Information processing Flashcards
Information processing theory
The basic idea of Information processing theory is that the human mind is like a computer or information processor — rather than behaviorist notions that people merely responding to stimuli.
Stage theory
Atkinson and Shriffin’s ‘stage theory,’ presenting a sequential method of input-processing-output
Level of processing model
Craik and Lockhart issued the ‘level of processing’ model.
The more that information is elaborated on the more that is learnt
Connectionist model
- Rumelhart and McClelland’s connectionist model
- States that information is stored simultaneously in different areas of the brain, and connected as a network.
- The amount of connections a single piece of information has will affect the ease of retrieval.
Sensory memory
- Information is gathered via the senses through a process called transduction.
- Through receptor cell activity, it is altered into a form of information that the brain could process.
- short memory- ranging up to three seconds.
- Sensory information catches our attention, and thus progresses into working memory, only if it is seen as relevant, or is familiar.
WORKING MEMORY/SHORT TERM MEMORY
Baddeley (2001)
- three components
- The executive controls system
- auditory loop
- visual-spatial checkpad
- Information is maintained through maintenance or elaborative rehearsal.
Executive controls system
-oversees all working memory activity, including selection of information, method of processing, meaning, and finally deciding whether to transfer it to long term memory or forget it.
Auditory loop
-where auditory information is processed
Visual-spatial checkpad,
- where visual information is processed. Sensory memories transferred into working memory will last for 15-20 seconds, with a capacity for 5-9 pieces or chunks of information.
Maintenance
-repetition
Elaboration
refers to the organization of information (such as chunking or chronology).
Long term memory
Long term memory includes various types of information:
- declarative (semantic and episodic)
- procedural (how to do something)
- imagery (mental images).
Semantic memory (implicit memory)
-general world knowledge that we have accumulated throughout our lives.
Explicit memory/declarative memory
-Explicit memory requires conscious thought—such as recalling who came to dinner last night or naming animals that live in the rainforest.
Attention
Attention is the behavioral and cognitive process of selectively concentrating on a discrete aspect of information, whether deemed subjective or objective, while ignoring other perceivable information
Schizeophrenia and information processing
schizophrenia spectrum patients have problems focusing attention on salient cues and overcoming the disrupting effects of distracting stimuli.
Dementia precox
Kraepelin- early diagnostic term of schizophrenia
chunking
Chunking is a term referring to the process of taking individual pieces of information (chunks) and grouping them into larger units.
By grouping each piece into a large whole, you can improve the amount of information you can remember.
Trace decay theory of forgetting
- memories leave a ‘trace’
- forgetting occurs as a result of the automatic decay or fading of the memory trace.
- short term memory can only hold information for between 15 and 30 seconds unless it is rehearsed. Then the trace decays
- Brown-Peterson
Displacement theory
- Miller suggests short term memory can only hold 7+/- 2 items
- When STM is ‘full’, new information displaces or ‘pushes out’ old information and takes its place.
- The old information which is displaced is forgotten
Primacy effect
Good recall of items at the beginning of a list is referred to as the primacy effect
Regency effect
Good recall of items at the end of a list are referred to as the recency effect.
Atkinson & Shiffrin’s (1968) multi-store model
Proposes that information is transferred into long-term memory by means of rehearsal.
Interference theory
It was assumed that memory can be disrupted or interfered with by what we have previously learned or by what we will learn in the future.
Proactive interference
Occurs when you cannot learn a new task because of an old task that had been learnt.
– where old memories disrupt new memories.
Retroactive interference
(retro=backward) occurs when you forget a previously learnt task due to the learning of a new task.
-new memories disrupt old memories.
Chandler (1989)
stated that students who study similar subjects at the same time often experience interference.
Distortion
-Memory distortion refers to a memory report that differs from what actually occurred. -Memory’s fate is determined by encoding (when the memory is first recorded), storage and retrieval .
Interference
Interference occurs in learning when there is an interaction between the new material and transfer effects of past learned behavior, memories or thoughts that have a negative influence in comprehending the new material.
Schemata
- Piaget
- A schema can be defined as a set of linked mental representations of the world, which we use both to understand and to respond to situations.
Elaboration
Elaboration is a strategy which involves assigning meaningful information to something you are trying to remember, which in turn would make the non-meaningful information easier to remember.
