdos

Newcastle University