Text 5. Schemas

Schemas, too, are an important way that human beings learn. We fit new experiences into what we already know, and try to make sense out of them that way. Sometimes we are successful, and the new experience fits into our existing schemas without anything needing to change much. That learning process is known as assimilation – where an existing schema is applied to a new situation. Sometimes, though, the new experience which we have does not fit into our previous schemas very well. When that happens, the schema has to change, as it adjusts itself to the new information. That learning process is known as accommodation. Some psychologists and educationists see accommodation as being the basis of all cognitive learning: we develop our understanding by extending and adjusting our existing ideas.

Skill learning

Not all types of learning are to do with absorbing new information. A great deal of the learning that we do is concerned with learning skills-both physical skills and mental ones. And one of the main features of skill learning is that when we are skilled at doing something, we do not think about it.

Whether we think about what we are doing or not is what distinguishes experts from learners. A fluent reader does not have to look at each word in a sentence: instead, he usually only looks directly at one or two words in the middle of the sentence, and recognises the others instantly by their shape. Someone who is not very good at reading, though, has to read every single word. A skilled driver does not have to think what to do when changing gears to turn a corner, but a learner tries to remember everything at once, and often gets very flustered as a result.

Automatising actions

All of these skills are different, but they all have one thing in common. That is, that the individual units of the skill have become automatised. The person does them automatically, without thinking about it. Because they do not have to think about specific actions, that leaves the person free to concentrate on other aspects of what they are doing like thinking about the meaning of the story they are reading, or about the best route to follow.

An action which has been automatised is actually controlled by a different part of the brain than an action which we have to think about. The cerebrum is the part of the brain which we think with. It also has areas which receive information from our different senses, including the body; and an area which is used for deliberate movement - when we consciously decide to move a particular part of the body. That area is known as the motor area, it is the top of the brain, next to the sensory area, which receives bodily feelings.

But the area of the brain which co-ordinates skilled movements is not in the cerebrum at all. Instead, it is an entirely separate part of the brain, known as the cerebellum. The cerebellum is still concerned with deliberate movements, but it co-ordinates all the little actions which are involved so that they happen smoothly. If you decide to take a drink from a cup, for example, you do not think about reaching out, closing your fingers around the cup, and so on. All you think, if you think about it at all, is that you'd like a drink. The cerebellum co-ordinates all the actions needed to make that happen.

When a set of actions becomes automatised, control moves from the cerebrum to the cerebellum. A learner driver coming up to a corner has lo think about the actions needed for signalling, braking, changing gear, turning the wheel and looking out for other traffic all at the same time, -because these actions are all single, conscious ones being controlled by the cerebrum. We become flustered because it is a lot to think of all at once. But as we get more practised, the physical actions gradually weld themselves into a fluent unit, which is controlled by the cerebellum. That leaves the cerebrum free, so it can concentrate on looking out for other traffic, and can be alert for anything unexpected which might happen.

Skills become automatised through practice. The more we do a set of actions, the more likely we are to link those actions into a complete, fluent movement that we do not have to think about. We can automatise mental abilities as well as physical actions: not only reading, but other mental abilities too, like the ability to do arithmetical calculations or to recognise patterns. With enough practice, people can become fluent in many different mental skills. And it is generalised mental skills which we are talking of when we talk about the human quality known as intelligence.