CHAPTER 8

MEMORY & INFORMATION

PROCESSING
 Learning Objectives

• What is the general

orientation of the
information-
processing model to
cognition?
• What are the specific
components of the
model and how does
information “flow”
through the system?
 Information Processing Approach

• Reflects the “Cognitive

Revolution”
– Used computer as model
• Hardware is the computer
itself
• In humans it is the brain
• Software programs; e.g.,
word processing
• In humans: How information
is registered, interpreted,
stored, retrieved and
analyzed
 Memory Systems
• Sensory Register: fleeting
– With attention, encoding
occurs
• Storage
– Short-term memory
limited to 7 items
– Working memory: active
STM
– Long-term memory
relatively permanent
• Retrieval
– Recognition; recall; cued
recall
– EX: multiple choice, fill in
the blank, hints…
• A model of Information Processing
Implicit and Explicit Memory
• Implicit Memory-not
conscious, absorbed
– Unintentional, automatic
– Information from everyday
experiences
– Does not change over
lifespan
• Explicit Memory-consciously
put into memory
– Deliberate, effortful
– Increases from infancy to
adulthood
 Problem Solving
• Using the information processing system to
reach a goal (solve a problem)
• Executive Control Processes
– Selection from storage
– Planning, monitoring, interpreting, etc.
– Parallel processing of planning,
monitoring, interpreting, selecting,
decoding…
• Rather than sequential tasks
 Problem Solving 2
• Possible difficulties for young children
– Not paying attention to relevant aspects
– Unable to hold info in working memory
– Lack strategies for:
•Transfer from STM to LTM
•Retrieval from LTM
– Not enough knowledge to understand
Problem Solving!
 Learning Objectives

• How do researchers
assess infant
memory?
• What information can
infants typically
remember?
• What are the
limitations of infants’
memory?
 The Infant
• Imitation
– Of facial expressions
by 6 weeks
– Deferred imitation by
6 months-imitate after
seeing (recall of
image?)
• Habituation present at
birth
• Operant Conditioning
– Stimulus/behavior
remembered then
repeated?
 Learning Objectives

• What are the four

major hypotheses
about why memory
improves with age?
• Is there evidence to
support each
hypothesis?
 Four Hypotheses
• Dramatic improvements in learning, memory
and problem solving
• Four major hypotheses as to why
1) Changes in basic capacities?
•Not storage or senses
•Changes in speed allow parallel
processing
•Automaticity frees working memory
space
 Four Hypotheses (continued)
2) Do memory strategies change?
– Rehearsal by age 7
– Organization by age 10
– Elaboration later
– Retrieval strategies improve
•External cues needed when younger
 Four Hypotheses (continued)
3) Changes in knowledge about
memory?
• Metamemory: Knowledge of memory-more
conscious of useful processes
– Present in young children
– Awareness of memory processes is
beneficial even to young children
– Gets better with age
– Experience is important
 Four Hypotheses (Continued)
4) Changes in world knowledge?
– Yes. Knowledge base clearly affects
learning and memory-more access to
relevant information
– Domain familiarity and expertise-better
retrieval
•E.g., Chi (1978) study of Chess
 Learning Objectives

• When do autobiographical memories

begin and what possible explanations can
account for childhood amnesia (lack of
early childhood memories).
• How do scripts influence memory?
• How do problem solving capacities
change during childhood?
• What explanation does Siegler propose
for changes in problem solving?
Autobiographical Memories
• Infantile Amnesia before
age 2–3
– Lack of language
– For verbatim memories?
– Fuzzy trace theory-that
verbatim memories and
“gist of” memories are
stored as separate
memories
• Scripts: Typical sequence of
actions
– Affect memory, cued
recall?
• Eyewitness Memory
– Improves with age;
younger suggestible
– Accuracy better with
open questions
 Changes in Problem Solving
• Improves with age in childhood
• New cognitive structures (Piaget)
• Rule Assessment (Siegler)-
“Overlapping Waves Theory” of
memory patterns
• Deficiencies of Memory Mastery
(childhood):
– Mediation-can’t find or use them
even if taught
– Production-use but not produce
strategies
– Utilization-can produce but not
really use a strategy
• Use of multiple strategies produces
best strategy (most adaptive
strategy)
• More efficient strategies-Natural
Selection-Most adaptive strategy
survives
 Learning Objectives

• What developments
occur in the
information
processing abilities of
adolescents?
 Adolescence

• New strategies emerge

(elaboration)
• Better use of strategies
• Basic capacities increase
(e.g., speed)
• Knowledge base increases
• Metacognition improves-
conscious awareness of
thought processes-for one
thing, less emotion based
behavior
 Learning Objectives
• In what ways do memory and cognition change during
adulthood?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of older adults’
abilities?
• What factors help explain the declines in abilities during
older adulthood?
• What can be done to minimize losses with age?
• How are problem-solving skills affected by aging?
Adulthood—Developing Expertise
• Domain specific knowledge
base increases-does adding
strategies increase efficiency
of all strategies?
• Strategy Use
– More organized
– More elaborative
techniques
– Also domain specific
• Automaticity of more
information
• Autobiographical: Memory
from age 15-25 is higher
than from other points in
life…why?
 Memory and Aging in Our Culture

• Older adults learn more

slowly
• Remember less learned
information
– Declines by age 70
– Timed tasks, unfamiliar
tasks
– Recall versus
Recognition
– Explicit memory tasks
more trouble
– Cognitively demanding
tasks
 Explaining Declines
• Negative beliefs affect memory skills-ex.
China
• Strategy use not spontaneous
• Attention becomes more effortful
(motivation)
• Processing speed decreases
• Sensory, health, and lifestyle changes
• Cohort differences (age and IQ)
• Declines NOT universal
• “Use it or lose it” of processing
• Declines in memory skills in old age are not universal. In deaf culture and in
Chinese culture, elderly people are not stereotyped as forgetful or senile. Perhaps
as a result, Chinese elders perform almost as well as young Chinese adults on
memory tasks, whereas in the United States, elders, especially in the hearing
population, perform poorly.
 Problem Solving
• Unfamiliar tasks more difficult
• Meaninglessness a problem
• Contextual view
– Evaluate nature of the task
•Is speed required?
•Unfamiliar, unexercised skills
– Consider individual differences
• Everyday functioning maintained