1. Slide 1 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. A Topical Approach to Life-Span Development 6e Chapter Seven: Information Processing John W. Santrock

2. Slide 2 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Simplified Model of Information Processing

3. Slide 3 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Information-Processing Approach Mechanisms of Change EncodingMechanism by which information enters memory AutomaticityAbility to process information with little or no effort Strategy construction Discovering new procedure for processing information MetacognitionCognition about cognition, or “knowing about knowing”

4. Slide 4 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Information-Processing Approach Speed of processing information –Assessed using reaction time tasks Changes in speed of processing –Improves dramatically through childhood and adolescence –Changes due to myelination and/or experience –Decline begins in middle adulthood; continues into late adulthood

5. Slide 5 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. The Relation of Age to Reaction Time

6. Slide 6 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Information-Processing Approach Does processing speed matter? –Linked with competence in thinking –For many everyday tasks, speed is unimportant –Efficient strategies can compensate for slower reaction times and speed –Processing linked to accumulated knowledge and abilities to perform

7. Slide 7 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Attention Attention: Focusing of mental resources –Four types Infancy –First year: Orienting/Investigative process Directs attention to locations (‘where’) Recognize objects and their features (‘what’) Attention gains flexibility and speed –Sustained (focused) attention increases

8. Slide 8 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Types of Attention Selective attention Focusing on specific aspect of experience that is relevant while ignoring others Divided attention Concentrating on more than one activity at a time Sustained attention Maintain focus on selected stimulus over prolonged period; called vigilance Executive attention Focus on action planning, goals, errors and compensation, monitoring, and unknown

9. Slide 9 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Attention Infancy –Sustained (focused) attention linked to Habituation: decreased responsiveness to stimulus after repeated presentations Dishabituation: recovery of a habituated response after change in stimulation –Joint attention begins about 7 to 8 months of age –Gaze following: begins 10 to 11 months of age

10. Slide 10 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Attention Infancy –Joint attention Individuals focus on same object or event and requires –Ability to track another’s behavior –One person directing another’s attention –Reciprocal interaction Frequency of caregiver-infant interactions affect language development and vocabulary size

11. Slide 11 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Attention Childhood –Attention control ability increases with age –Preschool child: deficits in attention control Attention to salient (overt) stimuli Planning improves as part of playfulness –Young children: most advances in executive and sustained attention Affected by early experiences and education

12. Slide 12 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Attention Adolescence –Processing of salient (irrelevant) information decreases –Ability to shift from one activity to another at will Better at tasks that require this skill –Better at multi-tasking Number of competing tasks increases with age Expands information attended to; distracting Processing ability varies among adolescents

13. Slide 13 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Attention Adulthood –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; affected by vision and environmental distractions

14. Slide 14 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Processing Information in Memory

15. Slide 15 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Memory Constructing memory –Schema theory Many reasons for inaccuracy; “we fill in gaps” 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

16. Slide 16 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Memory Culture, gender, and memory linked –Culture selectively sensitizes members of society Cultural specificity hypothesis –Cultural environment affects experiences Females better than males at –Episodic and emotion-linked memories –Processing information in elaborately and in more detail

17. Slide 17 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Memory Infancy –Recent research: limited type of memory at 3 mos. –First memories Rovee-Collier infant memory experiments –Implicit memory: Memory without conscious recollection; skills and routine done automatically –Explicit memory: Conscious memory of facts and experiences; appears after 6 months

18. Slide 18 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Memory Infancy –Infantile Amnesia Also called childhood amnesia One cause: immature prefrontal lobe Adults recall little or none of first three years Prefrontal lobes in brain play important role in memory of events

19. Slide 19 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Memory Childhood –Memory improves considerably after infancy –Short-term (Working) memory Retains information up to 15 to 30 seconds without rehearsal (span is very limited) Kind of mental workbench for manipulating and assembling information More active, powerful than short-term memory

20. Slide 20 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Figure 7.9 - Working Memory Model

21. Slide 21 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Memory Children’s long-term memory –Strategies used to improve Rehearsal: repetition better for short-term Organizing: making information relevant –Imagery Creating mental images for verbal information –Elaboration Engaging in more extensive processing of information; use of examples, self-referencing

22. Slide 22 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Memory Children’s long-term memory –Fuzzy trace theory Two types of memory representations –Verbatim memory trace: precise details –Gist: central idea of information –Knowledge Influences what people notice and how they organize, represent, interpret information

23. Slide 23 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Memory Adulthood –Working memory and processing speed Linked to aging, reading and math achievement Performance peaks at 45; declines at age 57 Decline affects both new and old information

24. Slide 24 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Memory Adulthood –Long-term memory has two systems Explicit: conscious/declarative memory –Episodic memory: retention of information about the where and when of events »Autobiographical memory »Reminiscence bump

25. Slide 25 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Memory Adulthood –Long-term memory has two systems Explicit: conscious/declarative memory –Semantic memory: One’s knowledge about world including field of expertise Implicit memory: Routine skills and procedures performed automatically (unconscious memory)

26. Slide 26 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Memory Adulthood –Aging and explicit memory Younger adults have better episodic memory Older adults remember older events better than more recent events; take longer to retrieve semantic information –Accuracy fades with the aging of a memory –Tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) phenomenon

27. Slide 27 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Memory Adulthood –Aging and implicit memory Less adversely affected by aging than explicit memory –Source memory Ability to remember where something is learned –Physical, emotional setting; speaker identity Failures increase with age in adult years; relevancy of information affects ability

28. Slide 28 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Memory Adulthood –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

29. Slide 29 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Thinking What is thinking? –Manipulating, transforming information in memory Childhood –Key aspects of infant cognitive development Attention, memory, imitation, concepts –Concepts: »ideas about what categories represent –Categories: »Grouping based on characteristics

30. Slide 30 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Thinking Childhood –Concepts Perceptual categorization: as young as 7 mos. Categorization increases in second year; infants differentiate more –Large gender differences based on interests Infant’s abilities much richer, more gradual, less stage- like, occurs earlier than Piaget thought

31. Slide 31 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Thinking Critical thinking –Grasping deeper meaning of ideas; open minded Ask what, how, and why Examine facts and determine evidence Recognize one or more explanations exist Evaluate before accepting as truth Speculate beyond what is known

32. Slide 32 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Thinking Scientific thinking –Aspects of thinking are domain specific (e.g. math) –Aimed at identifying causal relationships –ChiIdren: emphasize causal mechanisms Important differences in reasoning Cling to old theories regardless of evidence More influenced by happenstance Have difficulty designing experiments

33. Slide 33 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Thinking Solving problems –Involves finding appropriate way to attain a goal –Children: need skill in and out of school Teach strategies and rules to solve problems Teacher is model, motivate children Use effective strategy instruction Encourage alternative strategies/approaches –Use analogies to solve problems

34. Slide 34 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Thinking Adolescence Critical Thinking –If fundamental skills not developed during childhood, critical-thinking skills unlikely to mature in adolescence Decision Making –Older adolescents appear more competent –Ability does not guarantee every day usage –Social context plays key role here

35. Slide 35 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Thinking Adulthood –Practical problem solving, expertise improve Expertise: extensive, highly organized knowledge and understanding of particular domain –Rely on accumulative experience –Process and analyze data automatically –Have better strategies and shortcuts

36. Slide 36 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Thinking Adulthood –Education, work, and health Influence older adult cognitive functioning Higher educational levels today than in past Work — now more cognitively oriented Health: better medicine, longer life spans

37. Slide 37 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Thinking Older adulthood –Use It or Lose It: Practice helps cognitive skills - mindfulness Exercise, mental health linked to cognitive fitness –Cognitive training Training can improve some cognitive skills Some loss of plasticity in late adulthood

38. Slide 38 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Metacognition –Takes many forms –Knowledge about when and where to use particular strategies –Metamemory: knowledge about memory –Theory of mind: curiosity or thoughts about how mental processes work Changes as child ages

39. Slide 39 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Metacognition Developmental changes –Ages 2 to 3: awareness of emotions, perceptions, and desires –Age 5: learn realization of false beliefs –Age 7: deepening appreciation of the mind itself –Middle and late childhood: mind seen as active constructor of knowledge –Adolescence: realize ambivalent feelings exist

40. Slide 40 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 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

41. Slide 41 © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. The End