E2- Information Processing Theory Production Rules

Question 1

Production Rules

Answer 1

ACT-R theory (Adaptive control of thought-rational)
central claim: cognitive skills are realized by production rules

you can model learning and how we think of things in IF-THEN statements

Long-term memory stores

• declarative memory chunks
• procedural memory production rules

Question 2

Production rules: Knowledge Types

Answer 2

declarative knowledge:

• factual knowledge
• knowing THAT
• Stores inputs of perception
• very flexible
• ex: Tehran is the capital of Iran

Procedural Knowledge:

• manifest only in behavior
• knowing HOW
• Specialized and efficient
  ex: knowing how to ride a bike

Question 3

Examples of when you would use if then statements for production rules

Answer 3

• cooking

- planning out the week

Question 4

People who multitask

Answer 4

• cant filter out irrelevancy
• can’t manage a working memory
• show range of deficits
• have in mind that make it impossible for them to be laser-focused

Question 5

Cognitive Load Theory: The limitations of working memory

Answer 5

• • very limited
• focuses on the role of working memory in the learning process
• human brain (our cognitive system) can only process 7 +- 2 things at a time and once we exceed those limits our thinking and learning process bog down

Question 6

working memory and multitasking

Answer 6

you are overloading the very limited working memory and not actively remembering it

Question 7

Cognitive Load Theory: mental effort

Answer 7

cognitive load is your capacity to accommodate the demands to complete the task
-want to try to put in minimal mental resources to achieve maximum work

Question 8

Cognitive Load Theory:

1. intrinsic load

Answer 8

• *inherent difficulty
• mental work imposed by the complexity of the content
• defined by number and interactivity of elements that have to be processed
  ex: watching a movie in your native language vs watching a movie in a language you are learning

Question 9

Cognitive Load Theory:

2. Germane load

Answer 9

• the mental work that is related/relevant to the task
• it is required but it imposed by the design of the task
  ex: how the instructors are teaching you the task
• it is within the working memory capacity and effective for acquiring schema in long term memory

Question 10

Cognitive Load Theory:

3. Extraneous Load

Answer 10

ex: a poorly designed instructional task that is not helping you learn,
- making the learner do something that is not necessary to help learn
- irrelevant mental work related to the task
* * doing a lot of extra work

Question 11

the goal of cognitive load

Answer 11

-it is not to minimize cognitive load during learning but rather optimizing it for learning

Question 12

is cognitive load optimization an easy thing?

Answer 12

NO!

• instructional interventions with the intention to reduce cognitive load can actually increase it
• learner control and choice can optimize cognitive load
• giving someone an explanation can increase the cognitive load

*** reducing cognitive load doesn’t always give you the results you want! It’s about optimizing cognitive load for that situation