Sensorimotor Schema

What is natural seems simple and it has already been learnt

For Piaget, a schema is a mental structure which enables to repeat the same action or to apply it to new actions.

(a behavioural brick ...)

Piaget : specialist in Child learning behaviour, the birth of the intelligence 1979

Imagine that you say to somebody that if he wants to stop his computer, he first has to click on a start button ... that is not natural at all, it is counterintuitive !

• A schema is reproducible

There is in it some parameter that describe a general situation where you may want to use that schema

• A schema is assimilating : you may apply it to new situations

• The schema has a purpose

• The schema is not a declarative knowledge : it is used and learnt unconsciously

Ex : When you grab an object, the same scheme may be used in different situation

The behavioural interface is a mixed entity :

• an artifact (material device)

• a schema (mental process)

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