Transcript Ch 6- Memory and Cognitive Processingx

Information Processing and
Memory
Chapter 6
Ergle
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Think of two or three ways that you
memorize needed information.
Meaning Maker
“The human mind is a meaning maker. From
the first microsecond you see, hear, taste, or
feels something, you start a process of
deciding what it is, how it relates to what
you already know, and whether it is
important to keep in your mind or should
be discarded. This whole process may take
place consciously, unconsciously, or both.” p.
136
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Information Processing Model
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Recreate this model on your own paper:
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External Stimulus
Sensory Register
Initial processing
Working or Short Term Memory
Long-Term memory
Rehearsal and Coding
Retrieval
Perception
The sensory images of which we are
conscious are not exactly the same as
what we saw, heard, of felt; they are what
are senses perceived.
 It is mental interpretation of external
stimuli.
 Influenced by mental state, past
experiences, knowledge.
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Attention
Limited resource
 Shift priorities that screens out other
stimuli
 Teachers?
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Arouse interest
Have emotional content
Unusual, inconsistent, surprising stimuli
Cue for future importance or use
Short-Term or Working Memory
Limited capacity to hold information for a
few seconds- about 30 seconds
 Information currently being used
 Organizes info for storage or discard and
connects it to other information
 P 39-140
 Can hold information in working memory
by repetition
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Working Memory Capacity
5-9 bits
 Each bit may contain a great deal of info
 Background knowledge will enhance
working memory
 Can be taught strategies to organize
information
 Teachers:
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◦ Organize new information
◦ Relate information to existing schema
Long Term Memory
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3 parts:
◦ Episodic memory: images from our personal
experiences/ stored in images based on when and
where.
◦ Semantic Memory: stores facts and general knowledge
(most school information)/ organized by network of
ideas.
◦ Procedural Memory: Knowing how to do something
like ride a bike or type/ stored as stimulus-response.
◦ These 3 organize in different ways and in different
parts of the brain.
Making Information Meaningful
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Rote memory not all bad
Mental images; visual and auditory cues
Use Semantic mapping (p. 159- bison_
Concepts are retained longer than names
Whatever is retained after 12-24 weeks is
cemented
Active involvement increases retention
The more processing of the information, the
better retention
Similar to John Dewey and Progressive
Education!
Making Information Meaningful
Strategies:
 Practice Tests
 Note-Taking
 Self-Questioning and Metcognition
 Articulating Knowledge to others
 Summarizing
 Outlining, Concept Mapping
 Underlining, Making S-T and T-T
connections
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Brain Research
Read p. 147
 1. Brain capacity is not set at birth and
neural connections are made in first 18
months
 2. After 18 months, the brain begins to
slough off connections not used
 3. As a person becomes knowledge and
skill, the brain becomes more efficient
(reading example pg. 147)
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What causes people to remember
or forget?
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Interference: information gets pushed
aside by other information.
◦ Not able to rehearse new information
Retroactive Inhibition: information lost
because it is mixed up with new or similar
information
 Proactive Inhibition: one set of
information interferes with learning
another (like driving on right and left side
of road)
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Facilitation
Proactive facilitation: learning one thing
can help learn another (English and
Spanish)
 Retroactive facilitation: learning something
new that increases the understanding of
something already learned (Latin for
English)
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Primacy and Recency
Primacy: learn the first things presented
 Recency: learn the last things presented
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Automaticity
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Level of ease and rapidity that cause tasks
to be performed or skills utilized with
little mental effort. (Reading, soccer,
chess)
◦ Practice:
 Massed practice: practice initially until learned
 Distributed practice: a little over a long period of
time
 Long term retention greatly enhanced by
distributed practice! (vs. cramming)
 Doing better than just seeing.
Verbal Learning
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Paired Associate (states and capitals)
Serial Learning (ordered like Pledge of
Allegiance)
Free Recall (no order)
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Methods:
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Imagery
Mnemonics
Loci method from Greece
Initial letter
Pegword Method
Meaningful
Rote learning: facts that are arbitrary
 Meaningful learning: relate to other
information
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Schema Theory: Structure for organizing
and connecting information
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Metacognition: knowledge about one’s own
learning or about how to learn
◦ Metacognitive skills are ways students can learn,
study and solve problems
◦ Self-questioning strategies can be taught to
students to improve learning