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INFORMATION PROCESSING
The Information Processing Approach
Attention
Memory
Thinking
Metacognition
What Is the Information-Processing Approach?
Analyzes the ways people process information about their world Manipulate information
Monitor it
Create strategies to deal with it
Effectiveness involves attention, memory, thinking
The Information-Processing Approach
Computers and Human Information Processing
The Information-Processing Approach
Simplified Model of Information Processing
The Information-Processing Approach
Mechanisms of ChangeThe Information-Processing Approach
Encoding
Automaticity
StrategyConstruction
Mechanism by which information gets into memory
Ability to process information with little or no effort
Discovering new procedure for processing information
MetacognitionCognition about cognition, or
“knowing about knowing”
Comparisons With Piaget’s Theory
The Information-Processing Approach
Piaget
• Constructivist • Cognitive capabilities
and limits at points in development
• Development occurs abruptly in distinct stages
Information Processing
Constructivist Cognitive capabilities
and limits at points in development
Individuals develop gradually increasing capacity for information-processing
Speed of Processing Information
Assessed using reaction time tasks
Changes in speed processing
Improves dramatically through childhood and adolescence
Changes due to myelination or experience?
Decline begins in middle adulthood; continues into late adulthood
The Information-Processing Approach
The Relation of Age to Reaction Time
The Information-Processing Approach
Does Processing Speed Matter?
Linked with competence in thinking
For many everyday tasks, speed is unimportant
Efficient strategies can compensate for slower reaction times and speed
Processing linked to accumulated knowledge and abilities to perform
What Is Attention?
Focusing of mental resources
Three ways attention can be allocated Sustained attention
Selective attention
Divided attention
Types of Attention
Attention
SustainedAttention
SelectiveAttention
Ability to maintain attention to selected stimulus over prolonged
period; also called vigilance
Focusing on specific aspect of experience that is relevant while
ignoring others
Divided Attention
Concentrating on more than one activity at a time
Infancy
Newborns can detect contours and fixate
4-month-olds have selective attention
Processes closely linked to attention
Habituation: decreased responsiveness to stimulus after repeated presentations
Dishabituation: recovery of a habituated response after change in stimulation
Attention
Infancy
Joint attention: individuals focus on same object or event and requiresAbility to track another’s behavior
One person directing another’s attention
Reciprocal interaction
Begins in 7-to-8 month old infants
Attention
Childhood and Adolescence
Most research on selective attention
Control over attention shows changes
Preschooler attends to external salient stimuli
Child of 6 to 7 attentive to relevant information
Ability to shift attention increases with age; allows for more complex task involvement
Attention
Adulthood
Older adults may not be able to focus on relevant information as effectively as younger adults
Less adept at selective attention
Older adults (50-80) performed worse in the divided attention condition than two younger groups; affected by vision and environmental distractions
Attention
What Is Memory?
Retention of information over time
Allows humans to span time in reflection over life’s activities
Memory has imperfections
Memory
Processes of Memory
Memory
Constructing Memories
Schema theoryMany reasons why memories are inaccurate
People construct and reconstruct memories; mold to fit information already existing in mind
Schemas: mental frameworks that organize concepts and information; affects encoding and retrieval
Memory
False Memories
New information such as questions or suggestions can alter memories
Concerns about
Implanting false memories in eyewitnesses
Accuracy of eyewitness testimonies at trials
Culture and gender linked to memory
Memory
Infancy
First Memories
Rovee-Collier infant memory experiments
Implicit memory: memory without conscious recollection; skills and routine done automatically
Explicit memory: conscious memory of facts and experiences; doesn’t appear until after 6 months
Memory
Infancy
Infantile Amnesia
Adults recall little or none of first three years
Also called childhood amnesia
Due to immaturity of prefrontal lobes in brain; play important role in memory of events
Memory
Childhood Memory
Considerable improvement after infancy
Short-term memory — memory span for up to 15 to 30 seconds without rehearsal
Working memory — kind of mental workbench for manipulating and assembling information Make decisions, solve problems Comprehend written and spoken language
Memory
Childhood Memory
Long-term memory — relatively permanent and unlimited type of memory
Children as eyewitnesses Age differences in susceptibility
Individual differences in susceptibility
Interviewing techniques can cause distortions; determines if child’s testimony is accurate
Memory
Working Memory Model
Memory
Long-Term Memory Strategies
Activities to improve information processing
Rehearsal — repetition better for short-term
Organizing — making information relevant
Imagery — creating mental images
Elaboration — engaging in more extensive processing of information
Memory
Imagery and Memory of Verbal Information
Memory
Fuzzy Trace Theory
Memory best understood by considering two types of memory
Verbatim memory trace: precise details
Gist: central idea of information
KnowledgeInfluences what people notice and how they
organize, represent, interpret information
Memory
Working Memory and Processing Speed
Working memory performance peaked at 45 years of age; declined at 57 years of age
Decline affected both new and old information
Working memory linked toReading and math achievement
Processing speed
Memory
Explicit and Implicit Memory
Part of long-term memory systems Explicit memory: conscious or declarative
memoryEpisodic memory—retention of information
about where and when of life’s happeningsSemantic memory—one’s knowledge about
world including field of expertise Implicit memory: routine skills and
procedures
Memory
Aging and Explicit Memory
Younger adults have better episodic memory than older adults
Older adults remember older events better than more recent events; take longer to retrieve semantic informationAccuracy fades with the aging of a memory
Less adversely affected by aging than explicit memory
Memory
Memory for Spanish as a Function of Age Since Spanish Was Learned
Memory
Source Memory
Ability to remember where something was learned
Contexts of Physical setting Emotional setting Identity of speaker
Failures increase with age in adult years; relevancy of information affects ability
Memory
Prospective Memory
Remembering to do something in the future
Age-related declines depend on task
Time-based tasks decline more
Event-based tasks show less decline
Memory
Influences on the Memory of Older Adults
Physiological and psychological factors Health Beliefs, expectations, and feelings Education, memory tasks, assessment Training and mneumonics improve memory
Method of loci: storing mental images Chunking: put into manageable units
Memory
Memory
Memory, Age, and Time of Day Tested
(A.M. or P.M.)
Cognitive Neuroscience and Aging
Emerged as a major disciplineStudies links between aging and cognitive
functioningRelies on MRI and PET scansBrain changes influence cognitive functioning
○ Neural circuits○ Increased use of both hemispheres in
processing○ Functioning of hippocampus○ Larger neural patterns for retrieval with aging
Thinking
What Is Thinking?
Manipulating and transforming information in memory
Reason, reflect, evaluate ideas, solve problems, make decisions
Concepts — categories that group things
Perceptual categorization: as young as 7 mos.
Categorization increases in second year; infants differentiate more
Thinking
Critical Thinking
Grasping deeper meaning of ideas Involves
Ask what, how, and why
Examine facts and determine evidence
Recognize one or more explanations exist
Compare various answers, select the best
Evaluate before accepting as truth
Speculate beyond what is known
Thinking
Critical Thinking
Few schools teach to studentsStudents recite, define, describe, state, listStudents not asked to analyze, create, rethink
Encourage byPresenting controversial topics for discussion
Motivate students to delve deeper into issues
Teachers should refrain from giving own views
Thinking
Strategies for Critical Thinking
Children teach children — older help
younger Reciprocal teaching — small-group discussions
Jigsaw classroom — cross-talk sessions
Online computer consultation
Adults as role models Create culture of learning, negotiating,
sharing, and producing (active, not passive)
Thinking
Scientific Thinking
Aimed at identifying causal relationships
Children
emphasize causal mechanisms
more influenced by happenstance than by overall pattern
Cling to old theories regardless of evidence
Have difficulty designing experiments
Thinking
Scientific Thinking
Problem solving and childrenTeach strategies and rules to solve problems
○ Teacher is model, motivate children
○ Use effective strategy instruction
○ Encourage alternative strategies and
approaches
Analogical problem solving: ○ occurs as early as age 1
Thinking
Thinking in Adolescence
Critical ThinkingIf fundamental skills not developed during
childhood, critical-thinking skills unlikely to mature in adolescence
Decision MakingOlder adolescents appear as more competent
decision makers than younger adolescentsAbility does not guarantee every day usage
Thinking
Thinking in Adulthood
Practical problem solving, expertise improveExpertise — extensive, highly organized
knowledge and understanding of particular domain
Use It or Lose It — practice helps cognitive skills
Cognitive Training — can help some if skills are being lost
Cognitive improvement tied to physical fitness and vitality
Thinking
What Is Metacognition?
Knowledge about when and where to use particular strategies
Metamemory—knowledge about memory
Theory of mind— curiosity or thoughts about how mental processes workChanges as child ages
Metacognition
The Child’s Theory of Mind
Ages 2 to 3 — begin to understand Perceptions Desires Emotions
Age 5 — realization of false beliefs Middle and late childhood — mind seen
as active constructor of knowledge
Metacognition
Developmental Changes In False Belief Performance
Metamemory in Children
Limited in children
Preschoolers have Inflated opinion of memories
Little appreciation for importance of memory cues
Understanding of memory abilities and skill in evaluating performance on memory tasks improves considerably by 11-12 years of age
Metacognition
Metacognition in Adolescence and Adulthood
Adolescents more likely than children to effectively manage and monitor thinking
Middle age adults have accumulated a great deal of metacognitive knowledge
Older adults tend to overestimate memory problems they experience on daily basis
Metacognition