The Cognitive schemas (Or simply"schemas") are the basic units with which the brain organizes the information it possesses.
These patterns allow one to understand what is perceived from the environment, from oneself or what is done, while allowing the memory and the learning .
Some might confuse schemas with dictionary definitions or concepts, but cognitive schemas are simpler and more complex. While it will not be easy for any subject to write a definition of a concept as simple as that of"chair,"they all have a mental scheme with which they represent that object.
It is this representation of the object that will allow a chair to be recognized when it is viewed, not to be confused with another type of object, which can be used, drawn, created, and so on.
The chair in front is real and unique, while the scheme is just a general representation of all the chairs. Or at least of the known ones.
Human beings possess cognitive schemas about virtually everything they have experienced in their life and everything with which they have interacted.
These schemes are not static, but communicate with each other, feed back, change, and refine. It is clear that they are complex structures and very valuable.
This article will explain in detail everything related to cognitive schemas: what are their functions, their main characteristics and the types of existing schemas. In view of the variety of perspectives on this subject, the most universal vision of the subject will be taken.
You can also see the 10 higher cognitive functions .
Functions of Cognitive Schemes
There are six main functions of cognitive schemes, although several authors have mentioned other utilities for this resource. Below are the most common among the different researchers of the subject.
1- They serve as cognitive support for information processing
The center of all cognitive activity is to process the information that is received every second, either to give it a usefulness or to discard it.
From this point of view, the schemes provide a frame of reference for assimilating all the new information. What is already outlined gives meaning and support to the new information to be processed.
2- Help distinguish between relevant and non-relevant information
Processing information is energy costly for the brain. Therefore, you have to have the cognitive resources in the most efficient way possible.
The schemes that each person has allow him to classify the new information according to its relevance, to direct attention only to what is useful.
3- Allow inferences and contextual understanding
Not all new information to which a subject is exposed has a system of references suitable for understanding. In many cases, there will be information gaps or lack of context. There schemas come into play, giving meaning to the implicit, when finding relationships between different ideas or concepts.
4- Orient the organized search for new information
In many cases, the new information that a person accesses does not come by chance, but instead searches for it voluntarily.
Without previous schemes about what you want to look for, the process would be confusing, vague and disorganized at best. It will be the related schemas that guide the process of finding information.
5 - Help synthesize the information received
Schemes are themselves synthetic forms of information. They are conceived as the minimum units of information.
Thus, when trying to process complex information, previous cognitive schemas will allow distinguishing main ideas from secondary and complementary ones, facilitating their hierarchy and summary.
6- Collaborate with the reconstruction of lost information
It is common that, when trying to process new information, the subject is with lapses in his memory or forgetfulness, which make it difficult to understand and assimilate that information.
The utility of the previous schemes, in these cases, is high, since they allow to test hypotheses that help to generate or to regenerate these concepts.
Without going much further into the subject, it is clear that cognitive schemas are highly functional and ubiquitous in all phases of information processing and storage.
It would lack to know, now, its main characteristics, to understand how it works.
Characteristics of Cognitive Schemes
Some of the characteristics of cognitive schemas can be understood in terms of what has already been said in previous paragraphs.
For example, schemas are considered high-level cognitive units, while they are entities with a great degree of complexity, composed in turn by much simpler elements.
From the above it can also be deduced that the cognitive schemes are multifunctional. They have a function in each of the cognitive processes: sensoperception, attention, information processing, memory, learning, problem solving, etc.
Hereinafter, the characteristics of the schemes which do not emerge directly from the above will be explained in more detail below.
Namely: they fit and connect each other, have variables and different levels of abstraction and allow learning at different levels.
1- Fit or connect with each other
Scheme theory makes it clear that they are not alone in the cognitive system. Each of them is part of a complex network, which is dynamic and gives each scheme a greater utility. L The networks with which each scheme is connected will change according to the particular needs of each case.
Thus, to follow the same example, the chair layout is associated with a more general one, the seat layout, while the chairs are seat shapes. But on a more specific level it will also be related to the baby chair scheme, while the latter is a particular form of chair.
In the same way, each scheme of one type will have connections with other types of schemes. For example, the chair layout, which is visual, will be related to the scheme of how to sit or other more specific (how to sit in a restaurant gala), which is a scheme of situational type.
These connection possibilities are dormant as long as they are not needed. For example, if the objective is only to distinguish a basic chair, the simplest scheme will suffice; But if someone asks for"a chair or something similar"the scheme with its more complex associations will be activated immediately.
When a scheme is young (ie newly created), it will not have many connections (as with children).
However, as more is experienced with it, more partnerships will emerge, which will refine the scheme. For example, when you learn that an electric chair is another type of chair.
2- They have variable and fixed elements
As already seen in the last point, a general scheme contains more specific ones. The more general a scheme, the more variable elements it will have; And the more specific, the more fixed elements will compose it. In the same way, as a scheme is refined, its fixed elements are changed by variables.
When you are a child, for example, you can believe that a fixed element of every chair is that it must have four legs, as that says the scheme.
When more models of chairs are known, it will be discovered that this is a variable element, as some chairs will have more or less legs, and there will even be chairs that do not have any.
In the same way, the seating scheme will have many variable elements, since it is very general, while sitting in an ergonomically correct posture, is composed almost entirely of fixed components, because it is a very specific scheme. Of course, this will vary between cultures, times and authors. There are your variables.
The premise that a cognitive schema has variable and fixed components is the one that allows with very few schemas to represent as many objects, situations and possible learning.
This feature, added to the previous one, is the one that returns to the schemes resources of low energetic cost for our brain.
3- They have different levels of abstraction
From the above, it follows that the schemes have different levels of abstraction. This has to do directly with how general or specific they are, or how many connections they have with other schemes. The less connections you have or the more general, the more abstract.
Within this characteristic of the schemes, it is understood that for each category of information there will be a primitive or nuclear model. This would be the scheme that can not be abstracted anymore.
So, seats are types of furniture, chairs and benches are forms of seats, while folding chairs are forms of chair.
However, all previous patterns would fit the"object", which would be the nuclear scheme, because there is no longer a more generic or more abstract.
This hierarchical structure allows the organization of cognitive schemes in a sort of tree of schemes, for their easy interaction and use.
4. Allow learning
As already explained, the schemas are representations of elements of reality. Thus, a schema is not the same as a definition, for they represent more adequately the knowledge one has about an aspect of reality than the definitions themselves.
That is, a schema is personal and has a direct connection with experience, while definitions are based on collective conventions.
While schemas are transferable and it is possible that many people have similar schemas for the same concept, it is likely that each will be perfectly unique.
The learning processes follow these same principles. It is considered that something has been learned when it has become proper, not only when it has been memorized or repeated according to a pattern. For content to be learned, it is necessary to create, feed, adjust or restructure the different associated schemes.
Thus, the first mechanism for learning from schemas is growth. This refers to the incorporation of new information that fits the previous models. Like when someone learns that wheelchairs are also forms of chairs.
The second mechanism for learning would be adjustment. Here the scheme is refined, modified or evolved according to the new information.
According to the previous example, the chair layout is set from"fixed object on the ground"to"fixed object on the ground or with moving elements". And now it would also serve to move.
The ultimate mechanism for learning would be restructuring and with it new schemes would be formed on the basis of existing ones. For example, from the chair and bed schemes, a person could restructure their stretchable beach chair scheme, switching it to the bed layout, which fits more.
Types of cognitive schemas
Once the functions and characteristics of cognitive schemas are known, it would be necessary to understand what their different types are, to have the complete base and to understand this complex component.
In this section, the five types of existing schemes will be explained, according to the most common definitions:
1- Sensorial schemes or frames
They are the schemas that are had on the different sensorial stimuli. Following the same example of the chair, there is a semantic scheme of what is a chair; That is, composed of words. But this scheme has also associated with a visual type, where the visual elements of a chair are stored.
With the other senses the same thing happens. It has a scheme about what is a good or bad smell or taste, a sweet smell or taste, the smell or taste of the apple and even the smell or taste of a specific dish. There are also schemes on the sounds (bass, treble, meow, voice of a singer), textures (smooth, rough, sheets themselves).
Within these types of schemes, visuals are the most common and the easiest to systematize or verbalize.
It is more difficult for the average subject, to make him understand another how his scheme is a taste, a smell or a texture, especially the more generic it is. Be that as it may, there are countless sensory schemas that you have.
2 - Situational schemas or scripts
These are the schemas related to concrete actions that can be performed. It had already been anticipated, in a previous example, that the schemes on how to sit in a usual way or in a luxury restaurant were situational. This type of schemes apply for any action achievable by the human, whether or not carried out.
For example, you can have an outline of how football is played, even if it is only watched on television and never played.
In the same way, many people have schemes of how to deal with certain natural disasters, even if they have never experienced one. All are useful schemes for performing specific behaviors.
These schemes are usually structured in the form of flowcharts or algorithms. For simple actions such as brushing teeth, their representation is easily assimilable and transferable.
The most complex, usually social, for example how to get a partner, can have almost infinite variables.
3- Domain schemes
This type of mental structure refers to the formal knowledge that is held on certain topics and allow to interact with its elements, establish causal relationships, detect errors and much more.
The above-mentioned example of what a chair would be would be a domain scheme. But there are many other cases of more complex type.
For example, the scheme on the phases of the rain cycle should not be confused with a situational scheme because it is not an action that can be performed by man. In the same vein, knowing how to make a car would be a domain scheme if it only focuses on basic knowledge, and situational if it is based on replicating the process.
A writer has situational schemes about, for example, how to write a good story. This pattern applies when writing. But when this writer reads a tale from another author, what allows him to distinguish whether it is a good story or are not his master schemes on the subject. It is understood that, for a similar context, the types of schemes vary.
A final difference between this type of schema and the situational one is that while the situational one organizes and directs human behavior, the domain schema organizes and directs its discourse.
Thanks to the mastery schemes, the person can express what he knows and how he knows it in a congruent and understandable way.
4- Social schemas
They are the schemes that are taken on each of the components of social life. It could also be confused with situational schemas, while many of the situations that are schematized are social, but both refer to different pieces of information within the social context.
In social schemas, for example, information about each known person is stored, and even about the types of people that can be known.
So, you have a scheme about every member of the family, friend or colleague and even about celebrities and public figures, but also about what is, for example, a miser.
In this way, one would talk about a situational scheme, for example, if the information is about how to handle a conversation with someone intolerant.
However, the above example would be social in nature if you would focus on how intolerant you are. Finally, it would be a domain scheme if it focused on the sociological basis of intolerance.
These schemes also store information about social conventions (for example, gratitude as a positive value), social roles (what a police officer, lawyer, astrologer does), gender (for example, what is masculine), age, creed and much more; As well as social goals (what is meant by full life).
Finally, they allow to understand social issues from a personal perspective. For example, what does each person understand by love or friendship (how he feels within himself, rather than how much theory he knows about the subject). All this allows the subject to integrate effectively in their society, maintaining their mental health.
5 - Self-concept schemes
To conclude, there are the self-concept schemes, which refer to all the information that each one manages about himself.
Some authors consider it a more specific type of social schema, while the self is framed in the social, and what is can not be separated so easily from the social context that clothes.
For example, in the Theory of mind , It is conceived that the subject creates schemas about how his mental processes work (for example, sadness), but he understands that these mental processes, although unique and nontransferable, work in the same way in the others. Thus, understanding one's own sadness allows one to understand the other's and interact.
Extensively, each subject has an outline of each of his social roles, which will allow him to understand the others.
Thus, it will have a scheme of gender, creed, ideology, social function, etc. From here will be detached self-concept, self-esteem, sense of belonging and more.
The human has the ability to elaborate schemas about his mental processes. From this perspective, metacognition (the cognition of cognitive processes) is a type of self-concept scheme. Thanks to this the person can know how he learns best, how good memory he has, etc.
These would be, then, the bases of the operation and typification of the cognitive schemes. It was not mentioned in this article how a cognitive schema is created from scratch, what happens when you have incorrect schematics, or how they can be eliminated or repaired.
The theory of schemas, bordering on so many other cognitive processes, is highly complex and its full understanding requires a greater deployment than the one presented in this article, of an introductory type.
References
- Pozo, J. (1994). Cognitive theories of learning. Editorial Morata. Spain.
- Schema (psychology) . Taken from: en.wikipedia.org.
- Computational theory of mind . Taken from: en.wikipedia.org.
- Caldevilla, D. (2007). Public relations and culture. Vision Books. Spain.
- Cultural schema theory . Taken from: en.wikipedia.org.
- Social schemas. Taken from: en.wikipedia.org.
- DiMaggio, P. (1997). Culture and Cognition. Annual Review of Sociology. Volume 23.
- López, G. (1997). Schemas as facilitators of the understanding and learning of texts . Journal. Volume 25.
- Flowchart T. Taken from: en.wikipedia.org.
- Cognitive-Behavioral Theory Expanded : Schema Theory. Taken from: mentalhelp.net.
- What is a Schema in Psychology? . Taken from: verywell.com.