Five Faces of Cognition: Theoretical Influences on Approaches to Learning Disabilities

Abstract

The label cognitive has been used to designate five substantially different approaches to the study of learning disabilities: information processing, metacognition, genetic epistemology, cognitive behavior modification, and the specific-abilities model. While four of these recognize the importance of learners' activity and their current knowledge and its organization as the basis for selecting what is to be processed during environmental events, their implications for instructional interventions vary dramatically. Cognitive approaches have already begun to improve our understanding of learning and learning disabilities, whereas the effectiveness of derivative educational interventions remains largely unexplored.