Cognitive and metacognitive, motivational, and resource considerations for learning new skills across the lifespan

Abstract

Across the lifespan, learners have to tackle the challenges of learning new skills. These skills can range from abilities needed for survival, such as learning languages, learning to walk during infancy, and learning new software for a job in adulthood, to abilities related to leisure and hobbies. As the learner progresses through novice to expert stages, there are cognitive and metacognitive, motivational, and resource considerations for learning new skills. In terms of cognitive considerations, fluid and crystallized abilities as well as executive functions interact to help the learner process and retain information related to the skills. In terms of metacognitive considerations, knowing what to learn and how to learn are important for novel skill learning. In terms of motivational considerations, changes in individuals' intrinsic and extrinsic motivation throughout the lifespan impact their pursuit of novel skill learning, and declines in motivation can be buffered through the cultivation of grit, growth mindset, self-efficacy, and other personal factors. In terms of resource considerations, there are many tools that learners can use to acquire new skills, but allocation and availability of these resources differ based on life stage and socioeconomic status. Taken together, these considerations may provide learners with the best chance at acquiring new skills across the lifespan. Further research investigating these three factors, particularly among older adult learners, and their interactive effects could help increase our understanding of their impacts on skill learning and inform future cognitive interventions that can be tailored to learners' unique needs.

Effects of rational emotive behavior therapy on alexithymia, anxiety, depression and sleep quality of the elderly in nursing homes: a quasi-experimental study

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Expertise differences in cognitive interpreting: A meta‐analysis of eye tracking studies across four decades

“…This result might be attributed to seasoned interpreters being better equipped to manage cognitive loads and deploying efficient strategies during interpretation tasks. The variation in time efficiency across different interpreting modalities could result from the inherent cognitive demands and processes associated with each modality (Sheffler et al, 2022). For instance, sight interpreting, which proved most time‐efficient, might leverage visual cues more effectively, thus requiring less cognitive effort than simultaneous or consecutive interpreting.…”

Performance Medicine: a novel and needed paradigm for proactive health care

“…Participation in our Performance Medicine practice demands an individual's active engagement. While each client's motivation is certainly unique (34), clients all intentionally subject themselves to varying types and doses of stimuli in order to expand what is known as adaptive capacity-the ability of a person and their physiological systems to manage internal or external perturbations, i.e., to turn stressors into growth opportunities (35) to better manage the inherent challenges of life.…”