Creativity and Information Encoding Notes
- To solve an issue or create a new idea, it is necessary to acquire a lot of information by connecting internal and external sources.
- The information needed for a creative solution is obtained through two basic processes:
- Searching for existing concepts.
- Creating new concepts.
- Without search and encoding, new ideas might seem old.
- Information is encoded to solve problems or generate new ideas.
The Two Key Parts of Memory
- The brain labels or codes environmental sensory information.
- Data can be encoded through automatic and manual processing.
- Similar information can be structured and linked to existing concepts.
- Encoding inserts information into the memory system.
Encoding Processing
Automatic Processing of Encoding
- Encoding information unconsciously includes:
- Space: Location of items.
- Time: Sequence of day’s events.
- Frequency: How many times things have happened.
- Example: Recalling what you ate for lunch today.
- Example: Recalling the last time you studied.
Effortful Processing of Encoding
- Effortful encoding requires conscious effort and attention, such as rehearsal or conscious repetition.
- Committing novel information to memory requires effort, like learning a concept from a textbook.
- Increasing rehearsal time leads to decreased relearning time.
Types of Encoding
- Semantic encoding
- Visual encoding
- Acoustic encoding
- Tactile encoding
- Elaborative encoding
Semantic Encoding
- Semantic encoding encodes words' meanings.
- It helps us understand the meaning of ordinary objects.
- It gives items meaning, which is stored in the brain for later use.
Visual Encoding
- Visual encoding converts data into charts, maps, etc.
- It maps data into visual structures for screen visuals.
- Two types of visual encoding variables:
Planar Visual Encoding
- Graphs across the X- and Y-axis are used to present quantitative data.
Retinal Visual Encoding
- Retinal variables include size (length and area), shape, texture, color, orientation (or slope), and value.
- Each variable can be classified using points, lines, and areas.
- Humans are sensitive to retinal variables.
Acoustic Encoding
- Acoustic encoding stores and retrieves sound, speech, and other auditory data, like the alphabet or multiplication tables.
- Associating information with sounds, by sounding out the words, strengthens brain connections and aids recall.
Tactile Encoding
- Touch encodes how something feels.
- Touch-based tactile encoding isn't useful in eLearning.
- It can be used in collaborative learning for "face-to-face training."
- In medicine, training and examination rely heavily on touch.
Elaborative Encoding
- Elaborative encoding links information to other memories; all information is relevant to the experience.
- When you encounter a red ball, your brain encodes the color, location, sounds, smells, etc.
- The brain also scans existing memories to see if anything stands out.
- Information is encoded during the creative process.
- This helps people generate creative solutions or ideas.
- It also aids learning and memory.
What is Storage?
- Where is information stored (location)?
- How long does it last (duration)?
- How much can be stored at once (capacity)?
- What kind of information is held (type)?
- Information storage impacts retrieval.
- Two main parts of memory:
- Short-Term Memory (STM)
- Long-Term Memory (LTM).
Type of Storage Memory
- Sensory Memory: The first phase of memory storage, lasting less than a few seconds.
- Short-Term Memory (STM): Activated memory that holds a few items briefly.
- Example: Looking up a phone number and quickly dialing before forgetting.
- Long-Term Memory (LTM): Data that can be stored for long periods of time, broken down into episodic, semantic, autobiographical, and implicit memory.
What is Retrieving?
- Getting information out of storage.
- If we can't remember something, it may be because we are unable to retrieve it.
- The differences between STM and LTM become clear when retrieving information.
The Retrieving Process
- STM: Sequentially storing and retrieving.
- Example: Recalling the fourth word on a list requires going through the list in order.
- LTM: Associations store and retrieve.
- Example: Returning to a room where you first thought about going upstairs helps you recall why.
- Organization helps retrieval of sequence information (alphabetically, by size, or by time).
- Example: A hospitalized patient's therapy includes taking medicines, changing clothes, and exercising.
Exercise Branding - Slogan
- Exercise one – Branding - Slogan The Amazon logo is a prime example. The yellow arrow underneath the company name serves two purposes.
- First, it demonstrates the idea of getting things from a to z; second, it looks like a smile.The end of the arrow is drawn to look like the corner of a smiling mouth.
- Looking at it, your brain can’t fail to conjure up the notion of happiness.
- Amazon has said that the smile was the original intention – to suggest that "we're happy to deliver anything, anywhere". It later changed the logo to focus on the a to z idea.
- This creative game asks a group to sum up their ideas in a statement with the minimum number of words, which cuts out filler, and helps uncover and improve an idea.
Exercise Two – Branding - Logo
- The Toblerone logo has been talked about in major publications around the world because of the image of the bear hidden in the negative space of Matterhorn mountain.
- Toblerone comes from Bern, the capital of Switzerland, and the Matterhorn mountain is part of the Bern landscape with the bear being a key feature of the city’s coat of arms.
- This creative game asks a group to draw an illustration of a brand that reflects a certain quality or feature of their product or business.
Creativity
- “Creativity can solve almost any problem. The creative act, the defeat of habit by originality, overcomes everything.” George Lois, 1931, Art Director and Author