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Transcript information processing
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.
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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