Studies of learning strategies have usually been divided into three types:

Behavioral — emphasizing the cause and effect relationships between stimulus and response. Behavioral studies focus entirely on measurable quantities, and do not attempt to explain mental processes.

Cognitive — emphasizing, instead, the mental processes that lead to certain behaviors. These studies formulate theories of mental structures, memory, and cognition, and then test them in measurable ways.

Motivational — emphasizing, finally, the motivations that lead to specific behaviors. Formulated in much the same way as cognitive studies, these focus on external, rather than internal, causes.