Learning a new skill usually progresses through three stages:
1. You first gain a declarative or verbal representation of the steps or rules. For example, “to change gears in a car, I release the accelerator, press the clutch in, change to the new gear, let the clutch out until it engages, then press the accelerator.”
2. You then progress to a procedural representation. When you choose to change gears, you think through each of the steps while you do it.
3. Finally, you gain an autonomous action. You change gears without thinking about how.
This is one of the more common skill-learning frames. It involves three stages. These are the cognitive, associative and autonomous stages. Let’s look at these stages and how to apply this framework.
The cognitive stage is when you build up a mental understanding of the skill. It typically includes understanding the objectives of the skill and recalling the declarations or rules about performing the skill. You “verbalize” these declarations or rules in your mind, however you have not done much real performance of the skill so far.
Let’s use the example I introduced in the beginning of this section of changing gears. During the cognitive stage you gain a mental understanding of how to change gears. You understand that you release the accelerator to stop the motor from revving too high. You press the clutch to release the motor from the drive shaft. You use the gear stick to set the new gear, and so on. These are all “declarative” rules in your mind.
The associative stage is when you start turning the declarative or mental rules into procedural or implicit rules in your mind. To do so, you practice the skill. At first you may find it useful to say the steps out loud, however over time you drop the need for this as the skill becomes more automatic.
Using the example of changing gears, you do lessons that focus on changing gears in various scenarios. These may be starting from fully stopped, changing up gears while accelerating, changing down gears when stopping, and starting on a hill. Each of these helps you discover the overt and subtle movements that allow you to perform the skill properly. For example, you find the balance between letting out the clutch and pressing the accelerator for a smooth gear change.
You achieve the autonomous stage when the movements to perform the skill are automatic. You don’t have to think about them. Once you have achieved this level, you are usually then competent in that particular skill. There may be further skill levels beyond basic competence though. This comes with further time and practice.
Finishing the example of changing gears, you can drive a car and change gears while carrying on a conversation. You don’t think that much about changing gears. It’s autonomous.
You can use your understanding of this process to improve how you learn individual skills. Here are a few points:
· Use memory techniques during the early stages. When you are first learning the parts of a skill, you can use various memory techniques (such as association and visualization) to help you remember how to perform the skill. An example of this in aviation training is the acronym PAST. PAST stands for “Power, Attitude, Speed and Trim” and refers to the steps needed before starting a climb.
· Reduce reliance on memory techniques as you progress. As you start to practice the skill, reduce your reliance on memory techniques. For example, practice the skill without saying the mnemonic (with your instructor present). Detect and correct any part of the skill you forget.
· Do not move on until the skill is autonomous. If you find yourself still thinking through the steps needed to perform the skill, it’s likely that you haven’t transferred the skill to procedural memory. Continue practice, otherwise you may find it difficult to progress with further training where the mental or task load is higher.
The last point above is important when using any mnemonic technique (such as first letter mnemonics) to help you learn an autonomous skill. Use the mnemonic while you are learning the skill, however you should reduce and remove the mnemonic as you progress. Continual reliance on a mnemonic for a skill that needs to be autonomous may reduce your effectiveness over time.
For example, you might create the mnemonic ACGCA to stand for “Accelerator, Clutch, Gear, Clutch, Accelerator” to help remember the steps for changing gears. This works well when you are first learning the skill, however at some point you should stop using the mnemonic. Continual use interferes with your ability to make the skill autonomous, and may distract you from other important tasks.