
The Information Processing Approach

Memory

Thinking
The Information-Processing Approach
Computer and Human Comparison
The Information-Processing Approach
Mechanisms of Processing
Encoding
Mechanism by which
information gets into memory
Automaticity
Ability to process information
with little or no effort
Strategy
Construction
Discovering new procedure for
processing information
Metacognition
Cognition about cognition, or
“knowing about knowing”
The Information-Processing Approach
Speed of Processing Information


Assessed using reaction time tasks.
Changes in speed processing:
 Improves dramatically through childhood and adolescence.
 Changes due to both myelination and experience.
 Decline begins in middle adulthood; continues into late
adulthood.
Does Processing Speed Matter?



Linked with competence in thinking.
Efficient strategies can compensate for slower reaction
times and speed (mental retardation).
Processing linked to accumulated knowledge and
abilities to perform.
Attention
Infancy to Adulthood

Newborns can detect contours and fixate.
4-month-olds have selective attention.
Joint attention begins in 7-8 month olds.

Control over selective attention shows:


 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.
_________________________________________________


Less adept at selective attention.
Older adults (50-80) performed worse in divided attention
conditions than younger groups.
Memory
Constructing Memories

Schema Theory:
 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

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.

Children as eyewitnesses:

Age differences in susceptibility.

Interviewing techniques can cause distortions.
Memory
Infancy

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.

Infantile Amnesia:
 Adults recall little or none of first three years.
 Due to immaturity of prefrontal lobes in brain.

Considerable improvement after infancy.
Memory
Imagery and
Memory of
Verbal
Information
Memory
Working Memory and Processing Speed


Working memory performance peaked at 45 years of age; declined at
57 years of age.
Working memory linked to:
 Reading and math achievement
 Processing speed

Younger adults have better episodic memory than older adults.

Older adults remember older events better than more recent events;
take longer to retrieve semantic information.
 Accuracy fades with the aging of a memory.
Memory
Memory for Spanish as a Function of Age Since Spanish
Was Learned
Memory
Source Memory
Source Memory:
 Ability to remember where something was learned.
 Contexts (Physical/Emotional Setting and Identity of Speaker)
 Failures increase with age in adult years; relevancy of
information affects ability.
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





Psychological Factors
Health
Beliefs, Expectations, and Feelings
Education
Training and mnemonics improve memory Method of loci: storing mental images
 Chunking: put into manageable units
Memory
Memory, Age,
and Time of
Day Tested
(A.M. or P.M.)
Thinking
Cognitive Neuroscience and Aging

Brain 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 together.
 Perceptual categorization: as young as 7 mos.
 Categorization increases in second year; infants
differentiate more.
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

Few schools teach critical
thinking to students:
 Students recite, define,
describe, state, list
 Students not asked to
analyze, create, rethink

Encourage by:
 Presenting 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
 Reciprocal teaching-Small-group discussions

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.
Problem solving and children:
 Teach 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 Thinking
 If fundamental skills not developed during childhood, criticalthinking skills unlikely to mature in adolescence.

Decision Making
 Older adolescents appear as more competent decision
makers than younger adolescents.
 Ability does not guarantee every day usage.
Thinking
Thinking in Adulthood

Practical problem solving and expertise improve:
 Expertise — 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
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

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