The Information-Processing Approach

Outline:

•The nature of the information-processing approach

•Attention•Memory•Expertise•Metacognition

1. The nature of the information-processing approach•Information, memory, and thinking•Cognitive resources: capacity and speed

of processing information•Mechanism of change

Information, memory, and thinking

•Information-processing approach: a cognitive approach in which children manipulate information, monitor it, and strategize about it. Central to this approach are the cognitive processes of memory and thinking

Cognitive resources: capacity and speed of processing information•As children grow and mature:

▫Information-processing abilities increase▫Important biological development occur

both in brain structures and level of neurons

▫Experience •Controversy: experience vs biological

maturation

Mechanisms of change

•Encoding: the process by which information gets into memory

•Automaticity: the ability to process information with little or no effort

•Strategy construction: creation of a new procedure for processing information

•Metacognition: cognition about, or “knowing about knowing”

The Information-Processing ApproachAttention

Attention

•Attention: the focusing of mental resources

• Types of attention:▫Selective attention: focusing in a specific

aspect of experience that is relevant while ignoring others that are irrelevant

▫Divided attention: concentrating on more than one activity at a time

▫Sustained attention: maintaining attention over an extended period of time

▫Executive attention: involves action planning, allocating attention to goals, error detection and compensation, monitoring progress on tasks, and dealing with novel or difficult circumstances.

Developmental changes• The length of time children can pay attention

increases as they get older• Preschool children’s ability to control and sustain

their attention is related to school readiness• Ex: attractive clown presents the direction for

solving problem▫Preschool children and after the age 6 or 7

• 12-year-olds were markedly better than 8-year-olds and slightly worse than 20-year-olds at allocating their attention in a situation involving two tasks (divided attention)

The Information-Processing ApproachMemory

Memory

•Memory: the retention of information over time through the processes of encoding, storage, and retrieval.

ENCODING

Getting informationinto memory

STORAGE

Retaining informationover time

RETRIEVAL

Taking informationout of storage

Encoding• In addition o attention, encoding consists of a

number of processes: rehearsal, deep processing, elaboration, constructing images, and organization▫Rehearsal: the conscious repetition of

information over time to increase the length of time information stays in memory

▫Deep processing Levels of processing theory: the theory that processing of memory occurs on a continuum from shallow to deep, with deeper processing producing better memory

▫Elaboration: the extensiveness of information processing involved in encoding

▫Constructing images: when we construct an image of something, we are elaborate the information

▫Organization Chunking: grouping or “packing” information into higher-order units that can be remembered as single units

Storage

•Three types of memory correspond different time frames:▫Sensory memory (a second to several

second)▫Short-term memory ( lasts about 30

seconds)▫Long-term memory ( lasts up to a lifetime)

•Sensory memory: memory that holds information from the world in its original form for only an instant

•Short-term memory: a limited-capacity memory system in which information is retained for as long as 30 seconds, unless the information is rehearsed, in which case it can be retained longer

▫Memory span: the number of digits an

individual can report back without error in a single presentation

▫Working memory: a three-part system that holds information temporarily as a person performs a task. A kind of “mental workbench” that lets individuals manipulate, assemble, and construct information when they make decisions, solve problems, and comprehend written and spoken language

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•Long-term memory: a type of memory that holds enormous amounts of information for a long period of time in a relatively permanent fashion

•Model of the three memory stores:▫Atkinson-Shiffrin model: a model of

memory that involves a sequence of three stages: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory

•Long-term memory’s contents:▫Declarative memory: the conscious

recollection of information, such as specific facts or events that can be verbally communicated

▫Nondeclarative memory: procedural knowledge in the form of skills and cognitive operations. Nondeclarative memory cannot be consciously recollected, at least not in the form of specific events or facts

•Two subtypes in declarative memory:▫Episodic memory: the retention of

information about the where and when of life’s happenings

▫Semantic memory: an individual’s general knowledge about the world, independent of the individual’s identity with the past

Characteristic Episodic Memory Semantic Memory

Units Events, episodes Facts, ideas, concepts

Organization Time Concepts

Emotion More important Less important

Retrieval process Deliberate (effortful) Automatic

Retrieval report “I remember” “I know’

Education Irrelevant Relevant

Intelligence Irrelevant Relevant

Legal testimony Admissible in court Inadmissible in court

Representing information in memory

•Network theories: theories that describe how information in memory is organized and connected; they emphasize nodes in the memory network

•Schema theories: theories that when we construct information, we fit it into information that already exists in our mind

•Schema: information (concepts, knowledge, information about events), that already exists in a person’s mind

•Script: a schema for an event

•Fuzzy trace theory: states that memory is best understand by considering two types of memory representations; ▫(1) verbatim memory trace, and ▫(2) fuzzy trace or gist. ▫In this theory, older children’s better

memory is attributed to the fuzzy traces created by extracting the gist of information

Retrieval and forgetting•Retrieval: when we retrieve something from

our mental ‘data bank’, we search our store of memory to find the relevant information▫Serial position effect: the principle that recall

is better for items at the beginning and the end of a list than for items in the middle

▫Encoding specificity principle: the principle that associations formed at the time of encoding or learning tend to be effective retrieval cues

▫Recall vs recognition

Forgetting

•Cue-dependent forgetting: retrieval failure caused by a lack of effective retrieval cues▫Interference theory: the theory that we

forget not because we actually lose memories from storage but because other information gets in the way of what we are trying to remember

•Decay theory: the theory that new learning involves the creation of a neurochemical ‘memory trace’, which will eventually disintegrate. Thus, decay theory suggests that the passage of time is responsible for forgetting

The Information-Processing ApproachExpertise

Expertise and learning

•Experts are better than novices at the following:▫Detecting features and meaningful patterns

of information▫Accumulating more content knowledge and

organizing it in a manner that shows an understanding of the topic

▫Retrieving important aspects of knowledge with little effort

▫Adapting an approach to new situations▫Using effective strategies

•Detecting features and meaningful of organization▫Experts: better at noticing important features

of problems and context than novices▫Experts have superior recall of information in

their area of expertise•Organization and depth of knowledge

▫Experts’ knowledge is organized around important ideas or concepts more than novices’ knowledge is

•Fluent retrieval•Adaptive expertise•Strategies

Strategies • Spreading out and consolidating learning• Asking themselves question• Taking good notes

▫ Summarizing ▫ Outlining▫ Using concept maps

• Using study system (PQ4R)▫ Preview▫ Question▫ Read▫ Reflect▫ Recite▫ Review

Acquiring Expertise

•Practice and motivation•Talent

Expertise and teaching

•Pedagogical content knowledge•Technology, expertise, and teaching

The Information-Processing ApproachMetacognition

Metacognition

•Metacognitive knowledge: monitoring and reflecting on one’s current or recent thoughts

•Metacognitive activity: occurs when students consciously adapt and manage their thinking strategies during problem solving and purposeful thinking

•Theory of mind: awareness of one’s own mental processes and the mental processes of others

Developmental Changes

•2 to 3 years of age: perception, emotion, desires

•4 to 5 years of age: false beliefs•Middle and late childhood: multiple

interpretation•Adolescence: knowing the best strategy to

use and when to use it in performing a learning task

The good information-processing model•Children are taught by parents or

teachers to use a particular strategy•Teachers may demonstrate similarities

and differences in multiple strategies in a particular domain

•At this point, students recognize the general benefits of using strategies, which produces general strategy knowledge

Strategies and metacognitive regulation•Practice: use effective strategy over and

over again until they perform it automatically

Thank you…