Task 4: Information Processing Theory

Question 1

Information-processing theories

Answer 1

a class of theories that focus on the structure of the cognitive system and the mental activities used to deploy attention and memory to solve problems

Question 2

Task analysis

Answer 2

the research technique of identifying goals, relevant information in the environment, and potential processing strategies for a problem

Question 3

Means-end analysis

Answer 3

involves repeatedly comparing one’s current state with one’s goal and then taking step to reduce the distance between them (see problem)

Question 4

Discuss the similarities with Piaget

Answer 4

• Aimed to answer same fundamental question: what develops and how does development occur?
• Try to identify children’s cognitive capabilities at various points in development
• Explain how more advanced understandings grow from more primitive ones

Question 5

Discuss the differences with Piaget

Answer 5

• Greater emphasis on role of processing limitations, strategies of overcoming limitations, knowledge about specific content
• More precise analysis of change, occurs continuously unlike Piaget’s belief that children progress through qualitatively distinct, broadly applicable stages separated by brief transition periods

Question 6

Give 2 characteristics of these theories

Answer 6

1. specifies precisely the processes involved in children’s thinking
2. puts emphasis on thinking as an activity that occurs over time
   - > single behaviour may reflect extended sequence of rapid mental operations

Question 7

Name the 2 central developmental issues

Answer 7

1. development of memory

2. development of problem solving

Question 8

Sensory memory

Answer 8

• Capacity for briefly retaining relatively large amounts of information just encoded
• 5-year-old’s sensory memory as good as an adult’s

Question 9

Working/short-term memory

Answer 9

• Combines information coming into sensory memory with information stored in long-term memory
• Spatial and verbal information are represented separately in working memory however children under 10 find it difficult to seperate
• Limited in capacity and timespan (varies between tasks, however improves with age and experience)

Question 10

Long-term memory

Answer 10

• Information accumulated over their lifetime
• retains unlimited amounts of information for an unlimited period of time
• factual, conceptual (e.g. justice, equality), procedural knowledge (e.g. how to tie a shoelace), attitudes (e.g. likes, dislikes), reasoning strategies

Question 11

Executive functioning/control of cognition

Answer 11

• Prefrontal Cortex- plays important role in cognitive control
• Integrates working + long-term memory to accomplish goals
• quality during early childhood is predictive of important life outcomes i.e. achievements

Question 12

Basic processes (an explanation of memory development)

Answer 12

• the simplest more frequently used mental activities e.g. associating, recognizing, recalling, generalizing, encoding
• biological (myelination and increased brain region connectivity) lead to processing speed increase

Question 13

Automatization

Answer 13

change from controlled to automatic as people gain experience
-> Once skills learned to sufficient degree, tough to inhibit

Question 14

Controlled vs Automatic processes

Answer 14

controlled- require great deal of attention

automatic - require little if any attention

Question 15

Amount of attention needed on a task is influenced by (x3)

Answer 15

• The type of information that is being processes
• Amount of experience child has had processing that type of material
• Practice reduces amount of attention needed

Question 16

Encoding

Answer 16

– the process of representing in memory information that draws attention or is considered to be important

• not encoded, not remembered
• shows how memory is “selective”

Question 17

Rehearsal

Answer 17

repeating information multiple times to memorise (appears around age 6)

Question 18

Selective attention

Answer 18

intentionally focusing on information that is most relevant to current goal

Question 19

Retrieval

Answer 19

taking strategies from long-term memory e.g. not being able to think of something immediately therefore going through the alphabet to remember a name

Question 20

Strategies (an explanation of memory development)

Answer 20

plan of action designed to achieve a goal

e.g. rehearsal and selective attention

Question 21

The more strategies used the more ___

Answer 21

information encoded

Question 22

Development of sustained attention

Answer 22

• improves in toddler hood
• 2 to 3.5 years = rapid increase
• due to rapid growth of frontal lobes

Question 23

Planning: define and explain why difficult x 2

Answer 23

Problem-solving more effective as they learn to plan before acting. Fail to plan because:

• requires inhibiting desire to solve problem immediately (children struggle)
• children tend to be overly optimistic of their abilities and think they can solve (maturation of prefrontal cortex needed

Question 24

Recognition memory

Answer 24

ability to tell whether a stimulus is the same or similar to one seen before
- 4- and 5-year-olds – perform nearly perfect on recognition tasks

Question 25

Recall memory

Answer 25

remembering in absence of perceptual support, requires retetention of particular pieces of information

• age 2, children can recall no more than one or 2 items
• age 4, 3 or 4 items

Question 26

Overlapping-Waves Theory

Answer 26

proposes that, at any one age, children use multiple strategies, most use 3

• with age and experience they rely increasingly on more advanced strategies
• children discover new strategies that are more effective than previous one, learn to execute both new and old and then choose the more appropriate one particular situation

Question 27

Metacognition

Answer 27

a person’s awareness of his or her own cognitive abilities and limitations (e.g. older children tend to know what works best for them)

Question 28

Awareness of capacity

Answer 28

overly optimistic of ability to remember items at young age

Question 29

Awareness of strategies

Answer 29

become aware of their usefulness and which ones are most appropriate for certain tasks

Question 30

Name the 4 steps of acquiring selective, adaptable attentional strategies

Answer 30

1. production deficiency
2. control deficiency
3. utilization deficiency
4. effective strategy use

Question 31

Production deficiency

Answer 31

pre-schoolers rarely engage in attentional strategies (fail to produce them when they could be helpful)

Question 32

Control deficiency

Answer 32

young elementary school children sometimes produce strategies but fail to control/ execute them effectively

Question 33

Utilization deficiency

Answer 33

slightly later they execute strategies consistently but performance does not improve

Question 34

Effective strategy use

Answer 34

by mid-elementary school years they use them consistently & performance improves

Question 35

Organisation of memory

Answer 35

grouping related items hwhcih also improves recall dramatically

• Younger children – control- and utilisation deficiency
• By age of 8 – effective strategy use

Question 36

Elaboration

Answer 36

creating a relationship/ shared meaning between two or more pieces of information that are not members of the same category

• requires a lot of working-memory capacity
• common during adolescence and adulthood

Question 37

Encoding limitations

Answer 37

children may not encode the appropriate information about a problem e.g. (12x34)/5 -> understand rules of math but too complex to do off the top of your head)

Question 38

Episodic long-term memory

• > how are familiar events remembered?
• > how are one-time events remembered?

Answer 38

our memory for everyday experiences to be recalled later on

• familiar events remebered in terms of scripts which become more elaborate with age allows children to organize, interpret and predict repeated events
• one-time events are remembred by autobiographical memory

Question 39

Semantic long-term memory

Answer 39

ideas and concepts that are not drawn from personal experience, general knowledge

Question 40

Discuss the development of scientific thinking

Answer 40

theory -> evidence, improves with age, contributing factors (e.g. children with larger working memory capacity cans solve quicker, more exposure to problems etc)

Question 41

How is long-term memory not in an all-or-none form?

Answer 41

people store information in separable units and can retrieve some units without retrieving others

Question 42

Name and explain 3 types of executive functions

Answer 42

1. Inhibiting tempting actions that would be counterproductive
2. Enhancing working memory through use of strategies (e.g. repeating phone number)
3. Being cognitive flexible (e.g. perspective taking)

Question 43

Why is memory selective?

Answer 43

encoding

Question 44

List 3 explanations of memory development

Answer 44

1. basic processes
2. strategies
3. content knowledge

Question 45

Content knowledge (an explanation of memory development)

Answer 45

With age and experience, children’s knowledge about almost everything increases. It improves memory by

• improving encoing: recall of new material makes it easier to integrate it with existing understanding
• providing useful associations: rememebering either one of 2 related information, increases memory for the other

Question 46

Name and explain 3 ways attention changes mid childhood

Answer 46

1. selectivity: according to just those aspects of a situation that were relevant to their task goals (age 6-10 improves sharply)
2. adaptability: being flexible in their attention to momentary requirements of stiuations
3. planful: attentional strategies being more planned

Question 47

Discuss 2 styles used by adults to prompt childrens autobiographical narratives

Answer 47

1. elaborative style: ask varied questions, add information and volunteer their own recollections and evaluations of events
2. repetitive style: ask same questions over and over again so it provides little information

Question 48

What kind of style do securely attached parents engage in to prompt children’s autobiographical narratives

Answer 48

elaborative