Slide 1

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENT7A Topical Approach to

John W. Santrock

Information Processing

Slide 2

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

What Is the Information-Processing Approach?

• Analyzes the ways people process information about their world– Manipulate information

– Monitor it

– Create strategies to deal with it

– Effectiveness involves attention, memory, thinking

The Information-Processing Approach

Slide 3

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Computers and Human Information Processing

The Information-Processing Approach

Fig. 7.1

Slide 4

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Simplified Model of Information Processing

The Information-Processing Approach

Fig. 7.2

Slide 5

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Does Processing Speed Matter?

• Linked with competence in thinking

• For many everyday tasks, speed is unimportant

• Efficient strategies can compensate for slower reaction times and speed

• Processing linked to accumulated knowledge and abilities to perform

Slide 6

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

What Is Attention?

• Focusing of mental resources

• Three ways attention can be allocated– Sustained attention

– Selective attention

– Divided attention

Slide 7

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Types of Attention

Attention

SustainedAttention

SelectiveAttention

Ability to maintain attention to selected stimulus over prolonged

period; also called vigilance

Focusing on specific aspect of experience that is relevant while

ignoring others

Divided Attention

Concentrating on more than one activity at a time

Slide 8

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

What Is Memory?

• Retention of information over time

• Allows humans to span time in reflection over life’s activities

• Memory has imperfections

Memory

Slide 9

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Processes of Memory

Memory

Fig. 7.5

Slide 10

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Constructing Memories

• Schema theory– Many reasons why memories are inaccurate

– 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

Memory

Slide 11

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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

• Culture and gender linked to memory

Memory

Slide 12

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Infancy

• First Memories– Rovee-Collier infant memory experiments

• 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

Memory

Slide 13

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Infancy

• Infantile Amnesia

– Adults recall little or none of first three years

– Also called childhood amnesia

– Due to immaturity of prefrontal lobes in brain; play important role in memory of events

Memory

Slide 14

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Childhood Memory

• Considerable improvement after infancy

• Short-term memory — memory span for up to 15 to 30 seconds without rehearsal

• Working memory — kind of mental workbench for manipulating and assembling information– Make decisions, solve problems– Comprehend written and spoken language

Memory

Slide 15

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Childhood Memory

• Long-term memory — relatively permanent and unlimited type of memory

• Children as eyewitnesses– Age differences in susceptibility

– Individual differences in susceptibility

– Interviewing techniques can cause distortions; determines if child’s testimony is accurate

Memory

Slide 16

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Long-Term Memory Strategies

• Activities to improve information processing

• Rehearsal — repetition better for short-term

• Organizing — making information relevant

• Imagery — creating mental images

• Elaboration — engaging in more extensive processing of information

Memory

Slide 17

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Working Memory and Processing Speed

• Working memory performance peaked at 45 years of age; declined at 57 years of age

• Decline affected both new and old information

• Working memory linked to– Reading and math achievement

– Processing speed

Memory

Slide 18

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Explicit and Implicit Memory• Part of long-term memory systems• Explicit memory: conscious or declarative

memory– Episodic memory—retention of information

about where and when of life’s happenings– Semantic memory—one’s knowledge

about world including field of expertise• Implicit memory: routine skills and

procedures

Memory

Slide 19

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Source Memory

• Ability to remember where something was learned

• Contexts of – Physical setting– Emotional setting– Identity of speaker

• Failures increase with age in adult years; relevancy of information affects ability

Memory

Slide 20

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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

Slide 21

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Influences on the Memory of Older Adults

• Physiological and psychological factors• Health• Beliefs, expectations, and feelings• Education, memory tasks, assessment• Training and mneumonics improve memory

– Method of loci: storing mental images– Chunking: put into manageable units

Memory

Slide 22

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

What Is Thinking?

• Manipulating and transforming information in memory

– Reason, reflect, evaluate ideas, solve problems, make decisions

• Concepts — categories that group things

– Perceptual categorization: as young as 7 mos.

– Categorization increases in second year; infants differentiate more

Thinking

Slide 23

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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

Thinking

Slide 24

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Critical Thinking

• Few schools teach 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

Slide 25

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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

Thinking

Slide 26

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Scientific Thinking

• 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

Slide 27

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Thinking in Adolescence

• Critical Thinking– If fundamental skills not developed during

childhood, critical-thinking 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

Slide 28

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Thinking in Adulthood • Practical problem solving, 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

Thinking

Slide 29

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

What Is Metacognition?

• Knowledge about when and where to use particular strategies

• Metamemory—knowledge about memory

• Theory of mind— curiosity or thoughts about how mental processes work– Changes as child ages

Metacognition

Slide 30

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

The End

7