Questioning and cognitive reflection upon previously learned information and the active modification of one's perceptions is an example of which cognitive concept?

• A. Assimilation
• B. Accommodations
• C. Adaptation
• D. Integration

Answer: (B)

In Piagetian terms, changing your mental framework in response to new, conflicting information is accommodation. Schemas are the mental structures we use to organize what we know; when new information doesn’t fit how we currently think, accommodation involves modifying those schemas or creating new ones so the new information makes sense. The description of questioning and reflecting on what you’ve learned and actively changing your perceptions fits this process precisely because it involves altering your prior understandings to align with new evidence. By contrast, assimilation would be using existing schemas to interpret new information without changing them. Adaptation is the broader process of adjusting to new environments, and integration means bringing elements together into a unified whole, neither of which captures the specific reforming of a belief in light of new evidence. For example, if a student learns that not all insects bite and revises their belief about certain insects, they are experiencing accommodation rather than simply applying old ideas or lumping everything together.