ABSTRACT
This chapter offers an overview of the human features involved in learning and teaching processes. Developmental psychology describes how the biological, social, emotional, and cognitive dynamics that characterize an individual evolve through the different stages of personal maturation and ageing. The role of attention as a cognitive mechanism is essential in maintaining the ability to remain task-focused: in this sense it is centrally related to the notion of Working Memory (WM). Encoding refers to the transformation of perceived information into a form that can be stored and manipulated in memory. Retrieval refers to the process of finding the relevant stored information and accessing it. The human capability in remembering and recalling information is clearly of importance in the context of education: no learning would be possible without attention and memory functions, as illustrated by cases where those are impaired. Humans have a natural tendency to attribute human-like traits and characteristics to both living things and nonhuman entities.
