C H A P T E RC H A P T E R 88

The Information-Processing Approach

© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update

2

The Phenomenon of Memory

Memory - learning that has persisted over time.

3

Stages of Memory

Keyboard(Encoding)

Disk(Storage)

Monitor(Retrieval)

Sequential Process

Gettinginformationinto memory

Retaininginformation

over time

Takinginformation

out of storage

ENCODING STORAGE RETRIEVAL

4

Flashbulb Memory

Flashbulb memory - a highly emotional event can cause a clear, strong, and

persistent memory.

(c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update

Thinking: To perceive, encode, represent, and store information from the world

Self-modification: Represented by metacognition, “knowing about knowing”

Change Mechanisms:Encoding – Getting information into memory

Automaticity – Processing information with little effort

Strategy Construction – Discovering new processing procedures

Generalization – applying info to other settings

Characteristics of Information-Processing

8.5

© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update

The information-processing approach to learning emphasizes that children manipulate information, monitor it, and strategize about it.

What Is Attention?

AttentionAttention is the focusing of mental processes

• Sustained attention• Selective attention• Divided attention

The Information-Processing Approach

8.7

Memory

What IsMemory?

Storage

Retrieval andForgetting

Encoding

© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update

(c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update

Enter the Debate

Should teachers require students to engage in rote memorization?

YES NO

8.8

CONSTRUCTING IMAGES

DEEP PROCESSINGDeeper processing,

better memory

REHEARSAL Consistent repetition ofinformation over time

ELABORATIONAdds to distinctiveness

ORGANIZATIONAided by chunking

ATTENTONConcentrate and Focus

8.9

© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update

Encoding

Getting Students to Pay Attention

Be interesting

Encourage attention and

minimize distraction

Use cues and gestures

for important material

Focus on active learning and be aware of

individual differences

Use media and technology to make learning enjoyable

8.10

© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update

11

Chunking

Organizing items into familiar, manageable unit.

1-7-7-6-1-4-9-2-1-8-1-2-1-9-4-1

chunk the number and see if you can recall it easier. 1776 1492

1812 1941.

Encoding Summarized in a Hierarchy

Atkinson and Shiffrin’s Theory

8.13

© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update

Sensory Memory – Retains information for a fraction of a second until 2 seconds

Short-Term Memory – Limited capacity; retain for 30 seconds without rehearsal

Long-Term Memory – Unlimited capacity over a long period of time

Memory’s Time Frames

8.14

© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update

15

Iconic0.5 sec. long

Echoic3-4 sec. long

Hepatic< 1 sec. long

Sensory Memory – Retains information for a fraction of a second until 2 seconds

16

Working Memory

Working memory, a new name for short-term

memory.

George Miller

Short-Term Memory – Limited capacity; retain for 30 seconds

without rehearsal

7 ± 2 bits of info

17

F-B-I-T-W-A-C-I-A-I-B-M

FBI TWA CIA IBM

4 chunks

Chunking

Developmental Changes in Memory

8.18

© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update

Baddeley’s Model of Memory

8.19

© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update

20

Explicit Memory refers to facts and experiences that one can consciously know and declare.

Implicit memory involves learning an action, and the individual does not know or declare what she

knows.

Episodic MemoryEpisodic Memory Semantic MemorySemantic Memory

21

Hippocampus

Hippocampus – a neural center in the limbicsystem that processes explicit memories.

Weidenfield &

Nicolson archives

22

No New Memories

Anterograde Amnesia

AnterogradeAmnesia

(HM)

Surgery

After losing his hippocampus in surgery, patient HM remembers everything

before the operation but cannot make new memories. We call this anterograde

amnesia.

Memory Intact

23

Implicit Memory

HM learnt the Tower of Hanoi (game) after his surgery. Each time he plays it he is unable to remember the fact that

he has already played the game.

HM is unable to make new memories that aredeclarative (explicit) but he can form newmemories that are procedural (implicit).

CBA

24

Cerebellum

Cerebellum – a neural center in the hindbrain that processes implicit memories.

(c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update

Retrieval

Primacy Effect items at the beginning remembered best

Serial Position recall better at the beginning and end of list

Specificity associations form cues

Recall previously learned information, as in fill-in-the-blank

Recognition identify learned information, as in multiple choice

8.25

26

Serial Position Effect

1. TUV2. ZOF3. GEK4. WAV5. XOZ6. TIK7. FUT8. WIB9. SAR10.POZ11.REY12.GIJ

(Primacy Effect)Better recall

(Recency Effect)Better recall

Poor recall

27

Retrieval Cues

Memories are held in storage by a web of associations. These

associations are like anchors that help retrieve memory.

Fire Truck

truck

red

fire

heatsmoke

smellwater

hose

28

Context Effects (encoding specificity)

According to the principle of encoding specificity, the way we code a word during original learning determines which cues will remind us of that word later.

29

Context Effects

(c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update

31

Forgetting

Inability to retrieve information, due to poor encoding, storage or

retrieval.

Forgetting is due to:

Encoding FailureStorage Decay

Lack of Retrieval CuesInterference

32

Forgetting as Interference

33

Proactive interference –

problem driving in

England after learning in US.

34

Retroactive Interference

Sleep avoids retroactive interference thusleading to better recall.

35

Why do we

forget?

(c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update

Improving Memory

• Promote understanding• Assist organization of knowledge• Teach mnemonics

– Method of loci– Rhymes– Acronyms– Keyword

8.36

(c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update

The method of loci – First learn a list of places, such as “my desk, the door of my room, the corridor, . . .”

Method of Loci

List of Items

CharcoalPens

Bed SheetsHammer

.

.

.Rug

Imagined Locations

BackyardStudy

BedroomGarage

.

.

.Living Room

Rhymes

• “i before e except after c

• thirty days hath September, April, June, and November

• The alphabet song

40

Pegword Method• One is a bun• Two is a shoe• Three is a tree• Four is a door• Five is a hive• Six is sticks• Seven is heaven• Eight is a gate• Nine is a swine• Ten is a hen

41

Visual EncodingMental pictures (imagery) are a powerful

aid especially when combined with semantic encoding.

Both photos: H

o/AP

Photo

(c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update

43

Acronyms

HOMES = Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior

PEMDAS = Parentheses, Exponent, Multiply, Divide, Add, Subtract

ROY G. BIV = Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet

Keyword Method

Carta = letter

45

Memory Construction

Misinformation Effect: Incorporating misleading

information into one's memory of an event.

46

Eyewitnesses reconstruct memories when questioned about the event.

Misinformation and Imagination Effects

Depiction of the actual accident.

47

Misinformation

Group A: How fast were the cars going when they hit each other?

Group B: How fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?

48

Memory Construction

A week later they were asked; Was there any broken glass? Group B

(smashed into) reported more broken glass than Group A (hit).

49

Source Amnesia

Source Amnesia: Attributing an event to the wrong source

50

False Memory SyndromeA false but strongly believed memory of traumatic experience sometimes induced by well-meaning therapists.

False Memories

51

Constructed Memories

if false memories (lost at the mall, or drowned in a lake) are implanted in

individuals, they construct (fabricate) their memories.

Don Shrubshell

(c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update

Ms. Blackwood has assigned her students 20 spelling words to learn for the week. She notices that most of her students have no problems remembering how to spell the first few and the last few words, but many struggle with those in the middle of the list.

Information Processing Theory Theory into Practice

Q: Why might students have an easier time remembering how to spell the first and last few words, but struggle with those in the middle of the list? Explain.

8.52

The Information-Processing Approach

8.53

Expertise

AcquiringExpertise

Expertise andLearning

Expertise andTeaching

© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update

Experts… Have superior recall, use “chunking” of information Organize around important ideas and concepts Demonstrate effortless retrieval by taking the time to

formulate a plan Are flexible rather than having a rigid, fixed routine Though talented, develop learning and study strategies

• Spread out learning• Ask questions/take good notes• Use a study system

8.54

© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update

The Information-Processing Approach

8.55

Metacognition

The Good Information-Processing

Model

DevelopmentalChanges

Strategies andMetacognitive

Regulation

© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update

“Knowing about knowing”

Metacognitive KnowledgeMonitoring and reflecting on one’s current or

recent thoughts

Metacognitive ActivityStudents consciously adapt and manage their thinking strategies during problem solving and

purposeful thinking

Metacognition

8.56

© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update

Learning strategies

• Distributive practice versus massed practice

• Question oneself (reflection)

• Take good notes – summarize, outline, concept maps

• Use a study system – PQ4RPreview

Question

Read

Reflect

Recite

Review

Improving Metacognitive Skills

8.58

Improvement of metacognitive skills results from:

1. Developmental changes as student matures cognitively

2. The Good Information-Processing model that includes specific learning strategies, knowing the similarities and differences in multiple strategies, and the benefits of using them

3. Monitoring the effectiveness of strategies and modifying when necessary

© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update