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