1. The Information-Processing Approach

2. Outline: The nature of the information-processing approach Attention
Memory
Expertise
Metacognition

3. 1. The nature of the information-processing approach
Information, memory, and thinking
Cognitive resources: capacity and speed of processing information
Mechanism of change

4. Information, memory, and thinking
Information-processing approach: a cognitive approach in which children manipulate information, monitor it, and strategize about it. Central to this approach are the cognitive processes of memory and thinking

5. Cognitive resources: capacity and speed of processing information
As children grow and mature:
Information-processing abilities increase
Important biological development occur both in brain structures and level of neurons
Experience
Controversy: experience vs biological maturation

6. Mechanisms of change
Encoding: the process by which information gets into memory
Automaticity: the ability to process information with little or no effort
Strategy construction: creation of a new procedure for processing information
Metacognition: cognition about, or “knowing about knowing”

7. The Information-Processing Approach
Attention

8. Attention
Attention: the focusing of mental resources

9. Types of attention:
Selective attention: focusing in a specific aspect of experience that is relevant while ignoring others that are irrelevant
Divided attention: concentrating on more than one activity at a time
Sustained attention: maintaining attention over an extended period of time
Executive attention: involves action planning, allocating attention to goals, error detection and compensation, monitoring progress on tasks, and dealing with novel or difficult circumstances.

10. Developmental changes
The length of time children can pay attention increases as they get older
Preschool children’s ability to control and sustain their attention is related to school readiness
Ex: attractive clown presents the direction for solving problem
Preschool children and after the age 6 or 7
12-year-olds were markedly better than 8-year-olds and slightly worse than 20-year-olds at allocating their attention in a situation involving two tasks (divided attention)

11. The Information-Processing Approach
Memory

12. Retaining information
Memory
Memory: the retention of information over time through the processes of encoding, storage, and retrieval.
STORAGE
Retaining information
over time
RETRIEVAL
Taking information
out of storage
ENCODING
Getting information
into memory

13. Encoding
In addition o attention, encoding consists of a number of processes: rehearsal, deep processing, elaboration, constructing images, and organization
Rehearsal: the conscious repetition of information over time to increase the length of time information stays in memory
Deep processing  Levels of processing theory: the theory that processing of memory occurs on a continuum from shallow to deep, with deeper processing producing better memory

14. Elaboration: the extensiveness of information processing involved in encoding
Constructing images: when we construct an image of something, we are elaborate the information
Organization  Chunking: grouping or “packing” information into higher-order units that can be remembered as single units

15. Storage Three types of memory correspond different time frames:
Sensory memory (a second to several second)
Short-term memory ( lasts about 30 seconds)
Long-term memory ( lasts up to a lifetime)

16. Sensory memory: memory that holds information from the world in its original form for only an instant
Short-term memory: a limited-capacity memory system in which information is retained for as long as 30 seconds, unless the information is rehearsed, in which case it can be retained longer

17. Memory span: the number of digits an individual can report back without error in a single presentation
Working memory: a three-part system that holds information temporarily as a person performs a task. A kind of “mental workbench” that lets individuals manipulate, assemble, and construct information when they make decisions, solve problems, and comprehend written and spoken language

19. -
Long-term memory: a type of memory that holds enormous amounts of information for a long period of time in a relatively permanent fashion
Model of the three memory stores:
Atkinson-Shiffrin model: a model of memory that involves a sequence of three stages: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory

21. Long-term memory’s contents:
Declarative memory: the conscious recollection of information, such as specific facts or events that can be verbally communicated
Nondeclarative memory: procedural knowledge in the form of skills and cognitive operations. Nondeclarative memory cannot be consciously recollected, at least not in the form of specific events or facts

23. Two subtypes in declarative memory:
Episodic memory: the retention of information about the where and when of life’s happenings
Semantic memory: an individual’s general knowledge about the world, independent of the individual’s identity with the past

24. Characteristic
Episodic Memory
Semantic Memory
Units
Events, episodes
Facts, ideas, concepts
Organization
Time
Concepts
Emotion
More important
Less important
Retrieval process
Deliberate (effortful)
Automatic
Retrieval report
“I remember”
“I know’
Education
Irrelevant
Relevant
Intelligence
Legal testimony
Admissible in court
Inadmissible in court

25. Representing information in memory
Network theories: theories that describe how information in memory is organized and connected; they emphasize nodes in the memory network

26. Schema theories: theories that when we construct information, we fit it into information that already exists in our mind
Schema: information (concepts, knowledge, information about events), that already exists in a person’s mind
Script: a schema for an event

27. Fuzzy trace theory: states that memory is best understand by considering two types of memory representations;
(1) verbatim memory trace, and
(2) fuzzy trace or gist.
In this theory, older children’s better memory is attributed to the fuzzy traces created by extracting the gist of information

28. Retrieval and forgetting
Retrieval: when we retrieve something from our mental ‘data bank’, we search our store of memory to find the relevant information
Serial position effect: the principle that recall is better for items at the beginning and the end of a list than for items in the middle
Encoding specificity principle: the principle that associations formed at the time of encoding or learning tend to be effective retrieval cues
Recall vs recognition

29. Forgetting
Cue-dependent forgetting: retrieval failure caused by a lack of effective retrieval cues
Interference theory: the theory that we forget not because we actually lose memories from storage but because other information gets in the way of what we are trying to remember

30. Decay theory: the theory that new learning involves the creation of a neurochemical ‘memory trace’, which will eventually disintegrate. Thus, decay theory suggests that the passage of time is responsible for forgetting

31. The Information-Processing Approach
Expertise

32. Expertise and learning
Experts are better than novices at the following:
Detecting features and meaningful patterns of information
Accumulating more content knowledge and organizing it in a manner that shows an understanding of the topic
Retrieving important aspects of knowledge with little effort
Adapting an approach to new situations
Using effective strategies

33. Detecting features and meaningful of organization
Experts: better at noticing important features of problems and context than novices
Experts have superior recall of information in their area of expertise
Organization and depth of knowledge
Experts’ knowledge is organized around important ideas or concepts more than novices’ knowledge is

34. Fluent retrieval
Adaptive expertise
Strategies

35. Strategies Spreading out and consolidating learning
Asking themselves question
Taking good notes
Summarizing
Outlining
Using concept maps
Using study system (PQ4R)
Preview
Question
Read
Reflect
Recite
Review

36. Acquiring Expertise
Practice and motivation
Talent

37. Expertise and teaching
Pedagogical content knowledge
Technology, expertise, and teaching

38. The Information-Processing Approach
Metacognition

39. Metacognition
Metacognitive knowledge: monitoring and reflecting on one’s current or recent thoughts
Metacognitive activity: occurs when students consciously adapt and manage their thinking strategies during problem solving and purposeful thinking
Theory of mind: awareness of one’s own mental processes and the mental processes of others

40. Developmental Changes
2 to 3 years of age: perception, emotion, desires
4 to 5 years of age: false beliefs
Middle and late childhood: multiple interpretation
Adolescence: knowing the best strategy to use and when to use it in performing a learning task

41. The good information-processing model
Children are taught by parents or teachers to use a particular strategy
Teachers may demonstrate similarities and differences in multiple strategies in a particular domain
At this point, students recognize the general benefits of using strategies, which produces general strategy knowledge

42. Strategies and metacognitive regulation
Practice: use effective strategy over and over again until they perform it automatically

43. Thank you…