1. Slide 1 © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENT 7 A Topical Approach to John W. Santrock Information Processing

2. Slide 2 © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. What Is the Information- Processing Approach? Focuses on ways people process information about their world –Manipulate information –Monitor it –Create strategies to deal with it The Information-Processing Approach

3. Slide 3 © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Computers and Human Information Processing The Information-Processing Approach

4. Slide 4 © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Mechanisms of Change Encoding Automaticity Strategy Construction Mechanism by which information gets into memory Ability to process information with little or no effort Discovering new procedure for processing information Metacognition Cognition about cognition, or “knowing about knowing” The Information-Processing Approach

5. Slide 5 © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Changes in Processing Speed with Age Improves dramatically through childhood and adolescence –Experience –Myelination Begins to decline in early adulthood (Schaie’s Seattle Longitudinal Study) Declines continue in middle and late adulthood The Information-Processing Approach

6. Slide 6 © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Age and Reaction Time The Information-Processing Approach

7. Slide 7 © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Does Processing Speed Matter? Linked with competence in thinking Can compensate with strategies for many everyday tasks Example: older typists type just as quickly as younger typists by looking further ahead to compensate for slower processing speed type

8. Slide 8 © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Types of Attention Attention Sustained Attention Selective Attention Concentrating and focusing mental resources State of readiness to detect and respond to small changes occurring at random times in environment; 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 Attention

9. Slide 9 © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Changes in Attention in Childhood and Adolescence Cognitive control of attention –Attention to relevant, rather than salient aspects Improvements in shifting attention and divided attention Attention

10. Slide 10 © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Aging and Attention 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 Attention

11. Slide 11 © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. What Is Memory? Retention of information over time Memory

12. Slide 12 © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Processes of Memory Memory

13. Slide 13 © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Constructing Memories Schema theory—when people reconstruct information, they fit it into information that already exists in their mind –Schemas—mental frameworks that organize concepts and information False Memories Memory

14. Slide 14 © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Memory in Infancy First Memories –Implicit memory—memory without conscious recollection; memory of skills and routine procedures performed 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 Memory

15. Slide 15 © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Long-Term Memory Strategies Rehearsal - repetition Organizing - trying to group related information Imagery - creating mental images Elaboration - engaging in more extensive processing of information Memory

16. Slide 16 © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Imagery and Memory of Verbal Information Memory

17. Slide 17 © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. The Role of Expertise in Memory Memory

18. Slide 18 © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Episodic and Semantic Memory Episodic memory—retention of information about where and when of life’s happenings Semantic memory—person’s knowledge about world –Fields of expertise –General academic knowledge –“Everyday knowledge” Memory

19. Slide 19 © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Systems of Long Term Memory

20. Slide 20 © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Aging and Memory Younger adults have better episodic memory than older adults Older adults remember older events better than more recent events –Older the semantic memory, the less accurate it is Implicit memory less likely to be adversely affected by aging than explicit memory Memory

21. Slide 21 © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 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

22. Slide 22 © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Influences on the Memory of Older Adults Physiological factors and health Beliefs, expectations, and feelings Education, memory tasks, and assessment Memory training Memory

23. Slide 23 © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Thinking in Adulthood Practical Problem Solving Improves – peaks in middle adulthood –Expertise—extensive, highly organized knowledge and understanding of particular domain Use It or Lose It - practice helps cognitive skills Cognitive Training - can learn to use other skills to compensate for lost skills Thinking

24. Slide 24 © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. What Is Metacognition? Theory of mind—thoughts about how mental processes work Metamemory—knowledge about memory Metacognition

25. Slide 25 © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Children’s Understanding of False Beliefs

26. Slide 26 © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Metamemory in Children relatively poor at beginning of elementary school years Improves considerably by 11 to 12 years of age Metacognition

27. Slide 27 © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Metacognition in Adolescence and Adulthood Adolescents more likely than children to 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