Chapter 8 – Information Processing

1. Chapter 8 – Information Processing • Approach to cognitive development • Based on computers - Hardware = physical structures - Software* = processes

2. Processes: Attention & Memory • Attention - detecting information to be processed

3. 2 complementary elements • Filtering - ignoring irrelevant information • Searching - finding the target among many stimuli

4. Abilities improve - very good by 12 Dr. John Richards (USC) Infant attention (eg sustained)

5. Attentional aids • Reduce competing information - improve filtering • Contrasts - make relevant information stand out - improve searching

6. Memory - retention & retrieval of information • 2 types of retrieval

7. Recall = retrieve information not present • Easier with cues • Some recall by 1 year • Improves with age

8. Recognition = realize you have encountered information before • Young infants show recognition • Very accurate by age 4

9. 3 Types of storage Sensory store - Holding place for raw sensory impressions - Can encompass much information - 2-3 seconds - Information will disappear

10. Children & adults have similar sensory store • Down to age 5

11. Short-term memory (STM) = “working memory” • 7 pieces held in mind while processed • Span increases with age • 2-year-olds = 2 items • 12-year-olds = 7 items

12. Except when child = expert & adult = novice • Knowledge & motivation

13. Long-term memory (LTM) = permanent storehouse of knowledge • Limitless • Permanent? • Sometimes hard to retrieve

14. Young kids have difficulty retrieving from LTM via recall • But none via recognition Encoding – maintaining – retrieving

15. Levels of Processing • Process information at different levels • Shallow = physical/sensory characteristics • Deep = meaning/associations

16. Depth = time/energy/ put into task • LOP = processing that is deep => better memory

17. Self-reference effect • Memory is better if information is processed in terms of ourselves

18. Nowatka • Holds for kids as young as 8 • Suggests memory strategy: relate information to oneself

19. Mnemonics Strategies to improve memory • Rehearsal - repeating information - common strategy by age 7 - good for STM, not for LTM

20. Semantic & Spatial Organization - Group items by meaning or spatial location - Starts about 9-10 knowledge base experience/organization at school logical (concrete) operations

21. Elaboration - Add to information/mental pictures - Seldom before adolescence knowledge base

22. Scripts - Framework for action sequences - Scripts organize memory & fill in information - Younger = fewer & simpler scripts - Problem: Scripts can distort memory

23. Summary of Info-Processing Development 1. Information-Processing Capacity • Increases with age • Process faster • More room in working memory

24. 2. Memory Strategies • Older kids use more effective strategies • Encoding, storing, & retrieving info 3. Metamemory • Older kids have greater knowledge of memory processes • Can select & monitor best strategy for a task

25. 4. Knowledge base • Older kids have more knowledge of the world • Improves ability to learn & remember

26. Theory’s Current Status Problems 1. Fragmented - Focus on different specific skills vs. broad development of cognitive abilities

27. 2. Underestimates richness of cognition - Humans have abilities that computers cannot model 3. Vague like Piaget - Poor explanations of cognitive development

28. Advantages 1. Piaget’s gaps Allows for different levels of abilities, inconsistency across domains 2. More detailed explanations of some Piagetian concepts