Information-Processing
Theory
By: Robert S. Siegler
Robert S. Siegler
• Teresa Heinz Professor
of Cognitive Psychology
• B.A. in psychology
from the University of
Illinois in 1970
• Ph.D. in psychology
from SUNY Stony Brook
in 1974
Focus of his works:
• Are on children's thinking, particularly
their mathematical and scientific
thinking.
• He also specializes in the cognitive
development of problem
solving and reasoning in children.
Information-Processing Theory
This theory attempts to account for
changes in a child's cognitive ability via
interactions between the developing
brain and the child's increasing
knowledge of the world.
It aims to:
• help social learning theorists and others
understand how humans learn and solve
problems
• to understand cognitive development in terms of
how people of different ages process information
(i.e., decode, encode, transfer, combine, store,
retrieve it), particularly when solving challenging
mental problems (Sternberg 2002, p. 462).
He suggested that children's ability to
reason improved with age, and that an
older child is able to draw upon a greater
variety of mental processes than a younger
child.
Infant
Early Childhood
preference for moderately complex
stimuli, ability to classify objects
attention span of a child is short,
easily distracted,, limited knowledge
because of lack of experience with
variable stimulation
more capable of focusing on
Middle Childhood important information, and they are
not distracted as easily as before,
increasingly symbolic nature of
thought and knowledge,
Early Adolescence
Late Adolescence
ability to focus on one task for an
hour or so is developed, basic
skills such as writing and math are
basically automatic, knowledge
base is expanded in relation to
school subjects and interests.
ability to focus on tasks is
extended to lengthy periods of
time instead of an hour,
knowledge has increased to
become "extensive and somewhat
integrated"
• Siegler (1998) proposes that as children grow
older, they develop progressively better rules and
strategies for solving problems and for thinking
logically.
• Siegler notes that change can be both continuous
and discontinuous, as described by a branch of
mathematics called catastrophe theory.
• “viewed from afar, many changes in children’s
thinking appear discontinuous; when viewed from
close up, the same changes often appear as part of
a continuous, gradual progression” (Siegler, 1998,
p.55)
Key Components that are Involved in the
Information Processing Theory
Sensory
Memory
Working
Memory
Long-Term
Memory
• Information processing theorists liken the sensory
input to humans to the input functions of a
computer. The processes of thinking--perception,
problem solving, and memory --are similarly
compared to the computer's data reading, data
processing, and storage capabilities. The actions
taken by humans are likened to a computer
output.
• While the computer analogy is limited and limiting,
information processing theory has provided a
structure for the study of cognitive processes in
children.
Factors that can Influence The
Processing of Information
1. Environment influences perception, and
"perception of one's surroundings is
essential for survival, the human species has
undoubtedly evolved some biologically built
in perceptual mechanisms"
2. Heredity can cause children to have mental
illnesses that can cause mental
developments to not happen at the normal
rate.
Information-processing
theorists believe that all thinking
is information processing.
• Sources:
• "Information Processing Theory". Encyclopedia of Childhood
and Adolescence. FindArticles.com. 25 Jun, 2011.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g2602/is_0003/ai_2602
000322/
• McDevitt, T., & Ormrod, J. (2004). Child Development:
Educating and Working with Children and Adolescents (2nd
ed.). : Prentice Hall