In order to
learn, the human
brain is forced to
translate a lot of
observations. At its most basic
level of
operation, the brain manages
knowledge as
associations, such as associating sharp
teeth with
danger. It does this in order to find an appropriate
reaction to its
environment, building mostly on
experience, either having been forced to react in such a manner (having experienced
pain from being bitten) or
imitating the reactions of others (having seen
mom express
fear of sharp teeth.
Irrational fears, such as
arachnophobia or fear of mice are often
inherited this way, a
child witnessing an
adult being afraid of
spiders or mice).
This level of
instinctive reaction is one of the lowest cognitive levels; the brain can immediately associate an
input with a proper reaction ('proper' according to its own experience, anyway).
A slightly higher cognitive level can be seen in spoken
language. Most people, when hearing the word
explosion, will instantly think of an explosion either seen on
TV or in
real life. From that, they will associate it to a lot of other things, perhaps
danger, perhaps
excitement. Some associate to things that make no sense to others, possibly not even to themselves. The point is,
language needs some translation in the brain in order for the brain to know what to do with it. Granted, most operate just fine without worrying about this in day-to-day life; the brain does most such translation
subconsciously. However, it still takes a
mental effort.
Jumping a bit higher in cognitive levels, we reach
text, or other
symbolic languages. These (usually) need to first be translated to spoken language (even if you do not move your lips, you will sometimes notice yourself 'hearing' what you read as a
voice in your mind), then dealt with in some way, which lets the brain use the input. Most often,
visual scenarios are played out in the
mind,
simulating the real-life meaning of the text.
Cognitive levels can determine a great deal about how easy a
topic or
skill is to learn. If something is at a high cognitive level for a person, that person will experience more trouble learning it, and later using it. Cognitive levels in no way conform to any clearcut
rules; they vary according to a persons experiences. But many
similarities exist amongst people, because so many experiences are common to us all. For one, we learn spoken language long before written language. However, the two are connected to such an extent, that we place the written language 'on top' of the spoken, translating in our minds written words to spoken before truly dealing with them. Later in life,
academic learning forces most to translate
abstract concepts into something understandable before being able to work with it. The fact that most
do not know they are doing this makes the translations clumsy and often rather random, making the topic studied seem much harder. Only
luck decides whether you get a
teacher or
textbook capable of showing you
how to reduce cognitive level of the topic.
Awareness of the cognitive level of any topic or skill is an
advantage, because it will help you learn it more naturally and bind your new
knowledge better to your existing knowledge. See
how to reduce cognitive level for more info on this.