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Flashcards in Task 4: Information Processing Theory Deck (48)
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1
Q

Information-processing theories

A

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

2
Q

Task analysis

A

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

3
Q

Means-end analysis

A

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

4
Q

Discuss the similarities with Piaget

A
  • 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
5
Q

Discuss the differences with Piaget

A
  • 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
6
Q

Give 2 characteristics of these theories

A
  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
7
Q

Name the 2 central developmental issues

A
  1. development of memory

2. development of problem solving

8
Q

Sensory memory

A
  • Capacity for briefly retaining relatively large amounts of information just encoded
  • 5-year-old’s sensory memory as good as an adult’s
9
Q

Working/short-term memory

A
  • 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)
10
Q

Long-term memory

A
  • 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
11
Q

Executive functioning/control of cognition

A
  • 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
12
Q

Basic processes (an explanation of memory development)

A
  • 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
13
Q

Automatization

A

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

14
Q

Controlled vs Automatic processes

A

controlled- require great deal of attention

automatic - require little if any attention

15
Q

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

A
  • 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
16
Q

Encoding

A

– 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”
17
Q

Rehearsal

A

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

18
Q

Selective attention

A

intentionally focusing on information that is most relevant to current goal

19
Q

Retrieval

A

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

20
Q

Strategies (an explanation of memory development)

A

plan of action designed to achieve a goal

e.g. rehearsal and selective attention

21
Q

The more strategies used the more ___

A

information encoded

22
Q

Development of sustained attention

A
  • improves in toddler hood
  • 2 to 3.5 years = rapid increase
  • due to rapid growth of frontal lobes
23
Q

Planning: define and explain why difficult x 2

A

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
24
Q

Recognition memory

A

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

25
Q

Recall memory

A

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
26
Q

Overlapping-Waves Theory

A

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
27
Q

Metacognition

A

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)

28
Q

Awareness of capacity

A

overly optimistic of ability to remember items at young age

29
Q

Awareness of strategies

A

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

30
Q

Name the 4 steps of acquiring selective, adaptable attentional strategies

A
  1. production deficiency
  2. control deficiency
  3. utilization deficiency
  4. effective strategy use
31
Q

Production deficiency

A

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

32
Q

Control deficiency

A

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

33
Q

Utilization deficiency

A

slightly later they execute strategies consistently but performance does not improve

34
Q

Effective strategy use

A

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

35
Q

Organisation of memory

A

grouping related items hwhcih also improves recall dramatically

  • Younger children – control- and utilisation deficiency
  • By age of 8 – effective strategy use
36
Q

Elaboration

A

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
37
Q

Encoding limitations

A

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)

38
Q

Episodic long-term memory

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

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
39
Q

Semantic long-term memory

A

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

40
Q

Discuss the development of scientific thinking

A

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

41
Q

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

A

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

42
Q

Name and explain 3 types of executive functions

A
  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)
43
Q

Why is memory selective?

A

encoding

44
Q

List 3 explanations of memory development

A
  1. basic processes
  2. strategies
  3. content knowledge
45
Q

Content knowledge (an explanation of memory development)

A

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
46
Q

Name and explain 3 ways attention changes mid childhood

A
  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
47
Q

Discuss 2 styles used by adults to prompt childrens autobiographical narratives

A
  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
48
Q

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

A

elaborative