Module 10: Information Processing Theory (Macalan/Finals)

Information Processing Theory 

• Relating how the mind and the computer work is a powerful analogy. 

• They look into how we receive, perceive, store, and retrieve information. 

• They believe that how a person thinks about and interprets what s/he receives shapes what he/she will learn.

General vs. Specific

•  knowledge is useful in many tasks or only in one.

Declarative

• factual knowledge

• nature of how things are

• form of a word or an image

Declarative

• Examples are your name, address, a nursery rhyme, the definition of IPT, or even the face of your crush

Procedural

• knowledge on how to do things

Procedural

• Examples include making a lesson plan, baking a cake, or getting the least common denominator.

Episodic

•  memories of life events

Conditional 

• "knowing when and why" to apply declarative or procedural strategies

Encoding 

• Information is sensed, perceived, and attended to

Storage

• information is stored for either a brief or extended period of time

Retrieval

• information is brought back at the appropriate time and reactivated for use.

• true measure of effective memory.

Sensory Register 

• first step in the IP model holds all sensory information for a very brief time.

Sensory Register 

• Capacity: Our mind receives a great amount of information, but it is more than what our minds can hold or perceive

Sensory Register

Duration: The sensory register only holds the information for an extremely brief period in the order of 1 to 3 seconds.

Role of Attention

• To bring information into consciousness

"precategorical" information

• learner has not established a determination of the categorical membership of the information.

"precategorical" information

• Once it is perceived, we can categorize, judge, interpret, and place meaning on the stimuli. If we fail to perceive, we have no means by which to recognize that the stimulus was ever encountered.

Short-Term Memory (STM or Working Memory) 

• only hold 5 to 9 "chunks" of information, sometimes described as 7 +/- 2.

Short-Term Memory (STM or Working Memory) 

• called as working memory because it is where new information is temporarily placed

Short-Term Memory (STM or Working Memory) 

• maintains information for a limited time.

Short-Term Memory (STM or Working Memory) 

• Duration: 18 or less

Short-Term Memory (STM or Working Memory) 

• It is using repetition to keep the information active

Long-Term Memory (LTM) 

• final or permanent storage house for memory information

Long-Term Memory (LTM) 

• holds the stored information until needed again

Long-Term Memory (LTM) 

• has unlimited capacity. 

Long-Term Memory (LTM) 

• has indefinite duration.

Executive Control Processes

• referred to as metacognitive skills. 

Executive Control Processes

• guide the flow of information through the system and help the learner make informed decisions about how to categorize, organize, or interpret information. 

Executive Control Processes

Examples of processes are attention, rehearsals, and organization

Forgetting 

• inability to retrieve or access information when needed. 

Decay

• Information is not attended to and eventually 'fades' away. 

• Very prevalent in Working Memory. 

Interference

• New or old information 'blocks' access to the information in question.

Rehearsal

repeating information verbatim, either mentally or aloud.

Meaningful Learning

• making connections between new information and prior knowledge. 

Organization

• making connections among various pieces of information.

Elaboration

• adding additional ideas to new information based on what one already knows.

• It is connecting new information with old to gain meaning. 

Visual Imagery

• forming a "picture" of the information.

Generation

• Things we 'produce' are easier to remember than things we 'hear'. 

Context

• Remembering the situation helps recover information.

Personalization

• making the information relevant to the individual.

Serial Position Effect (recency and primacy)

• will remember the beginning and end of a 'list' more readily 

Part Learning

• Break up the 'list' or "chunk" information to increase memorization. 

Distributed Practice

• Break up learning sessions rather than cramming all the info in at once (Massed Practice) 

Mnemonic Aids

• These are memory techniques that learners may employ to help them retain and retrieve information more effectively.

Mnemonic Aids

• This includes the loci technique, acronyms, sentence construction, peg-word and association techniques, among others.